Some real life nasty stuff that actually hurts people is happening in the world if you can bear to tear yourselves away from JR/RB for a second.

[Callisto]

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7701269.stm

Really, an alien reading the In The News section of MN would (rightly) think that we have our priorities all wrong. No news has been discussed this week apart from endless threads about 2 pathetic, insecure men. How bizarre when there is the US election, credit crunch, Pakistan financial meltdown, etc etc to discuss. Perhaps you could all stop agonising about irrelevant crap and put some of your energies into something that actually matters?

[MrsMattie]

I have been watching a news item about the Congo tonight and am just so distressed by what is going on . It is just utterly, utterly grim. I feel like I really must do something more than sit on my arse shaking my head and getting all teary. But what?

[unknownrebelbang]

Callisto, after finishing the rather demanding dayjob, coming home to three teens/pre-teens, and listening to DH offload about his demanding day/night/weekend job, etc etc etc, a bit of meaningless gossip does me the world of good.

Oh, and we discussed this issue at work in rl.

[ewwwmy2shoesarefullofblood]

those poor people.
I saw the news earlier and it looked horrid

[Callisto]

That article is so depressing. I obviously mis-heard on R4 this morning. Or maybe the Rwandan businessmen are fronts for corporate involvement. I know that China has thrown vast amounts of money at Africa.

[Callisto]

Yes, there was something about this on R4 this morning as I recall, that the major players are big money corporations who can afford to employ the various army factions. It actually suits these corporations (and governments - I think China is very guilty of this) because they can extract the minerals without regard for displacing people or damage to the environment. It is very difficult to boycott through buying power also (unless one boycotts the actual nations/corporations involved and have you tried boycotting Chinese goods?) as it is next to impossible to trace manufactured goods back to raw materials.

[Iloveautumn]

www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-how-we-fuel-africas-bloodiest-war -978461.html

[Iloveautumn]

Callisto:

An interesting comment by Johann Hari in the Independent about the Congalese civil war which basically says we should all care/feel guilty about it because it is the developed world's demand for commodities which is a major cause. (Congo is a very resource rich country with lots of mines.)

[http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-how-we-fuel-af ricas-bloodiest-war-978461.html]

[expatinscotland]

it's also Halloween!

yes, Halloween.

and these chaps on This Morning can sing!

ooooo, i like them!

[darkpunk]

oh chill out...it's friday..

[Callisto]

Sorry, had to leave and back now for 5 mins only. I assumed I'd get a flaming for posting what I did, though I hadn't expected to be called patronising and was suprised that some people think I'm telling them what to do. Also, personal insults from a couple of you don't bother me, just prove that you have nothing of value to say.

I think that the Congo is debatable but if we can only post news stories that are debatable then it would discount most of the threads in this sub-forum.

I am interested in other peoples thoughts (and there are some immensly interesting, thougtful and informed people on MN which is why I enjoy reading through posts on a whole variety of subjects) about UN involvement in the Congo, if it should be more/less, if we should get over the fact that we were once an Empire and actually involve ourselves in African politics as a whole, why the Congo is such a problem and if there is anything anyone can do to solve it.

So to me there are lots of issues that can be discussed. I'm not well informed about African politics so I come here to MN because I know that there are people who are well-informed and who can give me aspects that I wouldn't get from a newspaper.

[Anna8888]

I didn't say it was illegal to have discussions on MN about subjects not pertaining to parenting.

What I said was that this was a parenting forum. As such, I don't think that any poster has a right to slate other posters because they are not posting on Topics of World Importance

[jujumaman]

Anna, ahem

You have been known to pop up on threads that don't pertain to parenting in the slightest and contribute very interestingly to debates on the wider world. And quite right too. MN would be .. another site if it was really only about parenting.

OP, you have a very good point because the whole nation has jumped on the Ross bandwagon in a slightly mindless Diana style. But what can you say about rape in the Congo except it's terrible. It's not really debatable is it? And debate is what gets threads going.

[ewwwmy2shoesarefullofblood]

Callisto I;m with you
I started a thread in the news and it got 8 post's and it is a much more important topic thatn those 2 twats.
I thought that is why we had a celeb topic, to stop this.

[darkpunk]

dittany; she's in a band called the "satanic sluts"....?

[darkpunk]

disapprovingalien ....actually, i really like the intellectual threads on mn..i think there should be more of them..

[jimjamshaslefttheyurt]

[Flightattendant4]

She seems to think we are not 'real' and thus already having 'real life' problems and being affected by all that 'real' stuff out there. That's what gets me. Like the credit crunch doesn't affect Mumsnetters but we ought to be talking about it because of all the poor people it does affect - none of us then

[DisapprovingAlien]

Actually I am reading and am deeply disapproving of all of you.

You've let me down. It's not big, it's not clever, and it doesn't help me argue the case in the inter-galactic committee against Earth being demolished to make way for the planetary by-pass...

[tatt]

If any aliens ever chose to read mumsnet I suspect they would see the rudeness of the OP as being an indication of the general lack of civilisation on earth. Possibly they would see the others things the OP complains about as symptoms of the same problem.

[darkpunk]

i'm not the slightest bit interested in the u.s elections thank you....so don't come on here telling me what i should be worried/talking about...

[filz]

ds1 reckons you can buy real aliens from the pound shop

[Flightattendant4]

Callisto, if people wanted to talk about that stuff, they would start threads about it. Perhaps this is where they come to escape the 'real, nasty stuff' that is actually happening in real life to them and their families?

By the way, there aren't any aliens reading it so it doesn't matter.

[Upwind]

What morningpaper said

FINALLY we agree on something besides Mock the Week...