Notre Dame on fire - looks pretty serious

[petemurphy]

Vaud said:

Shouldn't the church we help people first and then rebuild? They have plenty of land and assets to sell.

v true I've always been disgusted that they have such wealth and resource whilst people are starving - eg open up churches for the homeless

[Vaud]

petemurphy said:

v true I've always been disgusted that they have such wealth and resource whilst people are starving - eg open up churches for the homeless

Indeed.

People sleeping on the streets. Abject poverty in many catholic countries. Long term and systematic abuse of children by our priests...

Our church burns down >> everyone throws money at it.

[Vaud]

petemurphy said:

if they taxed the likes of amazon, google etc they could probably afford to repair it and help people..

Why tax them? The Catholic church is staggeringly rich... and a charity in the UK

[p1stonhead]

Vaud said:

petemurphy said:

v true I've always been disgusted that they have such wealth and resource whilst people are starving - eg open up churches for the homeless

Indeed.

People sleeping on the streets. Abject poverty in many catholic countries. Long term and systematic abuse of children by our priests...

Our church burns down >> everyone throws money at it.

It’s quite hard to justify objectively. Shows how much of a staggering dent in the worlds problems could be solved if billionaires cared about various issues.

[NDA]

biggbn said:

BlackLabel said:

I see they’ve already raised over a billion euros from donations - and it’s only been a couple of days. Remarkable stuff.

One wonders if that billion should be spent on more worthy causes? Or is the historic and aesthetic significance of this building worth it to France? If it is, why doesnt the state fund it, put the jobless to work labouring, create a scheme to train craftsmen etc... Discuss....

It's arguable that people, you and I, leave no lasting value. But some buildings do.

It's not an argument I'd care to make (or support), but it resonates with me somehow!

[Baby Shark doo doo doo doo]

biggbn said:

One wonders if that billion should be spent on more worthy causes? Or is the historic and aesthetic significance of this building worth it to France? If it is, why doesnt the state fund it, put the jobless to work labouring, create a scheme to train craftsmen etc... Discuss....

Sad that the building has suffered so much damage, but that money could make a huge difference to the lives of many people. Also shows easily the super rich could make a difference to the world.

[amusingduck]

Ubisoft are making Assassin's Creed:Unity free for the next week on PC because of Notre Dame, if anyone is interested

https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/348227/supp...

[ashleyman]

You could easily throw a billion at some world problems and it wouldn't make a difference.

The difference here is those contributing will be able to see tangible results for their donation.

I'm not saying either is more important.

[Baby Shark doo doo doo doo]

The issue with world problems is that governments or ‘charities’ handle the money.

[Schmeeky]

Thankfully, NewsThump is back to normal

[Blackpuddin]

p1stonhead said:

Vaud said:

petemurphy said:

v true I've always been disgusted that they have such wealth and resource whilst people are starving - eg open up churches for the homeless

Indeed.

People sleeping on the streets. Abject poverty in many catholic countries. Long term and systematic abuse of children by our priests...

Our church burns down >> everyone throws money at it.

It’s quite hard to justify objectively. Shows how much of a staggering dent in the worlds problems could be solved if billionaires cared about various issues.

It's all driven by guilt. They're trying to buy salvation.

[biggbn]

Blackpuddin said:

It's all driven by guilt. They're trying to buy salvation.

Something the Catholic Church used to practice, buy a place in heaven guaranteed

[gregs656]

biggbn said:

Blackpuddin said:

It's all driven by guilt. They're trying to buy salvation.

Something the Catholic Church used to practice, buy a place in heaven guaranteed

Indulgences are very much still a thing, have been for a while.

I think there is something absolute about this problem that encourages action in a way that, I don't know, deforestation in far away places don't. I don't think it should be this way but I can see how it happens.

[Guybrush]

It's odd how the mainstream media has been extremely quiet about the hundreds of other church fires in both France and Germany over the last few years. The 'news' does seem to be somewhat selective.

[TTwiggy]

Guybrush said:

It's odd how the mainstream media has been extremely quiet about the hundreds of other church fires in both France and Germany over the last few years. The 'news' does seem to be somewhat selective.

I thought we'd covered this several pages back?

[Baby Shark doo doo doo doo]

I’ve noticed a lot of French on various social media are suspicious of what started the fire. Claims it was planned to deflect attention from Macron’s policies and promote him as unifying France in this ‘national tragedy’.

Seems a bit far fetched IMO

[Mothersruin]

Baby Shark doo doo doo doo said:

I’ve noticed a lot of French on various social media are suspicious of what started the fire. Claims it was planned to deflect attention from Macron’s policies and promote him as unifying France in this ‘national tragedy’.

Seems a bit far fetched IMO

The usual ploy is to go to war...

[rscott]

Guybrush said:

It's odd how the mainstream media has been extremely quiet about the hundreds of other church fires in both France and Germany over the last few years. The 'news' does seem to be somewhat selective.

Quiet like this - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/vandalism-at-hu... ? Which seems to suggest a 20% drop in incidents of vandalism from in the last year.

This - https://www.ncronline.org/news/world/shattered-sta... makes the point that the Catholic church think there are many motives, mainly vandalism and theft. The recent fire was attributed to homeless people sleeping there.

Of course, the Gatestone Institute blame Muslims, but they blame them for pretty much everything...

[Trevatanus]

Baby Shark doo doo doo doo said:

I’ve noticed a lot of French on various social media are suspicious of what started the fire. Claims it was planned to deflect attention from Macron’s policies and promote him as unifying France in this ‘national tragedy’.

Seems a bit far fetched IMO

My first thought was that it was a terrorist attack, not because that's the default thought, but because I understand there has been some cases of arson in French churches recently, and I would imagine this would something of a "soft" target.

[gregs656]

Guybrush said:

It's odd how the mainstream media has been extremely quiet about the hundreds of other church fires in both France and Germany over the last few years. The 'news' does seem to be somewhat selective.

Is it? Really? There are fires in all kinds of buildings all the time.

If the Globe caught fire, would you say it is surprising that the mainstream media has been extremely quiet about the hundreds of other thatched buildings that have caught fire?

Notre Dame is an iconic building any major incident to it would have made the news.

It shocks me that any adult can type the words 'The 'news' does seem to be somewhat selective.' and think that they are saying something even vaguely insightful or interesting.