I heard a comedian say that "In some countries, people feel lucky if they can get an occassional drink of even polluted water. Yet here in America, we have so much, we PLAY in it in water parks". What do you think about that statement?

I don’t get the joke. It’s true.

The bottled water industry is ridiculously well marketed. It’s managed to sell you something you can get for free. It is tap water in most cases, only filtered a few more times and put into a handy bottle. Tap water in most cities is more than clean enough to drink.

Like susanc, I’m not sure what the comedian’s purpose was in making a joke about this issue. I mean, some comedians do point out hypocrisy or flaws in what people do, this goes way back to jesters in a king’s court. Sometimes comedians say things to make us think more about ourselves (George Carlin for example). I hope this is what the comedian was doing, and wasn’t really laughing at the millions of people who don’t have clean water, because that’s not something I would find amusing to laugh at.

No, he was laughing at the EXTREME inequality of it all, AND how we SO take it for granted.

Ah, irony.

It is true and part of the reason I donate to charities that build wells in Africa and Asia.

this is true.
in america, we take everything for granted like crazy.
the water is never clean enough for us, and yet in so many places thousands die of dehydration daily.
and i agree, bottled water is just tap water.
not to mention, some bottled water is actually less healthy, more polluted, more lethal, and in all cases more expensive than tap.

i think whoever this comedian is had a really good point, and has a solid way of thinking.

T’were it Bill Hicks, @Mr_M? That’s something I can imagine him talking about.

Americans are over-indulged, coddled, selfish, pricks. In general. And I’m American, so I can say that. It’s RIDICULOUS what we consider “necessary” to live.

We may be on the verge of seeing some significant changes in what we take for granted. Bottled water—may it be the first thing to go.

@aprilsimnel , I don’t know. It was a black, male comedian I happened to hear on the Comedy Channel yesterday (Sat., 2/21/09) around mid-day.

it’s completely true. the only time i ever buy bottled water is if i’m really thirsty and i’m out somewhere, like at a concert or the zoo or something. i think the idea of buying a bottle of water (wasting plastic, buying water for ridiculous amounts of water when it’s more or less the same thing coming out of your faucet) is infinitely stupid.

We are so acclimated to our culture, we forget how good we have it in America, and more importantly, we forget that millions suffer immensely everyday.

Barry Schwartz gave a great talk at TED about this issue: The Paradox of Choice

He talks about how there used to only be one kind of blue jean style that you could buy. Usually they fit poorly, but since it was the only kind you could have, you were satisfied.

Now we have 50 different styles of jeans to choose from and you can find a pair that is better than anything you have ever worn. But there will always be a part of you that notices that one little problem with the new jeans and makes you less satisfied with them than with the jeans that fit poorly back when you only had one choice.

@Mr_M lol i saw that on tv the other night too, he was pretty damn funny dont know who it was. WEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee water yayyyyyyyyyy.