I don't want to put words in your mouth, but it sounds like you think they are passive victims, and the problems in their country aren't because of their culture, values, and past decisions. The truth is some cultures, values, and ethics lead to better, just, and more productive societies than others.
Another recent example from Pakistan. https://archive.fo/vnfcO/bc5b2f28c18bde325b0fceb09df681ad09f7a390.jpg
I have nothing against these people personally, but their culture is backwards and the cause of many of their problems. Hopefully they join the rest of us in the 21st century (or even the 20th century) and reject their bigotry, superstition, and hate. If we refuse to call them out on this and don't condemn it for what it is, we're really leading to more human suffering and should expect to see news stories like this for years to come. Sometimes "tough love" is necessary and right.
Perhaps you take a narrow view of productivity and justice.
In a childish way I'm fond of scientific advancement, but given the various impending environmental disasters the world is facing, we clearly are not responsible enough to wield our power. You might call some cultures regressive - better that than unchecked short-term destructive greed.
On the contrary, a holistic view of productivity, justice, and and the quality of society condemns their choices. Chose any metric and things are incredibly bleak in Yemen compared to just about any other place. Some evidence of their poor choices and values:
- death for homosexuality
- death for apostasy
- death for blasphemy
- nonexistent women's rights
- nonexistent free speech
- human trafficking
- slavery
- child marriages
- genital mutilation
The list goes on and on, so in what way is my view narrow? What are their gems of culture and enlightenment? These policies and values and incompatible with a prosperous and successful society by any reasonable measure. And speaking of environmental disasters, they've made some poor choices even though they're running out of water, so let's not pretend like only the civilized world is responsible for ecological issues:
Agriculture in Yemen takes up about 90% of water in Yemen even though it only generates 6% of GDP - however a large portion of Yemenis are dependent on small-scale subsistence agriculture. Half of agricultural water in Yemen is used to grow khat, a narcotic that most Yemenis chew. This means that in such a water-scarce country as Yemen, where half the population is food-insecure, 45% of the water withdrawn from the ever-depleting aquifers is used to grow a narcotic that does not feed Yemenis
There is nothing of value here in their society and culture, only lessons on what to avoid if you want a functioning society. And these problems are almost entirely their own creation, not the result of some outside, exploitative influence.
Technological advances and capitalism certainly have their weaknesses and legitimate criticism, but they're not anywhere comparable in the civilized world to the disastrous society in Yemen, and in the areas that there are deficiencies, I certainly hope we don't look to the Middle East for inspiration on how to improve our society. So I stand by my point: they need to change, not us.
None of this is politically correct, and it goes against the currently-popular thought that all are equal, value in everyone, etc, but it is the truth, and like I said before, if we really care about people, we would do everything possible to put an end to this instead acting like their choices and the societies they live in have no relation.
Well, the world does seem to have too many people...
No doubt the people in Yemen have had a pretty terrible time, and are pretty screwed up as a result, but still I don't think it's clear that there are more of 'those type of people' there.