That's not the role of particle physicists. Not all scientists should work on the same things, and not every one is good at the same things. Moreover, who are you to decide what is important and what is not? I am not saying helping Madagascar children is not important. I only say that there is no relation with particle physics research, and that the fact other problems are urgent is not a good reason to forget about all the rest. Why cannot both be addressed, especially as both require different skills? That's a point you seem to forget: science is vast and so specialised that it is impossible to be expert everywhere.
PS: particle physics it not about building a bomb... You didn't get it right at all.
@chrisaiki particle physic is neither good nor bad. It's like many things, what we do with it that is good or bad. Maxwell in the 19th-century didn't work for the Manhattan Project as far as I know ;)
Do you know the VOSS system (concrete flywheel to store solar energy)? Do you know the ITER project (electricity generated by nuclear fusion). Science itself is dependent on its own progress.
If today we are able to make more and more advanced simulations (rising waters, climate change, fluid mechanics and so on) it's thanks to a ridiculously small component called transistor that comes straight from particle physics (quantum mechanics).
Science is part of knowledge, to transmit knowledge to those who don't have access to it is one of the key.
Let's stop being hypocrites, for those who die of thirst and hunger every day, we are all responsible for the simple fact of our inaction, no need to look for another culprit than ourselves. If 1 million people went to Madagascar with a shovel, how long would it take to bring them water?
I fully agree with most of your remarks, except that science itsetf is dependent on its own progress.
None of the involved scientists in the Mahattan project decided on their own to work on the atomic bomb.
The oil industry and the tobacco industry have falsified science for decades.
I am not speaking of big pharma who prevent public researchers to study phytotherapy.
I am a European citizen and I would like to have my word about how public money is spent.
Having a word or an opinion is different from deciding as being king of the world.