A thought: maybe I should tone down my social pontifications. I do subscribe to about 15 magazines though, mostly news journals. So it's hard not to start shouting when I notice over the period of a year or two an underlying current within worldwide problems.
Here's a more personal observation. Through my own eyes and experience, it seems to me that there are these huge social cliques. Rather than trying to act the way they feel is rational and with purpose (hence genuine), individuals try to fit perfectly within the stereotype of their group. People who party need to drink with reckless abandon and brag about it later. Computer geeks need to immerse themselves forever within virtual worlds. Gothics need to try to out-pierce each other. Potheads need to wear hemp and listen to their own type of music. Just about all of the mentioned categories would frown on the need for eating right and working out. Any sort of deviation, unless justified, leads to loss of respect within any of the groups.
What was ever wrong with moderation and trying to find your own best path to live? Sure, there is a need for unity, but restricting yourself to one way of thinking is downright conformity. The only benefit I can imagine from this is making life easier by not actually considering other options. But in no way is such a path genuine.
I don't understand those individuals who hold the view that if you throw money at a problem, it'll go away.
I was listening to an interview the BBC had with a relief worker in Sudan. Despite her fellow workers getting attacked and their team losing equiptment, she was trying to justify the attacks in the eyes of the Sudanese refugees. One of her workers was misunderstood, it was a hot day, the refugees were under stress, jeeze, it was no wonder several workers were injured and one of their translators killed she supposes.
To me, that is an obvious indication that the culture among the refugees has warped to an unacceptable state, and that the aid should be withdrawn from that camp to a camp where there is still hope to make a difference.
Don't get me wrong, suffering within refugee camps is an awful thing. However, I don't think merely feeding people is going to create adequate change within most third-world countries. Some efforts are extremely notable - a cheaper synthetic version of the drug in use to treat Malaria was just discovered through the funding by the Bill and Melinda Gate's Foundation for example. But these food and medical advances will never be able to get at the core of many of the problems within Africa.
From what I understand, the common culture within many African nations is superstitious, machoistic, and free-wheeling. The most recent sighting of this cultural affliction is the sexual assault trail which South Africa's deputy Prime Minister finds himself as the defendant in. He agrees he had sex with the victim, but he says it was not coerced. Here's the interesting material: the victim is an HIV-positive AIDS activist. The deputy prime minister said he had sex with her for "cultural reasons." He also stated that he washed himself off afterwards to try to prevent infection, certainly confusing millions by stating such.
There are numerous other examples of cultural justifications which cause horrendous outcomes across Africa. In South Africa, there's a myth where if you have sex with a virgin, you'll be cured of AIDS. This has lead to an epidemic of rapes, particularly of underaged girls. In northern Nigeria, an imam denied people polio vaccinations, creating a conspiracy theory that it made people impotent. There are a number of individuals in the area who get around using only their hands and arms now. In Mozambique, farm workers who were fired tried to get a local chieftan to attack the farm owners since they felt it was their right not to show up to work everyday. When the US and UN tried to give aid to Somalia, warlords horded the food to maintain regional control of the people.
What there needs to be is a massive educational fund. There need to be informational programs which will tell people the truth, create a new common cultural bond, and thereby stop people from killing each other either directly or indirectly. Imagine the number of lives saved by bombarding people with reason and pamphlets rather than passively giving them food. Better yet, incorporate mandatory educational programs for those receiving rations.
As it is, foreign aid is doing a horrible job at curing the underlying disease by merely alleviating a few symptoms.
