Obama’s Tough Love for Africa
I’m always reading on the Corner that Barack Obama is a far-left radical driven by anti-American and anti-Western impulses. Under the circumstances, it’s weird that he keeps giving speeches that are so at odds with his world view:
President Barack Obama addresses the parliament of Ghana (White House photo)
But despite the progress that has been made — and there has been considerable progress in many parts of Africa — we also know that much of that promise has yet to be fulfilled. Countries like Kenya had a per capita economy larger than South Korea’s when I was born. They have badly been outpaced. Disease and conflict have ravaged parts of the African continent.
In many places, the hope of my father’s generation gave way to cynicism, even despair. Now, it’s easy to point fingers and to pin the blame of these problems on others. Yes, a colonial map that made little sense helped to breed conflict. The West has often approached Africa as a patron or a source of resources rather than a partner. But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants. In my father’s life, it was partly tribalism and patronage and nepotism in an independent Kenya that for a long stretch derailed his career, and we know that this kind of corruption is still a daily fact of life for far too many.
One sociological finding I’m fascinated with is the fact that the extent to which one overestimates one’s personal degree of control over one’s fortunes is an important predictor of success. In other words, success in life is partly a result of circumstances and luck and partly a result of individual effort. And people who overestimate the importance of effort at more likely to succeed. It makes sense when you think about it, but it’s also a bit paradoxical.
In that light, I think this is a useful kind of message to spread. It’s not helpful to a country to have its politics dominated by post-colonial grievances and attempted blame-shifting. But particularly amidst a global economic crisis, I think it’s striking the extent to which few countries really are masters of their own destiny. And it’s not just Africa. The Canadian banking system, for example, is very strong and the Canadians don’t seem to have made any important errors in macroeconomic policy. But they’re going to have a painful recession just like everyone else, because Canada’s economy is very intertwined with America’s. And you see tons and tons of this sort of thing in poor countries where the prices of commodities they export can collapse for reasons that are far outside their control. And, again, the Ghanas of the world are very seriously impacted by the nature of the global trading regime and by rich countries’ immigration policies, but Ghana has no real ability to influence either of those things.
68 Responses to “Obama’s Tough Love for Africa”
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July 11th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Obama is very good at telling people about their shortcomings and getting them to like it.
But it is getting a little old with me. I would like someone to give Obama a taste of that same medicine and point out his shortcomings. Like:
FISA or
No investigation of torture crimes or
Expansion of a pointless war in Afghanistan or
Detentions without just cause or
No investigation of financial misdeeds or
Billions to banker friends or
ETC.
July 11th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
The West is not responsible for imposing divide and conquer practices in their African colonies? There was no Hutsi or Tutu before colonization. The West planted seeds of division and modeled violence as a problem solving method.
Obama does root cause as well as Bush..
July 11th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Tim Burke wrote an online essay I really liked, “Competency as a Cultural Value”, where hestal left this interesting comment:
http://weblogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/2008/01/04/competency-as-a-cultural-value/comment-page-1/#comment-4806
Haven’t read Harrison’s book, but Harrison and Samuel Huntington edited a 1999 book, Culture Matters, with a lot of interesting essays, among others one by Jeffrey Sachs where he notes that, perhaps counterintuitively, the world distribution of knowledge – patents, research papers, etc. – is even more unequal than the distribution of wealth; and an essay by David Landes where he made the point that the Japanese, because they were so confident in other aspects of culture, were able to quickly acknowledge and learn from Western superiority in science and technology.
July 11th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
The West has often approached Africa as a patron or a source of resources rather than a partner.
Now the West is wiser and instead approaches the Middle East and South Asia this way. I wonder if an American president in 50 years will make a speech in Kabul or Bagdad blaming the locals for their poor economy.
July 11th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Not directly on-topic, but I just read an interesting paper on economic growth by William Baumol, in which he distinguishes between invention and innovation, and identifies the symbiosis of inventive and innovative activity as to why modern capitalism has been so effective:
http://www.econ.nyu.edu/user/baumolw/sfg.pdf
“Earlier societies have had a spectacular invention record. The Chinese are the outstanding example. Centuries before Columbus they had invented printing, the compass, complex (water) clockwork, gunpowder, spinning machinery, a cotton gin, porcelain, matches, toothbrushes, playing cards and much more. There have been other countries in history with a considerable record of new products and new technology. Yet these inventions never produced economic growth anything like that in the modern market economies. . .
. . .I saw a much more careful and detailed analysis by Maurizio Iacopetta, a PhD student at New York University (“Technological Diffusion in Market vs Planned Economies,” unpublished) that reaches essentially the same conclusion, but based on far more sophisticated analysis than mine. Iacopetta provides clear evidence that invention was quite abundant in the Soviet Union, but what was missing was innovation, that is, the dissemination and widespread utilization of the inventions.”
July 11th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
roublen,
My physics teacher in high school – who had been part of the Soviet nobility – would often demonstrate that old Soviet physics and mathematics text books were way ahead of Western versions, that the Sovs had plenty of *theoretical* Nobel prizes, and all sorts of brilliance.
But then he would point out that they couldn’t build a cheap, mass-produced car, or appliances like the Germans or the Japanese or the US. He also related that between Soviet scientists and GRU/KGB acquisitions, the Sovs would often have the plans for hopelessly advanced technology. Hopeless, because what they lacked was the widespread technology to manufacture the more advanced stuff.
July 11th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
OT, but since Matt has an interest in transportation and urban development issues, I thought he would find this Heritage Foundation “research” page amusing.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/SmartGrowth/wm2536.cfm
http://www.heritage.org/Research/SmartGrowth/bg2260.cfm
“President Obama’s New Plan to Decide Where Americans Live and How They Travel”
July 11th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
The Canadian banking system might be relatively stronger than other developed nations but ‘very strong” is an overstatement.
July 11th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
That’s a real photo? It looks like Photoshop on acid via The Onion.
July 11th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
I’m not very familiar with the colonial experience in Africa. But I’m very familiar with it in Asia. The “get over it” attitude is not helpful. Nor is the IMF. The colonial powers created a lot of the problems, and they should accept responsibility for that. The countries in question continued those problems and do deserve some blame. But they didn’t plant the seed. They need help, but not guns and not major projects that produce little but graft. They need clean water, schools, and microloans. And loans to women, not men. Yes, this is obviously sexist, but women spend their money more wisely. They spend it on their kids. Men spend it on alcohol and prostitutes. If they’re not gambling it away.
July 11th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Matthew says:
No, actually, it doesn’t make sense. It makes more sense to say that people who underestimate the importance of effort are less likely to succeed.
A person believes that he or she can succeed through hard work, proceeds to work hard, and then succeeds. Not exhaustive proof that effort leads to success, but Occam would suggest that, in the absence of additional evidence, effort is the most sensible explanation.
July 11th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
I fail to understand why the bold parts (South Korea has grown faster than Kenya in that past 45 years, that it is easy to blame others, and that the West is not responsible for children soldiers) proves that Obama is not anti-American or a leftist. Of course he is neither, it is just that those statements do not support such a conclusion.
Many socialists, including the anti-American variety, could have uttered the same words.
July 11th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Yes, there was. There was no Burundi or Rwanda.
July 11th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Most people who work hard do not succeed.
July 11th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
The Corner is Timecube + 5 IQ points.
July 11th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
re: #7 AJB
The conservative instinct away from government intervention is understandable, especially as a fear of ultimate totalitarianism. But I get so tired of the way it gets trotted out impulsively to tar any new government policy one might find disagreeable. As an absolute anarcho-libertarian, the logic makes perfect sense: I do not like any X, therefore there is no variety of X I like.
But conservatives like lots of X! We do actually have many reasonable laws. Many of which even are designed for the common good (god-forbid), not just the individual. So over and over, its a recipe for hypocritical histrionics.
July 11th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Um…there aren’t “Hutsi” or “Tutu” after colonization, either. There were Hutu, and Tutsi, and Twa, before, and after, colonization.
July 11th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Fostert, Yes. God knows women have never made unwise purchasing decisions based on animalistic or evolutionary impulses. Women never gamble. Women are never drug addicts. All evil in the world derives from that progenitor of the unclean, the penis.
Really, though. How does your retarded, bigoted argument even make sense. How does spending 100 dollars on food, lipstick and shoes actually help the over-all economy more than spending 100 dollars on craps and whores? You could make a case that it is personally detrimental, if you take the position that poor people should never spend any money trying to find joy in their miserable existences, but how the fuck does it actually make any difference in terms of the broader economy? Your bizarre, bigoted version of morality is not an actual part of economic studies.
Also, saying ‘I know this is sexist’ makes you more culpable for the heaping load of misandry that follows, not less. It shows that you know what you’re saying makes you scum, and that you just don’t care.
July 11th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
It is just as true that one’s income is a predictor of how much one overestimates the role of personal effort in success. I’m sure Bill McGuire felt that he earned his $1 Billion a year as CEO of United Health Care. But most people can’t see any moral sense in which this is true. For the great majority of Americans, personal effort can mean the difference between $40,000 and $70,000 per year.
July 11th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
” There was no Hutsi or Tutu before colonization.
Yes, there was”
Sure? I did read something different. The British invented that distinction. They were using the oldest technique to keep a dictatorship running. Etablish two groups, give one of them a sligtly better position so they put their energy into fighting over who has the slightly better position and dont cooperate against the ruling class.
To the point that overconfident people are more likely to suceed in life, that is not all the strange considering that people with clinical depressions are the most realistic people.
Healthy people are built with overconfidence for a reason, since thats the best way to cope with life, despite some sad side effects especially when overconfidence meets modern technology.
July 11th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Not to mention the sad side effects of overconfidence on political decission makeing.
July 11th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade,
actually it was, mostly. ‘Bad’ nationalist assumes power = sanctions = ‘bad’ nationalists economy goes all to hell = ‘bad’ nationalist, ‘bad’ nationalist. ‘Evil’ nationalist who redistributes land from the the white colonialists back to the indigenous population = ‘Evil’
rinse, repeat
July 11th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Shorter Lupita:
I will call all of you “Yanks”, and it doesn’t matter if that’s not what you call yourself, it’s fine because the world uses that term. (It’s true because I say it is.)
But you may not use the terms Hispanic or Latino because Central and South Americans do not describe themselves this way.
If this seems to be a contradiction, that’s probably because the only real categories of identity are the ones that I believe in; everything else is made up. And you can’t call anyone poor if they are less poor than the global poor. And you don’t have a left. If you did, my seeming contradictions wouldn’t seem like so much dogmatic preening…
July 11th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Urgs,
The other commentor is correct. The ethnic distinctions did, in fact, exist. The colonizing powers (I do not think they were British, actually. Maybe Dutch) used existing ethnic differences to divide and conquer. And these distinctions are not as clear as “black and white.” But again, the distinctions did actually exist.
Phillip Gourevitch covers this quite well in his excellent book on the genocide. Titled something like “We regret to inform you…” Long title. Afraid to mangle it. But I do recommend it.
Enter other commentors who think the book is a pile of crap. Fair enough. It’s the only reading on Rwanda I have done, and I am sure there are problems with it. But I think it’s a good primer.
July 11th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
The colonizing powers (I do not think they were British, actually. Maybe Dutch)
Burundi/Rwanda = part of German East Africa, then part of the Belgian Congo.
July 11th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
“Really, though. How does your retarded, bigoted argument even make sense. How does spending 100 dollars on food, lipstick and shoes actually help the over-all economy more than spending 100 dollars on craps and whores?”
Never been to a developing country, have you? Call me bigoted and retarded all you want. Think I care? I’ve been to many developing countries, and there’s one thing that’s the same. Men are completely irresponsible with money. Women only get irresponsible after they’ve fed and clothed their children. And I know you haven’t been to a developing country because you used the term “100 dollars.” Nobody ever has a hundred dollars in their hands. That’s a year’s wages for them. It’s like an American carrying an aluminum suitcase full of hundred dollar bills. How often do you do that? I can tell you this. Give a woman twelve dollars for a wok and some chickens, and she’ll have a restaurant a year later. Give it to a man, and it will be gone in one night with nothing but a hangover to show for it. My roommate ran construction jobs in Cambodia for five years. He would only pay the wives of his workers. If he paid the men, they wouldn’t show up again. They’d gamble more than they had and get killed by the local mafia. Either that, or they’d have to do some jobs for the mafia. Either way, they weren’t doing construction anymore. So before you show your ignorance again, travel to some developing countries and see for yourself. And then call yourself a bigot and a retard. And have a good laugh about it.
July 11th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
“Give it to a man, and it will be gone in one night with nothing but a hangover to show for it.”
Well, except for maybe another kid and a case of AIDS.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Re: Sure? I did read something different. The British invented that distinction. They were using the oldest technique to keep a dictatorship running.
Huh? The Tutsi and Hutu have existed as categories for several hundred years before colonization. Though there is some doubt whether these were more identifiers of socioeconomic class, or the more immutable ‘ethnic’ classifiers that we think of today. Or perhaps something in between like the Indian caste system. One can argue that the division became more set-in-stone under the Belgians, but it was certainly around before.
Of course since you appear to be under the impression that the British ruled Rwanda/Burundi (hint: it was first the Germans then the Belgians), I doubt the history of this unfortunate corner of Africa is your strong suit.
Soullite,
Give me a break. Fostert is dead on right here. Talk to anyone who has actually worked in international development. They will tell you, almost to a man/woman, that they’d rather leave $1000 with a group of women than a group of men. That women tend to be more responsible than men is simply a fact of nature. Not just in the third world, but in the developed world as well. I’m sorry if this offends the almighty canons of political correctness, but some of us are more interested in actually trying to figure out how Africa can develop, rather than coddling the delicate sensibilities of a bunch of latte-drinking Georgetown gender-studies yahoos.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Fostert @ 27,
You’ve hit the nail on the head.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
So what’s up up Hector? I’ve always respected you, but I never thought I’d agree with you. Man, twice in one day. I either have to lay off the bongs or smoke more. But I know exactly what it is. We’ve both spent a fair amount of time in India. If that doesn’t teach you about how life really works, nothing will.
July 12th, 2009 at 12:21 am
Thanks for the corrections all. I thought I heard Immaculee Ilibagiza state that the distinction came from Westerners, when she spoke in our community. My apologies for getting Hutu and Tutsi wrong.
http://www.immaculee.com/
July 12th, 2009 at 12:32 am
Obama’s speech greases the skid for Western investment in Africa. The Carlyle Group announced a $500 million Middle East/North Africa fund. They used James A. Baker III to court the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Colonel Gaddafi wants to form an African Economic Union, like the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Gaddafi hired an influential DC lobbying firm to stir up interest in investing in Libya.
http://peureport.blogspot.com/search?q=libya
July 12th, 2009 at 1:02 am
Men spend it on alcohol and prostitutes. If they’re not gambling it away.
It seems to me that if women are raising their boys to be irresponsible drunkards that care nothing about their families, then women are not that great either. Further humiliating men with such attitude and language and by not giving them an opportunity (if you are in the development business) to contribute to the welfare of their families and community, only makes the problem caused by the indignities of poverty and violence (definitely, not because they were born men) worse and would further disintegrate families already under terrible stress.
Only respect for the dignity of all humans can serve as the basis for development. Casting men against women is more of the imperial divide and conquer strategy.
July 12th, 2009 at 1:07 am
Yes, a colonial map that made little sense helped to breed conflict.
And the Obama Apology Tour continues.
(please note I am joking)
July 12th, 2009 at 1:15 am
Fostert, Yes. God knows women have never made unwise purchasing decisions based on animalistic or evolutionary impulses. Women never gamble. Women are never drug addicts. All evil in the world derives from that progenitor of the unclean, the penis.
Well, said bro. Its due to bigots like Fostert that men outnumber women more than 10 to 1 in prisons. Just shows you women have to try 10 times as hard at everything.
July 12th, 2009 at 1:25 am
We’ve both spent a fair amount of time in India. If that doesn’t teach you about how life really works, nothing will.
Oh, yes.
Matriarchal financial management isn’t really that distanced from “western society”, however you want to classify it. My paternal grandma took my grandad’s wage packet and gave him his beer money. My mother had a bank account many, many years before my father.
Grameen also seems to focus quite a bit on female business in the developing world. It makes you wonder what would happen if Western business (and politics) wasn’t dominated by middle-aged men with dick-swinging issues.
(Seriously, though, Hector: if you ease up on the tedious “hipster” shit, you probably have plenty of interest to say.)
July 12th, 2009 at 2:23 am
“Its due to bigots like Fostert that men outnumber women more than 10 to 1 in prisons.”
Now that’s just silly. It’s due to drunks like me that we outnumber women in prisons. Women don’t do the stupid shit I do. That’s why they don’t end up in jail like me. As for me being a bigot, I just love this. Who am I bigoted against this time? Oh yeah, men. This is actually a first. As a man, I don’t normally get accused of this. Normally, I’m sexist against women. But I’ll run with it.
What I said is true. Go to Laos or Ghana, and you’ll see it’s true. Go to a bar, and look at who’s there. Not many 30 year old women are there? Why not? Because they are home taking care of the kids. Now how many 30 year old men are there? Well, that’s half the bar isn’t it? Why are they there? Either they don’t want to deal with their kids, or they don’t know who their kids are. Welcome to fucking reality. We can create all kinds of bullshit ideas when we want don’t want to analyze it, but reality trumps it all. If you want to give your money to drunken men in the Third World, be my guest. But don’t do it with my money. I’ll give it to women.
Seriously, you can call me a bigot all you want, I’ve been there and you haven’t. You can wear your lack of understanding and experience as your badge of honor. I’ll wear you’re false bigotry claim as my badge of honor. Don’t believe me? Then fucking go there. Until you’ve spent a year in the Third World, don’t even talk to me about this. You don’t know shit about this, and I actually do. And I don’t know what the fuck you are doing, but I hope it’s not much because it would only hurt. But I actually help people in these places. And while I don’t have kids, I have several adopted kids in various places in the world. And I actually visit them. I’m Uncle Tom, and a very welcomed guest, in quite a few places. I didn’t just send their kids to college, I gave money to their schools so other kids might have that chance. Bigot, my ass. Not one of these children is anything like me. And they aren’t like each other, either.
July 12th, 2009 at 2:33 am
Not really. It’s more like
A. Black nationalist leader comes to power, things are pretty chill in terms of economic growth and output until 2000, decades after the UK, and decades after the White Rhodesian government ceased to exist.
B. Black nationalist leader decides in 2000 that seizing farms from frequently white farm-owners is a good political ploy. He does so. Result? Said country (the breadbasket of Africa) has a massive drop in agricultural output, followed by massive dependency on food imports.
c. Said regime then decides to print money to pay bills. They do so, in large quantities. Currency then becomes worthless, which weakens investment, making the currency even more worthless, and so on and so forth. Economy gets wrecked even more.
It is an extreme stretch to claim that Zimbabwe’s economic and developmental problems of the past decade are due to anything other than the government itself.
July 12th, 2009 at 2:43 am
“It is an extreme stretch to claim that Zimbabwe’s economic and developmental problems of the past decade are due to anything other than the government itself.”
That is certainly true there. But I think we can safely say that Mugabe is the stupidest leader in the world. And possibly more counter-effective than Idi Amin. As for the colonials, I’m not really sure why they have a right to keep what they stole. If I stole your wife’s best jewelry, would you defend my right to keep it? That seems to be where you’re going. Want to go there? I’ll sign up.
July 12th, 2009 at 4:08 am
“It seems to me that if women are raising their boys to be irresponsible drunkards that care nothing about their families, then women are not that great either.”
You either aren’t a parent, or you are a very young one. I may not be a parent, but I have a lot of friends who are. Some of the kids turn out great, some do not. Parents try their best, and some do a really good job, but there’s no guarantees. And whatever a mom does, society will have a bigger influence. I’ve seen that. I used to ride through the projects on my bike to get to work. And this woman, who I’ll call Big Mama, always came out and sat on her porch to make sure I got through safely. I got to know her, and I’d stop by for tea and cookies every morning. She was one of those old black women that run their neighborhoods. Even the gangbangers wouldn’t mess with her. I asked how her kids were, and she’s like “oh, they didn’t all turn out so well.” Two were in jail, and one did really well for herself. And I know damn well it wasn’t Big Mama’s fault. She did all she could, just like every other mother in the ‘Hood. She wasn’t stupid or irresponsible, she just had to raise her kids in a rough neighborhood. You try that, and see how that works for you. But Big Momma was like a mother to me, and she saved me. There’s no way I would have lived through that without her protection. I got the nickname “Crazy White Boy” then, because I was the only white person to ever venture into that neighborhood. And only one person ever stuck up for me, but it was the right one. To every inner city woman who has stuck up for a guy like me, I thank you, and may you be blessed. And to every inner city single mom trying to raise their kids right, bless you, and my prayers and thoughts are with you. You are not forsaken, some of us really do care about you and your children.
July 12th, 2009 at 4:26 am
Due respect, but I gather you didn’t meet Big Mama in your adventures in Boulder CO? Unless Celestial Seasonings and the Diagnal is way fiercer than I heard of.
July 12th, 2009 at 4:40 am
I’m sorry if this offends the almighty canons of political correctness, but some of us are more interested in actually trying to figure out how Africa can develop, rather than coddling the delicate sensibilities of a bunch of latte-drinking Georgetown gender-studies yahoos.
I’m pretty sure the fact that it is wiser to lend to women than men has been established and popularized by a bunch of latte-drinking development yahoos.
July 12th, 2009 at 4:51 am
“Due respect, but I gather you didn’t meet Big Mama in your adventures in Boulder CO?”
No, that was Rochester, New York. I lived on Gregory Street, right near the Ford Street bridge. Home of Pee Wee Ellis. Yeah, he wasn’t actually born there, but he came to fame there. He was jamming with Ron Carter back then when he was in high school. I mention Pee Wee because I went to a show in that neighborhood. It was the James Brown Horns when Mr. Brown was still in jail. Not only were me and my roommate the only white guys out of 700 people, we were the only ones not in three piece suits. The under-dressed part had me a little uncomfortable, not the racial thing. But everything was cool. It was actually a lot of fun, everyone came up to me saying “Hey, you’re Crazy White Boy!” Turns out, I was actually a big hit. Wish I’d worn a suit, though. It’s hard enough for us white boys to look stylin’, but trying is a start.
July 12th, 2009 at 4:58 am
“I’m pretty sure the fact that it is wiser to lend to women than men has been established and popularized by a bunch of latte-drinking development yahoos.”
No, that was Muhammad Yunnis. He got an award for his work in banking. The only banker ever to get the Nobel Peace Prize. And he certainly deserved it. Latte drinking hipsters caught on to him long after he’d done his work. Not that he’s not still doing it, of course. He’s got this new project doing microloans in Brooklyn. May he be blessed.
July 12th, 2009 at 5:19 am
“It was the James Brown Horns when Mr. Brown was still in jail.”
Oh, and it was Pee Wee’s birthday, that’s why everyone was so dressed up. And when the black folk get dressed up, they don’t mess around. They know how to look good in a suit. And the women, don’t even get me started. I’ve never been to wedding that had so many pretty dresses. And the women inside them were HOT. I felt so inadequate. Even if I had worn my best suit, I’d still be put to shame.
July 12th, 2009 at 5:37 am
No, that was Muhammad Yunnis. He got an award for his work in banking. The only banker ever to get the Nobel Peace Prize.
And without the latte-drinking development yahoos he wouldn’t have received any prize, and you would never have heard of him.
July 12th, 2009 at 6:05 am
“And without the latte-drinking development yahoos he wouldn’t have received any prize, and you would never have heard of him.”
Come on, you know that’s not true. I’m not some random hippie. I’m the kind of hippie who really did know who Yunnis was. And is. When he got his prize, my thoughts were: “it’s about time.” You guys may be Hector’s latte drinking hipsters, but I’m not. I grew up fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment and against the Vietnam War. And I’ll still fight for women’s rights, and fight against misguided wars. And in the process, I’ll fight for some children who need some extra help to get into a good college. Every child deserves a chance. It’s not their fault we provided them with a shitty situation. So I try to correct that. So shoot me. If I’m such a bad person, just shoot me. I’m just trying to help. If you don’t want it…..
July 12th, 2009 at 6:22 am
I’ll just throw this in: fostert is 100% correct, and the anti-feminists on here need to wise up. You can’t project social issues in the US onto other countries, especially developing countries. It’s a whole different ballgame. Out of control feminism isn’t a problem in places like Cambodia, it’s women or young girls getting sold into a life of prostitution for 50 dollars, out of control corruption, and the general mentality that life is so unpredictable it’s not worth trying to build anything for the common good.
July 12th, 2009 at 6:37 am
And you people who want to criticize me are free to do so, but do you think I actually care about your opinion? But ask yourself. How many schools have you built? How many kids have you put through college? What have you done to help developing countries develop? I ask those questions of myself and know damn well I’ve done almost as much as I can. Almost. I could do more. And I should. But what have you done? There’s a computer center on a refugee camp in India named after my brother (rip). Why’s it named after him? Because I said so. And I paid for it. And those kids will never know who my brother was. Probably better that they don’t. And they’ll know less about who I am. But it doesn’t matter, those kids have some computers. Did you pay for that? No, I did. Call me a racist and a lunatic. But you’d only be right on the latter. But when it comes to actually helping people in developing countries, what are you actually doing? I know what I’m doing, and it’s real. Are you doing that? Ask yourself that question before you criticize me. And when you accuse me of being racist, well there’s plenty of little brown kids that think otherwise.
July 12th, 2009 at 7:02 am
“it’s women or young girls getting sold into a life of prostitution for 50 dollars”
And cute boys, too. You get it. It’s not a joke. Just ugly.
“and the general mentality that life is so unpredictable it’s not worth trying to build anything for the common good”
I’m not so sure that’s true in Cambodia, but it’s true elsewhere for sure. Cambodia seems to have a sense of cautious optimism. With an emphasis on the caution. But they seem to have a little hope. And despite my obvious cynicism, I still am a sucker for hope. And I really believe they can pull through. They are the most determined people I’ve seen. Granted, their situation doesn’t look so good now. But they keep trying. And that counts for something. I can’t say they will succeed, but I really hope they do. I wish success upon everyone, of course. But the Khmer are special people, and there’s a special place in my heart for them. Hun Sen is looking shaky right now, and I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad. I obviously don’t like him, but can anyone else run the country? Certainly not the Sam Rainsy freaks, but is there a credible Sihanouk faction? Who knows? In Cambodia, nobody ever knows.
July 12th, 2009 at 8:14 am
…
Translation: “I was into Muhammed Yunnis before it was cool.”
Thanks, fostert, for highlighting not just your 3rd world development cred, but your hipster/indie cred, too.
July 12th, 2009 at 8:55 am
The freakiest thing about Cambodia? Everyone has the same story. And it’s no joke, it really happened. And the story is brutal. And it happened to everyone, so they all have the same story. There’s a part of the story that Americans usually don’t know about. It’s when the Vietnamese let them out of the prison camps. Understand that the Khmer and Vietnamese have been fighting each other for at least two thousand years. They really don’t like each other. So if you’re Khmer, your are not likely to trust the Vietnamese even when they rescue you. But it’s not like the Vietnamese actually did anything. They just opened the gates. And nobody really knew what to do at that point. The Vietnamese had to actually force the Khmer out. And then they really didn’t know where to go. So everyone wandered, looking for their family. Or what’s left of it. Every town had message boards. Two of them, one for the living, and one for the dead. If you saw someone die, you put their name on the dead board. If you saw them alive, you put the last place you saw them on the living board. When you came to a town, you hoped your friends and family were on the living board. It took a while, but those that were living did manage to meet up with each other. But the process was really the freakiest thing. And it’s something that nobody remembers. My hotel manger in Phnom Penh happened to have been born the same day I was. So I could relate to his life, but not really. I was sitting in a class in a suburban high school thinking this is really boring. He’s wandering around Cambodia, trying to find his sister. He already knows half his family is dead. But his sister might be alive, he doesn’t know. He has to keep looking. This story actually does have a happy ending. His sister really was alive and he did find her. But it took him two years to find her. As happy as that may be, it’s still fucking brutal. Especially when you consider that he spent his life up until seven years old in a civil war. Then he was put into a forced labor camp. When he was a teenager, he had to find his family. We Americans can’t really imagine something like that.
July 12th, 2009 at 9:04 am
“but your hipster/indie cred, too.”
I have no hipster/indie cred. All I have is world traveler/old fart cred. And I’m not even that old. But I have traveled. And I will die soon enough.
July 12th, 2009 at 9:43 am
As for me being a bigot, I just love this. Who am I bigoted against this time? Oh yeah, men.
Duude, I was being, like, all sarcastic and stuff.
Apparently it wasn’t obvious but I was mocking soullite.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:46 am
I’ve had a wonderful, affluent upbringing in the US, but I really can imagine something like that.
That’s exactly what happened to my family and specifically my grandfather because of the Holomodor, and that’s what happened to my first mentor and boss because of the Shoah.
July 12th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
[Greg's physics teacher] would often demonstrate that old Soviet physics and mathematics text books were way ahead of Western versions, that the Sovs had plenty of *theoretical* Nobel prizes, and all sorts of brilliance. – Greg
We in the 21st century USA still use old Soviet textbooks (in translation) for undergraduate/graduate level math courses, especially in differential equations and Fourier analysis.
July 12th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
whatever a mom does, society will have a bigger influence
Then it is time for revolution, no? As you well know, the participation of men was essential in rebellions of Cochabamba, the Amazon region in Peru, and Chiapas in Mexico. Men and women were not thinking about starting a little restaurant or sending their own kid to school as the women you so admire were. Men and women know that their efforts to provide for their families and live a life of dignity are circumscribed by the power structures of their societies and the world and seek to change them.
Your admiration for heroic individual effort, starting with your own, and treating a whole segment of society, men in this case, as disposable garbage, are expressions of the prevalent individualist culture of the US, not the revolutionary ideologies that are actually bringing fundamental change to 3rd world communities.
July 12th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Lupita, did you actually read your post?
Men are bigger, stronger, meaner, more prone to violence, and less willing to exercise restraint than women.
I don’t see where fostert, Hector, or anyone else described men as “disposable garbage”.
Dude, we men staff the bulk of every army, every paramilitary, every militia, every violent group of every kind. I fail to see how men are *ever* oppressed. We hold the ultimate power in the world, that of coercive force.
What the other guys have pointed out is that the flip side of our toughness is that we tend to be incapable of subtlety, discretion, and restraint. Did you completely skip being a kid? Do you know how ruthlessly cruel little boys are to other boys who show glimmers of independent thought or who decide to compromise rather than resort to force?
Either that, or you’re absolute fucking idiot.
July 12th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Woe be unto me who fails the obvious test of spelling:
Either that, or you’re an absolute fucking idiot.
July 12th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
I don’t see where fostert, Hector, or anyone else described men as “disposable garbage”.
Here: Men spend it on alcohol and prostitutes. If they’re not gambling it away.
I fail to see how men are *ever* oppressed.
Cochabamba, Chiapas, Amazonia, Imperial Valley, etc. You know, the poor. They live in families, men and women together. Right-wing Americans, which includes your progressives and liberals, always focus on racial and gender divisions and are purposely blind to class.
We hold the ultimate power in the world, that of coercive force.
Neoliberal imperialists hold ultimate power. This group includes Margaret Thatcher and Condoleezza Rice.
July 12th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Your admiration for heroic individual effort, starting with your own, and treating a whole segment of society, men in this case, as disposable garbage, are expressions of the prevalent individualist culture of the US, not the revolutionary ideologies that are actually bringing fundamental change to 3rd world communities.
Cochabamba, Chiapas, Amazonia, Imperial Valley, etc. You know, the poor. They live in families, men and women together. Right-wing Americans, which includes your progressives and liberals, always focus on racial and gender divisions and are purposely blind to class.
Your dogmatic insistence on things instead of detailed argument makes you sound stupid, not sophisticated.
July 12th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
That’s the case with some of the white-owned farms (they basically bought the land when the British, and later the Rhodesian governments were favoring them in land purchases), but it actually does not apply to many of them. Many of the white farmers actually bought their land after Mugabe came to power back in the early 1980s, but before he went totally stir-crazy in 2000.
In any case, stolen or not, it resulted in the effective destruction of most of Zimbabwe’s agricultural output (which was one of the pillars of its economy), and the loss of a significant amount of human capital in the form of the white farmers with specialized knowledge (most of whom fled to the West, but many of whom spread out and ended up in other areas, like Zambia).
July 12th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Yes, you are totally correct Lupita. We should go to Cambodia and stir up an anti-imperialist peasant revolution. That’s exactly what the country needs. I can’t possibly imagine what could go wrong. In fact, I can’t even understand why they haven’t done that before… have they? Why don’t you go look up the history and tell me.
It comes down to power, and peasant revolutions have their own elites. When they get power, they use the power to their own ends like everyone else.
I’m just going to echo fostert’s comments. You need a lesson in human nature before you start running your mouth off about the issues facing developing nations.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Watching Obama tell the Africans that their biggest problem is corruption and poor Governance was surrealistic and Ironic. It happens to be true, but why would anybody take a President seriously, who leads the Chicago Way, on those topics as he runs up trillions and trillions in debt and printed money in his own country and has Unemployment shooting upward over 10%? Within a couple of years under the Obama regime we may be using billion dollar bills to buy a cup of coffee like in Zimbabwe.
July 13th, 2009 at 4:21 am
valwayne, Hyperbole is my name, stop using it in your posts.
July 13th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Why is the white media so eager to dub Obama’s SECOND trip to Africa (1st was Egypt) as some sort of crack down on Africa lol…
The speech and visit was nothing of the sort. It was fair and balanced! Obama hinted at CENTURIES of Racism and exploitation, as well as personal responsibility.
Also, the Ghanaian people shouldn’t be all the way naïve about the Obama visit. They should consider the American Business interest and the new jackpot they hit with the discovery of oil under their land. Plus, the U.S. might be thinking about changing some of its racist policy toward Africa because its looking like if the US doesn’t want to invest in African capitalism, the Chinese will lol…
July 13th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
It’s worth noting that Korea had an even uglier colonial past than Kenya, especially in terms of the recent past. Imperial Japan was really amazingly horrible to Koreans. That was followed by a rather nasty war where various other major powers and superpowers fought for control of their country.
July 13th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
I don’t know that it’s useful to reference the Corner and its ilk as if the editors or their sponsors really believe what they say.
It’s getting to be almost as bad as the run up to the last general election, watching the GOP talking heads praise Gov. Palin through gritted teeth when (they thought that) the mic was hot.