Josh O. says:

That’s why the term “African American” is stupid. The people of Africa are as diverse in genetics and culture as Europe & Asia are from each other, but the so called racially sensitive people insist on lumping them all together in a single group because to them, they all look the same.

Animby - just phoning it in says:

%63 cloewe – you, sir are either blind or bigoted or stupid. And you are falling afoul of what has been mentioned several times above: Africa is a continent. Mozambique is beautiful with wonderful people. Nambibia? Botswana? Terrific places to visit and live, smart, industrious people. Lesotho? I had a great time there. Madagascar? Some very beautiful and friendly people and some very interesting wildlife. And get away from JoBurg and most of South Africa is wonderful. I’d bet I put on ten pounds one winter I toured the wine country. Zimbabwe was great until the politicians ruined it.

I suspect you were in a country like Liberia or Angola or DRC or Nigeria where conditions often are awful and the wars can be brutal. So try not to lump your limited experience into a condemnation of the entire continent.

chuck says:

#64 – agreed: most countries are great until the politicians ruin it. Do you know any countries that haven’t been ruined by politicians yet?

bobbo, the evangelical anti-theist says:

#65–Mr Fu==thats the most heart sickening thing I have ever seen. Sometimes, ignorance can be blissful.

http://vbs.tv/watch/the-vice-guide-to-travel/the-vice-guide-to-liberia-1-of-8

bobbo, the evangelical anti-theist says:

Animby–and anyone else: I’m watching Vanguard: The World Toilet Shortage aka Deadly to Drink. They just said 65% of India’s population does not have access to a toilet. They show a river passing thru Delhi that is but a sewer–the water is black, producing methane bubbles, and the bank is literally covered in human feces. The reporter says: “I’d throwup in the water but I’m afraid some of the water would splash back onto my face.”

I have already thought this on shows about the Ganges: people bathing, shitting, drinking the water. So my question is: just how much a threat is cholera and all the other shit born diseases? We are warned against a single turd in the ocean, or in reality, overrun sewers during a flood event, but India presents evidence that humans adapt quite well? Is water born disease a threat only to those who are susceptible or not previously exposed or what accounts for the seeming hardiness of the Indian people?

To bad we humans don’t have a cultural meme for collective shitting in one place and not in our drinking water?

bobbo, a civilized man needs a civilization says:

cloewe–wow, who did you piss off? Without going into exactly what you were doing in those failed states, have you seen “Not on our Watch” about that Canadian general working for the UN who wanted his troops to stop the genocide taking place right under his nose? He said just a few thousand troops could stop it all.

Isn’t that a “help” that is eminently doable? Violence doesn’t solve everything, some say anything, but it does provide a breathing space so that more rational/humane elements have a chance to take hold?

Its said the USA/UN cannot/should not become the worlds policemen. But the other analogy would be to yes, become the worlds fire fighters: go in, put out the wild fire. Go Home.

Seems to me that minimum effort could have great results. Then death, disease, poverty, hunger would result only from over population and criminal control of food and water?

Ha, ha. Yes. Civilization is a fragile thing.

bobbo, a civilized man needs a civilization says:

#73–Bob, my older brother?==you missed the analogy entirely. In essence you are saying that firefighters putting out fires is not useful because there will be another fire 5-10 years from now. Would you therefore shutdown all the firehouses across America? If your answer is “no” then you need to rethink your analysis and come up with something much better – a new realization?

Firefighting in short: works.
Nation building in short: does not work.

Do what you can do, avoid a “better” solution that you can’t do.

Sadly, you do represent the majority lack of thinking on the issue.

Saving the world, one blog entry at a time.

jbenson2 says:

#70 Bobbo said:

I have already thought this on shows about the Ganges: people bathing, shitting, drinking the water

And don’t forget the families who can’t afford the firewood for a funeral pyre. They throw their dead into the Ganges.

“The Ganges is a sacred river, held in high spiritual esteem by many Hindu faithful. It is a mark of the highest honor for one’s earthly remains to be set adrift in the Ganges after one’s soul is done with the body.”

So the Indian government has devised a solution for the most unsightly problem: specially bred snapping turtles that eat what is left of the corpses but do not nip at religious bathers.

Animby - just phoning it in says:

cloewe : If I gave the impression I was a tourist, please forgive me. The wine country tour was tourism, yes, right after I’d finished my duties in Angola during the war. Most of my time in Africa was work. Madagascar was totally pleasure.

bobbo : your question about water borne illnesses. I’ve only been to India once – and that was enough. Everyplace I went smelled like shit. I was sitting in a small restaurant once and I watched in morbid fascination as a man took a dump in the gutter outside. I don’t know how they survive. Maybe the constant doses of curry act as a constant infusion of low grade antibiotics?

Large bodies of moving water have a way of cleaning themselves. Dilution, flora, fauna, UV exposure, etc. Possibly there is some sort of immunity conferred by constant exposure from early in life. Or maybe the Ganges really is holy! I do know that, although you can watch everything from babies to ancients bathing in the river, they warn tourists to stay out of the water…

I was only in India for a couple of weeks on my way to Kathmandu but it remains one of the few places I’ve visited that I have absolutely no desire to return to.

jccalhoun says:

That info graphic is off a bit since it doesn’t include Alaska in the illustration but (at least according to wikipedia) it is included in the stat about the area of the USA. Alaska is 1.2 million km in size.