Wednesday, May 8, 2024

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Mark Steyn’s reminder to rockin’ groovers: “The system that enriched them could enrich Africa”

Mark Steyn Virtually all people with large unpolluted brains have weighed-in and come out swinging now about the politically correct (but phoney baloney in massive Kyoto-like proportions) Live-8 concert.

There seems to be at least a half-dozen angles one can come from to slice and dice the latest abject stupidity of people (in massive phoney baloney Kyoto-like proportions) who supposedly meant well.  That’s what happens when you only “supposedly” mean well, but actually go about it all wrong.  Smart people tend to pick up on these things. 

The brilliant Mark Steyn is way past this nonsense.  In his Telegraph column in the U.K., he drives the point home.

[…] Africa is a hard place to help. I had a letter from a reader the other day who works with a small Canadian charity in West Africa. They bought a 14-year-old SUV for 1,500 Canadian dollars to ferry food and supplies to the school they run in a rural village. Customs officials are demanding a payment of $8,000 before they’ll release it.

There are thousands of incidents like that all over Africa every day of the week. Yet, throughout the weekend’s events, Dave Gilmour and Co were too busy Rocking Against Bush to spare a few moments to Boogie Against Bureaucracy or Caterwaul Against Corruption or Ululate Against Usurpation. Instead, Madonna urged the people to “start a revolution”. Like Africa hasn’t had enough of those these past 40 years?

Let’s take it as read that Sir Bob and Sir Bono are exceptionally well informed and articulate on Africa’s problems. Why then didn’t they get the rest of the guys round for a meeting beforehand with graphs and pie charts and bullet points in bright magic markers, so that Sir Dave and Dame Madonna would understand that Africa’s problem is not a lack of “aid”.

[… Read the rest (2 minutes) …]

Joel Johannesen
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