Does Africa mattr?
Should Africa (and its myriad pathologies) matter to Americans? Or should we concern ourselves only with regions that affect our own interests, such as the Middle East and other oil-rich nations?
Should Africa (and its myriad pathologies) matter to Americans? Or should we concern ourselves only with regions that affect our own interests, such as the Middle East and other oil-rich nations?
Comments
1) There's oil in Africa. There's also diamonds, gold, zinc, copper, coltan, lumber and about a million other crucial natural resources.
2) Our political battles with the U.S.S.R. and other small-minded attempts to take advantage of the budding developement in the 1970's lead to their current poverty.
3) There are millions of children being orphaned every year by war, famine, and desease and they'll remember in twenty years when we weren't there to help them.
It matters a lot to some and not to others.
Lots of Americans are very concerned about the aids problem in Africa. The suffering there is terrible. Yes, people who are educated about it and have normal human feelings cannot help but be concerned with the problems in Africa.
There is only so much we can do though and it is best if countries can help themselves but we do give lots of money to African countries. Africa has such a huge population and this is such a small world that any huge problems in any part of the world will affect us as Americans in some way.
I think we should focus on areas of the world that can benefit us. Asia has historically been a place of interest in the world, and with the escalating tensions between the two Koreas, and the Chinese become more and more ready to come back to being a super-power, I think we should focus more on our relations with them.
No one seems to know anything about African civilizations, which leads me to believe that not much has happened historically in Africa except for much killing and such. I really don't think this continent can be helped, and we should focus our time and money elsewhere.
I don't particularly think the middle east is an excellent place to be, either. One, a lot of them hate America. Two, if we could only find something to replace oil, we wouldn't need them. I think Asia could help us find something, seeing as how the Chinese have been great inventors since the beginning of time, and the Japanese are incredibly intelligent as well.
We should definitely care. The reason for caring about middle eastern countries has much to do with American security however, not oil. Have you seen gas prices go up or down since the start of the Iraq war?
That being said much more must be done for Africa. The genocide that occurs daily must be stopped. The evil there is just as real as in the middle east even if it doesn't threaten our nation immediately.
Of course it matters!
We as American's can not afford to have the attitude of not caring about a region or for that matter an entire contineent because it does not have an apparent effect on our daily lives.
This is the ultimate in arrogance and unfortantly a common attitude in America and in other parts of the world.
We need to be aware of the entire world in which we live.
If we do not make an effort to be aware of events and or attitudes of people in other parts of the world we should not be suprised when those same attitudes and or events end up biting us in the behind.
Not to the Clinton Aministration that stood by idley during the Ruwanda genocide.
The current administration has poured unprecedented amounts of money into AIDS initiatives in Africa. Credit should be given where it's due.
I don't think the 'African Pathologies,' as you called them, are an immediate threat to us the way the problems of the Middle East are. I think that our deficit is too great to go gallantly gallivanting into other countries unless it is a necessity for our security. We can't fund our schools or health-care adequately. Putting our own house in order should be a priority.
Everything in the world matters. The whole world is connected, if you ignore one thing, it's going to mess up the earth. Everything is tied to on another somehow. You can't just pick and choose, it doesn't work that way.
Don't you have any damn morals or care for human life? How can you look the other way when women are repeatedly raped and shunned, or when children grow up glorifying war because they don't know better?
If we are a just and noble nation then should we not stand up for just and noble causes? Why does the man on the shore help the drowning man? Because he wants to. Because it is the right thing to do. If we want planetary peace then perhaps we should see each other as humans first and nationalities second.
Africa is the cradle of humanity!! Don't you know the first humans are from Africa. If Africa doesn't matter, than nothing else in this whole damned society, culture, planet, galaxy matters either.