Bono & his posse

[med forum]

I came across this article on the front page of the site....please read about Bono and Africa.....
one of the more memorable quotes is as follows:

"Here's a radical idea: if we really want to help, why not ask Africans, not their governments, how they perceive the challenges before them, the dreams they have for the future, and the resources they think they need to realize them?

Instead, we let a well-intentioned Irish rock star, a Jewish-American economist, and their Hollywood cohort become the voice and face of Africa.

And in the process, the story of the other Africa, the Africa that is dynamic, creative, and wants to work as a partner and the leader of its own future, is being drowned out by the clarion cry of the anti-poverty glitterati–and our own appetites for gripping, salacious headlines of war, poverty, and grief."


http://www.american.com/archive/2007/july-0707/africans-to-bono-for-gods-sake-please-stop

[Dachshund]

You will find plenty of articles like this in all your major right wing publications. A little research shows that this publication is just another not so subtle arm of the very right wing American Interprise Institute. If it quacks, well you know the rest of the story.

[Dragonette]

at least they DO something. Bill Gates (if I am right that he is "the Jew" in your ref) donated 10s of millions of private money. whereas any college student can fart up some snotty post-colonialist critique and publish it online.

Africa needs help. 

[jack]

You shouldnt post stuff like this on this MB. Free thought and individual freedom is considered a right wing conspiracy here and people who want to improve their lot in life on their own without the aid of selfserving dogooders and panhandlers like Boner(has he ever washed his hair) are evil. Why doesnt Boner do something about the poverty in his home country or improve the roads there.

[Dragonette]

Because Ireland is the economic tiger of Europe and is the most expensive country here with a booming economy and people who relocate from all over western Europe to work in the IT industry there. The days of the potato famine are long gone.

[jack]

then you all should improve the roads. I find it very dangerous to drive there,but that could be because most of the population is intoxicated 24/7. I also find it dangerous when gypsy wagons,another sign of prosperity,and large herds of sheep share the same roadway as autos.

[leatherman]

Interesting article. Sounds like the Chinese have the right idea though. Just throwing millions of $$ at a problem will never solve all the issues in Africa. As the old saying goes, "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."

(By the way, Dragonette, the article doesn't mention B Gates, it references J Sachs)

[Dragonette]

I am not Irish, but thinking as one, maybe increasing the oil consumption to maximal levels is not at the top of their priority list, therefore they do not invest that much in roads.

Plenty of sheep here in the Netherlands and in New Zealand too, 2 very prosperous countries... I like 'em, prefer them and gypsy wagons on my roads to SUVs anytime. I guess you could have shot at those darn sheep, except in Ireland civilians can't carry any weapons, sheesh.

The Irish do drink an awful lot though... I agree with that one.

I am not a big Bono fan. My BF met the Edge at a cinema in Dublin once and said he was really down to earth kinda guy, walking in with no bodyguards or anything. I like the U2 song from the 90s (or 80s?), "One". It's about HIV you know.

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you
Now you got someone to blame

You say
One love
One life
When its one need
In the night
Its one love
We get to share it
It leaves you baby
If you dont care for it

Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without

Well its too late
Tonight
To drag tha past out
Into the light
We're one
But we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other
One

Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come tor raise the dead
Havew you come here to play jesus
To the lepers in your head
Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
We hurt each other
Then we do it again

You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I cant be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should

One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
 

[jack]

you know I am just kidding. I am 100% Irish and while often embarrassed by their behavior I find them charming.
The food in Ireland is better than Scotland but Scotland has better golf courses. A dentist or orthodontist would starve in either country.

[Dragonette]

Sláinte!



 


 

[thunter34]

"Here's a radical idea: if we really want to help, why not ask Africans, not their governments, how they perceive the challenges before them, the dreams they have for the future, and the resources they think they need to realize them?"

Sorry, but I don't get what qualifies this as a "Right-Wing" statement. 

Still, it would be plain stupid to say aid doesn't matter for Africa.

When aid builds infrastructure–roads, railways, power plants, electric grids–it makes it cheaper for farmers to bring their crops to market, medicine to get where it is needed without spoiling, labor to flow where the jobs are. Ninety percent of roads in Angola are unpaved, 70 percent of those in Nigeria. It might not be as sexy or photogenic as holding up the child with the swollen belly in front of a television camera, but that is the real crime.

Found a lot there as well.  I think there's a legitimate argument in the article, and I think the truth lies in a blending of the two.  I'm not arguing against immediate aid for hunger and medical needs, but there's a lot to be said for investment in the country.  That's part of a long-term solution.  Otherwise, it's going to be band-aid, band-aid, band-aid, band-aid.....

[zeb]

Well, things can always be done better, but...

though i'm an Apple user and not depending on Windows I'm glad Gates is funding,
and though i'm not a Bush fan, $30,000,000,000.00 is a hell of a lot money,
and though Bono might never wash his hair he's contributing!

yep, things always can be done better, but at least these guys are doing more than I am able to!

Zeb

[Grinch]

Sorry, but I don't get what qualifies this as a "Right-Wing" statement. 

This horrific statement pulled from the article in question is completely against all that the liberal left stand for.  Therefore it must be Right-Wing.

a thesis, painfully obvious but somehow radical in this age: Africa won't be "saved" by aid, but by the ingenuity and determination of its own people.

By the words of many here it is apparent the left believe that all things must be provided by the government, and that it's absurd to think anyone is smart enough, motivated enough, and strong enough to survive or flourish on their own.  Those that somehow do manage to do so must be forced to give what they have earned to the government so that it can be distributed to others.