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What Africa Really Needs To Fight Ebola
Lasrick writes Laura Kahn, a physician on the research staff of Princeton University's Program on Science and Global Security, writes that the high tech solutions being promoted to help fight Ebola in Africa will make no difference. What Africa really needs is anti-corruption efforts, now. "A case in point is Liberia, which has received billions of dollars in international aid for over a decade, with little to show for it. The country ranks near the bottom of the United Nation's Human Development Index and near the bottom of Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer. And while international aid groups and non-governmental organizations such as Doctors Without Borders and the International Medical Corps provide important humanitarian assistance and medical care, they also inadvertently absolve African political leaders from developing medical and public health infrastructures."
The rich white woman is telling you what you need!
Did you ever stop to think, dear, that the ones providing financial aid (the doctors are mostly sweet and a little naive, though some are involved in weird deals where they end up getting paid handsomely) are complicit in the corruption? They know where the money is going, but it's certianly not coming out of their pocket ;-).
Right. It has always been a tradition for the top tribal leader to line his and his family's pockets.
Anti-corruption efforts are certainly important, especially in improving the economic conditions in a country. But focusing too strongly on just a single issue makes the problem seem unsolvable.
It is not.
World metrics have been improving steadily, some countries and regions faster than others, but systemic improvements have been dramatic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYpX4l2UeZg
At this point... I would like to introduce the concept of "corruption vacuum", which I think is equal in metrics to the idea of "power vacuum".
Africa's leadership cares only about power and control. Being selfless and helping the impoverished in their country is a bad thing in their mind. In my opinion, all of them have committed crimes against humanity in one form or another. If you want anything to change, make the leadership responsible for the poverty and corruption in Africa. Push sanctions on the leadership, play dirty and force them to help their people.
That's neat and all, just do long as you pay my taxes :)
(I didn't RTFA, but it sounds as if this article *might* have been written by someone who did some actual research.)
I have no special gift, I am only passionately curious. --Albert Einstein
Attention everyone! Tiny penis
Well, if all the Africans that have left since the end of colonialism had stayed, maybe they could have built better governments. But they left those who didn't have the education or didn't or didn't have the connections to get stuff done, or were so beaten down they didn't have the will back in the quagmire while they went and pulled themselves up and out. Had those good people stayed and banded together to make a better world, who know what would have happened. Those good men did nothing (except leave) and evil has flourished. It may now be too late. They have lost the critical mass, and white people have destroyed their indigenous industry by giving them so much for free that nobody would pay for local food or clothing. Yep, the white folks have really done a number over there, their hearts may have been in the right place, but they were so riddled with guilt they didn't stop to consider the long term consequences. What we needed was a Marshall plan in place as colonies were abandoned; either that or a Prime Directive so that they could develop on their own. But white folks did the worst possible thing. Gave too much short term help and almost no long term help.
Suppose someone there tries to start a medical supply business.
Then along comes a foreign government dumping billions in supplies there and wipes them out.
There are times when foreign aid is required. However, when it becomes the norm,
then it's impossible to build any sort of infrastructure.
I will debate any statist on any argument whatsoever...
And yet, you posted anonymously, thus destroying your own credibility.
The developed world has norms, rules, traditions, institutions, stuff like that to control corruption. Many African and Middle Eastern countries lack these. And that includes know-how on how to control corruption.
Methods to increase transparency and control corruption are very well known. Singapore and Hong Kong started out dirt-poor with no resources and no money, but their leaders were wise enough to put the right systems into place from the outset. Hong Kong's ICAC are world-class at preventing and dealing with corruption, and a lot of backwards countries could do well to learn from them. Lee Kwan Yew IMHO is a legend.
The trouble is, most leaders in most countries will steal anything not nailed down (as I've seen in Spain myself); it's human nature to seek out power and then start stealing everything, especially in "low trust" societies with Third World mindsets ("me!! now!! i'm entitled!!"). When the corruption gets so bad that the interests of the kleptocratic elite interlock, then improvement becomes impossible.
That's not to say that reform isn't impossible (and the few cases where highly corrupt places got cleaned up, there were external centres of power that could challenge the corrupt leaders and get them removed); just highly unlikely.
The best part is:
by Anonymous Coward
[...] Or hide in your anonymity and know you are a coward [...]
... African countries need a consistent application of the rule of law?
Throwing words around like "anti-corruption" that begs the question of what "uncorrupted" political regime the author is writing from. I sure would be interested to read about this land of unicorns and rainbows. Look, the world is been built on capitalism and manufacturing. 1st world countries needs 3rd world countries. This patterns works. It's not pretty, but it works. Show me an uncorrupted political system and I'll point you to the next Star Trek convention.
A good point, of course.
Because I speak the truth about statism and because my arguments cannot be defeated, whenever I create accounts on Slashdot I am quickly modded down and/or account revoked.
Er, that'd be because of the constant offtopic posting, fuckwit.
Some see it as a natural thing, that's really sad because now they won't oppose it.
Others see it as the result of colonialism but we're 20-50 years on and things only got worse...
Talking about Ebola, two months ago I arrived in Angola and they had temperature screening for those getting off the plane. :(.
Rather sad was this was only done for foreigners, those with an Angolan passport are apparently immune
Africa is rife with corruption and corruption breeds what we'd otherwise see as stupidity but for individuals it's really just a way of survival.
The only effective way to fight corruption is to have a solid legal system and from European experience we learn that needs to be in place for several generations before it becomes effective.
Since the British occupation of South Africa it had a reasonable judiciary but now Zuma's ANC has taken over it is left to die, laws are watered down and officials installed based on their race and political affiliation.
It is a sad conclusion but even in the best scenario Africa will be corrupt for at least the next century.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
If people in other countries have and put up with corrupt governments, and go out and kill and eat "bush meat" and get Ebola, that's too bad but we have our own corrupt politicians here, I don't see how we can take on correcting theirs when we can even correct ours. And we have the flu virus in this country, and even with our first world hospitals and our Obama-care the flu is killing more people in America than Ebola is killing in the entire world. Yet I don't see Obama sending the Army to help out when one of my friends gets the flu. Perhaps we should realize that we are no longer the largest economy in the world (China is, although I think we still give them "foreign aid", and do that with money that Obama borrows from China!) and start trying to solve some of our own problems rather than playing World Doctor and World Cop and World Missionary and World Peacekeeper.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
What Africa really needs to fight Ebola is to stop traditional burial practices, such as allowing traditional healers to wash the dead body and then travel back to their home village and spread the contagion. Where there is one case, quarantine the village and cremate the deceased. To quote: "Ebola victims are most infectious right after death—which means that West African burial practices, where families touch the bodies, are spreading the disease like wildfire." In Guinea, 60% of all cases had been linked to traditional burial practices."
It was obligatory.
#DeleteChrome
I have never lived in any country that did not have corruption. Having lived in West Africa for years, I am well versed in its corrupt activities. They are exactly what you would expect at that level of economic development.
Ebola is a small problem compared to Boko Haram and will destroy many less lives. The OP sees corruption as illicit activity within the established social framework, but Boko Haram exists in a different dimension. There is a huge contingent of young men whose only education and allegiance if based on a madrasa. They have and will continue to thrive with cash infusions from the gulf states.
Liberia has a 42% literacy rate, no jobs and extreme poverty. So can corruption really be fought in these conditions? I'm just thinking education is bigger priority.
"The problem the press is occupied with today will never be cured if my problem [fair economics] isn't resolved" is the takeaway.
I'm a bit perplexed by the Summary. Certainly the problem (corruption) is indeed really messing with African fair economies, and certainly economic growth supports hospitals and health care, etc. Correlation, check.
But Ebola outbreaks have happened before, it usually subsides, and - not to minimize how horrible an urban outbreak would be - the western press's obsession with 8,483 deaths in 12 months is what it is. Trying to attract the press attention to YOUR cause by "baiting the hook with today's headline" is an old trick. Will Ebola ever be cured if Global Warming / Boka Haram / Pollution / US Agricultural Subsidies / [Insert something} continues? Discuss!
The rest of the article is fine. But I trade with Africa and China and Latin America, and can tell you... recovery from corruption can be amazingly fast when the corruption's stopped. What Deng Tsao Ping demonstrated in Guandong Province is that if Government interference stops, just for a few years, economies erupt like fireworks. Whatever flus or colds or dysentary epidemics were going on in Guangdong were replaced by pollution, and that's part of development.
Gently reply
The accepted idealgy
Ideal guy? Ideal gay? Ideal gy?!
Who says I had been previously posting off topic?
Prove otherwise.
Why not simply create an account called "Anti-Socialist Guru" or something, so that it's possible to carry on a conversation with you and be sure of who is answering?
I can't imagine a purpose other than trolling behind your "challenge" using an anonymous account.
What they REALLY need to do to prevent ebola outbreaks in the first place is to get over their illogical social moires and accept cremation as being an acceptable alternative to burial for ebola victims.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/...
You have no clue what you are talking about - you are do wrong!!!
Ditto. The summary started out like one of his weekly rants.
I think you're going to have to take this to your college Freshman economics and political science classes.
I hope you can afford today's free-market tuition.
Stop helping them. Period. Africa is a smoldering pile of shit that will never stand on its own two feet if we're always there with handouts. If it tears itself apart, so be it. After this long if no progress can be made with outside help, no progress will ever be made with outside help.
there was a book about that:
The Lords of Poverty: The Power, Prestige, and Corruption of the International Aid Business ~~~ by Graham Hancock --- Jan 10, 1994
it is the same reason there's always trouble in Israel/Gaza: there are people getting paid to "deal with the problem" (some of them quite wealthy). If the problem goes away, these people would stop getting paid.... So certain people in key positions make sure that the problem never goes away.
Sometimes, ignorance is the answer.
You are off-topic. If you are not directly talking about the Ebola situation in Africa, then it's not on topic.
Move on.
SJWs are the new boogeyman. -Me
1. government has a value and its place
2. government can also overstep and involve itself in areas where it is actually detrimental
the simple point is, like most issues, the *balanced* middle position is the correct one, the extremes are loud and dumb
but for calling you out on your stupidity, i am of course now a "statist" in your eyes
you now identify me as your polar opposite, a lover of government (whom i hold in equal contempt as you), because you're so fucking dumb you can't even understand the nuanced middle position even exists. or that it would oppose your propagandized simpleton's extreme. you don't understand nuance in ideology. you don't even fucking understand nuance
subtlety, complexity. nope: it's all hamfisted propaganda slogans and low wattage regurgitation of dimwitted black and white talking points
except complexity, nuance, subtlety, are the only way ideology is of any use to us. simpleminded low iq binary extremes are actually the *problem* on topics like this. a large, loud contingent of pathetic socially retarded "minds" like yours squat on the topic and vomit their shrill stupid nonsense and ruin any actual intelligent discussion
of course, none of this will shut you up. you think it's just baseless insults i'm throwing at you. when of course what i am saying here is about as objective a description of garden variety morons like yourself as you will ever encounter. again, calling you a moron is not a baseless insult. it is an objective description. you are, factually, as derived from a straightforward interpretation of what you have written, the archetypal image of a fucking moron
the loudest voices always haul the largest quantity of stupid shit. you're propelled forward by your own lack of wit, you're immune to actual logic and reason, because you don't even have the mental capacity to grasp the basics of the subject matter you inject your empty skull into
you're agitated to speak up and speak out because it all makes sense to *you*. when it only makes sense to you because you've constructed a duplo block representation of the topic in your head, the only quantity of thought your dim bulb can contain, when actual understanding on the topic requires architectural schematics
the shrill useless noise of fucktard low iq extremists. tragedy of the commons
1. shut the fuck up
2. educate yourself
3. then develop an actual opinion
in truth, i doubt you have the ability to do any of this. you're a socially autistic loser. my response to you will probably propel you forward to speak out more, asocial isolated douchebags like yourself feed off negativity
good luck, twatstain, you'll need it in life
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Cmon mods, let's get the title right at least. Is that supposed to be Why Africa needs to fight ebola? Or is there some missing punctuation? "What Africa really needs to fight - Ebola". Or maybe this was submitted by Norm Macdonald, in which case it might be "What, Africa really needs to fight Ebola?"
Global warming and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking number of pirates - Gospel of the FSM
It's nice to see that we haven't lost our ability to be condescending without wasting effort on getting informed. Let me suggest some other headers along the same, stupid lines:
"What America really needs to curb gun-related crime" ...
"What Europe really needs to save the economy"
Well, you get the gist, I'm sure. We all have hard-to-solve problems, and none of us welcomes this sort of non-advice that sounds like 'why don't they just get their act together'. Why don't the Americans and Europeans 'just get their act together'? Probably because the problems are more complex than 'just something ...', and part of that complexity is that we in the West are tying well-meaning aid to greedy businesses who have no intention of giving these countries a fair deal. Why would a Western company actually help set up competition against themselves in an African country? Companies are businesses, not idealists.
Sweden. Iceland. Finland. Denmark.
Your turn.
Hahaha disregard that, I suck cocks!!!!
you blindly and sheepishly support a failed system that across history and across nations and peoples has resulted in nothing but poverty, hunger, death and destruction, oh and also made a small number of people quite rich and powerful, but not me and not YOU of course!
You are a moron. I have a single word for you: Norway.
Important to remember that debating any argument might gain credibility as a person with arguing skills, but is has no impact on facts.
Likewise, it is the credibility of the argument (the credibility of the evidence and the credibility of the process by which conclusions are made and supported) that lend to believability. However, it is apparent that you are actually inviting an argument based on personal authority (as you require a person of authority).
It is a two way street, and your invitation tips your hand that you're not prepared to (in the rhetorical sense) argue, while you are probably read to (in the emotional sense) argue. Such a situation is rife with unpleasantness, and while the world is not always pleasant, it is a good idea to not unnecessarily invite discord.
And to the original AC, these words apply to you too. You shouldn't be ready to argue, if you have a well supported position, just make it. If you find that such a position is not appropriate in context, then don't make the position. A half-statement of your readiness to argue is again a demonstration of your unpleasantness. It is nearly half a promise of the unpleasantness to follow.
GUNS!