<p>Even though Live 8 can't put food into any starving children's bellies, at least it's raising awareness. At least we're having this discussion at all, instead of last week when a thread about Sudan went laregly uncommentedon for two days, while a thread titled 'what do girls look for in a guy?' exceeded five pages. At least people are now aware of the extreme fortune it is to be born in America, and can do what they please with this knowledge.</p>
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Well said, razorsharp. What you said may be a little offensive and uncomfortable to a politcally correct America, but I find a lot of truth in it.
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Thanks wraider2006. My posts on this subject could have been a little bit less abrasive. I think the Live8 people sincerely believe they are helping and that postive intent should be respected. My frustration is that all these good intentions are harming the African people by letting the world think their true problems are they can't feed themselves. I don't see the LIve8 crowd asking why the African's can't feed themselves and how can we help the Africans correct these problems.</p>
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At least people are now aware of the extreme fortune it is to be born in America, and can do what they please with this knowledge.
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I must admit I did not think of that point and it is a very good one. Remembering how fortunate we are to be Americans is something we should remember more often.</p>
<p>My $0.02 . . .</p>
<p>A far more effective means of helping Africa would be to invest in some form of higher education.
To me, 500 children taught to add, subtract, multiply, and divide (the skills of primary education) is far less useful than one who can, say, model situations with differential equations. Moreover, that person is connected to their community and will care more their people than the West ever will. Such a person would be a better aid worker, better teacher, a better local leader than our charity could ever produce. Moreover, they would be the core of civil society--the people behind the infrastructure that defines stability and prosperity in the developed world.</p>
<p>You want to spend a billion dollars on Africa? Why don't you found a couple of technical universities in stable countries, or pay for scholarships for foreign study of high achieving students?</p>
<p>But what you are saying is that everyone must contribute something to this on a grand scale that will have an visible impact, and not everyone can do that. This is similar to the issue of recycling...we can't all donate and help build plants, but we can all recycle what we can. The last LiveAid concert raised millions (?) of dollars for Africa, but what did it do? save a child or two? What we contributed in 1985 is nothing compared to what the G8 nations can do by calling off some international debts. </p>
<p>Taking out corrupt political leaders is a stupid idea- like someone said on this forum, fighting for peace is like ****ing for virginity. That's something Bush would do.</p>
<p>Since when did you have to kill them in order to take them out. I'm not up to much on int'l law, but taking money/resources that was intended for humanitarian aid and using it for personal gain seems to me like that would be a crime. So just place them under arrest. I'm sure that there are other laws that have been broken as well.</p>
<p>However, while this would get rid of the corrupt leaders (at least currently), it wouldn't help with finding able leaders to put in their places since very few people have the education/experience to lead their countries. This isn't the easiest situation in the world to solve, but letting corruption run ramptant does not help out the starving children.</p>
<p>HILTON ASHAMED IGNORANCE</p>
<p>Hotel heiress Paris Hilton is so ashamed she attended London's Live 8 gig on Saturday, July 5 even though she knows little about African poverty, she's vowed to study the issues while planning her forthcoming wedding.
Scissor Sister Ana Matronic slammed Hilton for attending the concert without understanding its key aim of persuading leaders of the eight largest industrial nations to cancel debt in the developing world, double the aid budget and rewrite global trade laws. </p>
<p>But Hilton insists she will make amends by reading about it while she's preparing for her marriage to Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis. </p>
<p>She says, "It's such a great cause. It makes you realize how fortunate we are. </p>
<p>"I want to get more involved in this cause, so I'm going to read all the newspapers while I'm in Athens planning my wedding."</p>
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<p>Isn't this the same thing she did with the whole Vote or Die campaign?</p>
<p>what, you mean not knowing anything? yeah, basically.</p>
<p>Who cares WHY she was there. The fact of the matter is that she WAS there and brought some publicity to the event that might not otherwise have been there. They should be thankful she was there instead of criticizing her. </p>
<p>I'm sure 99% of the world doesn't know a lot of African poverty (I sure don't) because we don't have a reason to. The issue is important to the people that matter (i.e, government).</p>