I know I’ve been ranting a lot lately … sorry ’bout that … and am happy to excuse anyone tired of my seemingly-constant diatribes from bothering to read me.
BUT …
When shit like this pops up in front of me on a Thursday morning, I simply can’t help myself.
The number of people killed in a decade of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo may be half of the accepted toll of 5.4 million, a study has suggested.
First thought …
Ah … less than 3 million dead people? No prob, then, heh?
Second thought …
How much did this study cost?
Then paragraph number five makes me want to grab that hair brush again.
The BBC’s East Africa correspondent Peter Greste says the initial figures shocked the world into action.
Sorry, but does anyone recall the world being “shocked” into “action” in Congo?
The country is a mess, and the “action” touted has been about as useless as international “action” usually turns out to be.
“Military operations have not succeeded in neutralising the FDLR and have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis.”
Anyone questioning the uselessness would be welcome to ask any of the thousands of child soldiers forced into killing just how helpful all the “shock” and “action” have been.
It seems about time that we stopped buying the PR spin that absolves some guilt, perhaps, but in reality does so little, so late, and admit that the “world” really doesn’t give a shit.
A collection of my short stories:
I'm in this one, too ...
And I'm in here, as well ...
Paradise Preoccupied 
Your ranting is just one of the reasons I love you so much. So rant away!!!!!!
Awwwwwwwwwwwwww.
a rant worth having.
I don’t really think it’s a question of how many people from this region has sinned. It has a lot to do with the climatic changes that is occuring and will still occur in the near future. If this major catastrophe happened in the USA then who would care if we had an Simplistic but arrogant additude for the rest of the world. Save the ones who needs to be saved and maybe one day when we need help some country will that gives a shit and safe us. Money should be secondary to saving human lives. This is just my take on all of this. You don’t have to agree just see what it really is.
Betsy
I think I read a different blog than Betsy did.
Americans have loved being able to be such isolationists. We have two neighbors: Mexico and Canada, neither of which play their stereos too loud or let their dogs poop on our yard.
South America, Africa, Asia, and even Europe require much too much thought (and knowledge of geography) to concern themselves with. From 1812 to 2001 home was never the battlefield so why worry? (Few Americans even consider the attack on Pearl Harbor when snuggling into their fluffy isolationist beds at night.) “Oh, they’ll never bother us here. All the wars happen ‘over there’.”
What was allowed to happen to the children of Africa is shameful and unforgivable. When you slaughter the parents – or worse yet, force the children to slaughter their own parents – and then raise the children in a world of violence, what sort of society can you expect to develop?
But that line of thinking is too much for most Americans to wrap their brains around.
– Says Lisa from her comfortable home on a US military base in Colorado.