Today, nothing much happened...

So I'm going to rant instead. And I have a feeling it's going to piss a lot of people off, too.

But you know what? I feel it needs to be said.

Lately, all that seems to be in the news is the "horrifying" conditions in New Orleans. A typical conversation often ends up on the subject and usually has everyone saying "That's terrible", "I feel sorry for the people" and "More should be done for them".
Left, right and centre I see people putting tributes in their LJ's, MSN screen names and so on.

Yes, thousands of people have died, hundreds more could still die because of the stagnant water or simple starvation. Gangs were fighting amongst each other and many were killed because of them looting the place, many are without food, electricity or a working phone. It's terrible and my heart does go out to them.

But people forget. People seem to forget the rest of the world. Look at Africa, look at the poorer countries within it, countries like Ethiopia and Somalia. A trip to New Orleans would be a holiday for them. Many of the people there have never known (and will never know) what it feels like to have ONE good meal. Many of the people there have never had electricity or have even used a phone. Many of the people there have spent their entire lives trying just to survive on a few scraps of food while at the same time trying to raise a family.

Genocide, mass murder, raping, pillaging, all regular occurrences in some of the worst areas. Take a look at Somalia, Millions have died in the past 10 years because of tribal fighting to control the country. Do you see George W going on a high and mighty crusade to liberate them for a better way of life? Like hell you do.

And do you know what the really shite part is? A lot of it has been caused by us. The west.
Sure our countries have donated billions and billions to those poorer areas, but guess what, they demand the money back - with interest. A lot of the debt was cancelled as part of a millennium celebration, but there's still a huge chunk of it left.

The aid that goes to these countries, although a lot of it does go through, most of the governments are so corrupt, they will not have a problem with confiscating  a food shipment and selling it to the highest bidder while the rest of the population starve.

Millions die every year from things such as diarrhoea, something that can be easily treated with a tablet that costs about 20cents to produce, it could even be prevented if the people had access to clean drinking water. New Orleans was flooded with stinking water, it'll be cleaned up in a couple of months and clean drinking water will flow again. For a lot of these people, clean drinking water may as well be a myth and many of them will never know what it even looks like, let alone get to drink it.

I could go on all night, but I think I'll just stop now. I'll end by dedicating this post to everyone in the 3rd world who live in the worst conditions on the planet, who's lives are a living hell, who will NEVER know any better, yet they still go on. They strive to survive. I tip my hat to those brave people, for I would not last a single week like that, let alone my entire life. Could you?

7 Days