Kenya has 3 apples.
America wants those apples.
How many apples does Kenya have?
Rage Against the Minivan sometimes earns revenue through sponsored posts, which are clearly labeled, and occasional affiliate links to recommended products. I only feature products that I truly like, and my opinions are always my own.
I would say negative 4 apples. Because we will take those 3 apples, occupy the land, farm it until there are no nutrients left, and then leave the Kenyans when they no longer have anything we want. Then when they cannot support their own population, we will import apples at a lower price than what Kenyans can get for their few home grown apples, making them utterly dependent on our charity. We will blame them for their own plight, saying they are being punished by God for unholy practices, not controlling their own population, and being uneducated.
Oh wait, I’m confused. That’s Haiti.
Sad,
Corey
hmmm.?
Corey, you are so right! After reading Mountians Beyond Mountians, I became sadly aware of what was done to Haiti. I am so confused as to why Westerners can’t just butt out….
We can’t butt out. President, er, Governor Palin says we are “on a task from God” in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in Georgia, in the Arctic Wildlife Reserve…
Drill, baby, drill!
Corey… so sad and so funny. But it isn’t just Haiti. It’s called the IMF and the World Bank. It’s everywhere.
Off to eat an apple.
At the risk of sounding completely ignorant, where do you get this information–I seriously want to know. I read the paper and occasionally watch the news or CNN, and I am a relatively intelligent person, college degree, masters, etc. and yet apparently I have been living with my head in the sand. How do you find out about books like Mountains beyond mountains, and what authority do these authors have? What did America do to Haiti to make them the poorest of the third world countries? Or to Kenya? How could I have missed all that? Where have I been? And what can we do–other than complain? I would love to know–and to be more world aware than I have apparently been for the past 40 years or so. Kristen, help me out!!
Nancy, we should read that Mountains Beyond Mountains book. I’ve been wanting to read it for years. It’s about Paul Farmer – a Harvard prof and medical doctor who spend years in 3rd world countries trying to develop vaccines and health programs. I know that it exposes some of the injustices going on in these countries.
As for why we don’t know more about this stuff, truthfully, I don’t think our news media covers it. There was barely a blip about Hurricane Ike hitting Haiti. But also, I think no one wants to talk about the exploitation issues because it would mean either buying American-made or insisting on Fair Trade. Which would cost us all a lot more money. So I think it is swept under the table by the powers that be (media and big business), and most of us have no idea.