What About Africa?

[Martin Hash]

First, talk of immigration into the U.S. ignores the much more damaging emigration from the country of origin. America strips the African continent of most of its skilled people: nurses, engineers, entrepreneurs, and we don't blink an eye about the devastation it causes. Only a quarter of a nation's population drags everyone else along, but emigration robs Africa of its quarter.
Secondly, there aren't many things the people in Africa can do: textiles, farming, manual labor; but America destroys all of those industries by supplying free food & donated clothing. Americans get charitable deduction & African textile & subsistence farmers get shafted.
Third. Western values aren't everyone's values. Incest, child sex, promiscuity, "stealing" are the norm in most of Africa. Americans who go there to help spend all their time appalled & in judgment, and our TV programs of the West dominate their airwaves, setting unrealistic expectations in conflict with their actual way of life.
Forth. Basically, only women work. Men are drunks & drug addicts. Maybe if the upper-quarter of their population was still around, they could do something about it, but they aren't. Children do a lot of work until they're old enough to stop.
Fifth. Superstition & mysticism reign. It's not much different than Tarzan's time.
Sixth. Africans have been raised to expect charity from The West with no responsibility on their part, and when that doesn't happen, they blame The West. Cynicism & distrust of The West are our primary regard.
Seventh. The claim of past colonization by Western powers overwhelms any discussion of future responsibility. It's always about blame & reparations. Americans can certainly understand this situation even though we never colonized any part of Africa. (Some people claim Liberia was America's Africa colonization but I don't buy it.)
Eighth. The West wants Africa to leap-frog over the exploitation of resources & fouling of the environment part of modernization, but that's all selfishness on our part.
Ninth. Modern governmental structures totally fail in Africa because it is tribal. The tribe in power takes everything from the other tribes.
Tenth, and most important, The West has Africa fatigue. That's probably a good thing because if we just ignore them & leave them alone to live their own lives, stop letting them emigrate, stop giving them everything, it would go back to some kind of stability. Maybe a couple centuries back in time but there's folks in The West who want to live like the 1700s.