Beyond a Mosquito Net
(Frederic Courbet/Panos Pictures, for Fox)
I must admit this picture made me think like none other, atleast in a longtime. Most will recognize the guy in this picture, Ryan Seacrest of American Idol. It brought to my mind so many questions about charity. As can be seen in this photograph, a person from a wealthy nation is giving away mosquito nets to another in one of the impoverished places in our planet.
Malaria being one of the biggest killers in Africa, it is a very practical way of helping these people out. But, for some reason, i felt this was not right. There is a small controversy surrounding this act of philanthropy. You can read this here NYTIMES Story. Notwithstanding FOX network's generosity, there is something wrong with that picture.
This picture represents the current trend of someone who is doing this just for his or her own satisfaction. In this particular case, it is even more insincere, you just have to read the NYTIMES article. For all the highfalutin claims of generosity by FOX i don't buy their case. I might sound cynical but i do believe it was all for publicity. And it was cheap. There is no underlying sympathy, let alone empathy in these acts of generosity. It takes more than just handing out mosquito nets to these people. And the fact that Africa has been kept impoverished inspite of their natural resources tells you the story. The big pharmaceutical companies wouldn't spend their money on coming with a malarial vaccine since it is a third world disease and would spend millions coming up with Viagra shows where their priority is.
Take the picture above. What does Ryan Seacrest know about the problems faced by these people in their everyday life? Why not spend 10 minutes and explain the challenges these people face in FOX and FOX NEWS. This will reach a larger audience which might lead to a change in the priorities of the American Govt. But in this world of instant gratification, if i send 20 bucks to some charity and if possible i get to know that someone got a mosquito net from that money, i feel morally satisfied. I start to think i have done my part for this society, feel a little more self-righteous. Never do I stop to think what should be done to root out this endemic poverty and diseases that plague the African continent. The reason for this rant is the apathy that runs deep in our society. Its like, if you want fame and if you feel a little deficit morally or spiritually, donate some money to africa and if possible squeeze every ounce publicity that you can get out of it. It is in this regard that i have my greatest regard and appreciation for people go out of their way to make a change.
The case of Corporate America is even worse. Why is FOX news not using its reach in washington (we all know who owns it) to influence the policy of the American Government. We all know what is happening in DARFUR, Sudan. I hate it when corporations give out puny amounts in the name of charity and publicize it shamelessly. It is beyond SHAME.
I must at this point appreciate my friends Prasanna and Arul who take sometime out of their lives to do some work on charity and other literacy programs. And if any of you readers want to participate in these programs please contact me or Prasanna.
C Karthikeyan
4 comments:
Nice article. I do agree with you on certain aspects of your article like the fact that people in the developed nations do not want to or choose to carefully ignore that an ENTIRE continent of Africa is in doldrums and there is nt much being done to improve the living conditions of the people there.
But I do believe that a large portion of the problems in Africa are self inflicted. I still have no idea on why no one could overthrow Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe, where the inflation has gone up by 400% in the last year. What is the African union doing? Each country's leaders are fighting their own corruption charges and are willing to do anything to stay in power because the men in power will get a constant supply of money as long as they turn blind eye to certain foreign activities may be it the smuggling of diamonds, elephant tusks- to name a few. The continent in question is being impoverished by a few in the developed nations and seems like their respective governements will notice only after the continent has been completely dilapidated. I strongly feel that Africa's problems lie right there and any amount of charity will never reach its people.
And the networks' attitude is just a reflection of that. News today has become more of sensationalism than reality. It seems like good news is no news at all and bad news is what captures everyone's attention. The reason why I bring this point is sometimes there is an overdose of bad news that people stop reacting to it after a while. Have the people of the US "heard" so many bad things about Africa that they have stopped caring or have they been completely kept in dark? I dont know.
Anyways, I can only hope we can find a solution to this conundrum on how we can educate the governements.
Prasanna,
I beg to differ with your view that majority of their problems is self-inflicted. In this case its like blaming the victims. Mugabe, like many other guys who play on the emotions of the population, is not so easy to confront. If you see the tactic he uses, he is just using all the pent up anger the people in Zimbabwe might have for the white settlers there. What he is doing is wrong from our perspective, but he is using that to his advantage. The same goes for most rulers (whether democratic or otherwise) in most parts of the world. And we cannot ask about African Union. I don't think they have the political will nor the resources to change the policies of another country. Its an organization on paper much akin to SAARC.
But in the case of Africa, you can see all the worst qualities of Humans exemplified. The rich and priveliged exploiting the place for centuries, at the same time opening charities and what not to put a nicer front. Take the case of Darfur, it is pure racial genocide that is happening there. So many hundreds of thousands killed and raped. Yet, only now the world seems to know what is happening there (thanks to Nicholas Kristof of NYTIMES who brought attention to this part of the world when it was fashionable to talk about "liberating" Iraq).
The media in this country is pathetic at best, atleast in recent times. If you had been watching TV, think about the number of hours you had sat there before the television trying to find who the father of Anna Nicole Smith's child was. It used to drive me nuts and it still does. And if you have seen Bill Moyer's documentary "Buying the War", you will get a clearer idea about the media here.
Anyways, i seem to me moving out of Corporate Philanthropy which was what the post talked about. Any form of hypocrisy is highly detestable, especially those who try to take the moral high ground.
But that's the way things are. There are very few people in this world who do things without the prerequisite that they should be known for it.
This is somewhat similar to movie stars adopting african children and trying to look amgnanimous.
reminds of a movie, shawshank redemption when the guy cuts a deal with the guard and arranges for some beer for his buddies. The guard does this in exchange for some help by tries to look magnanimous.
Anyway, there are all kinds of people, and all kinds of work is welcome, though some of it might be akin to a drop in the ocean.
good observation da....i agree with most of the things u'r saying how fox sports or the guy doing charity to the african people.not everyone thinks in the same way as we think da.people are different & everyone looks things in a different way.
good thing is africa is getting helped by lots of charity institution from across the world which is very important.
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