Battleangel

Just a few epiphanies that I’ve had lately.

First off, I saw this sappy request for donations for the purpose of sending toys to Iraqi children. Mainly on American sites and I believe that the organization behind the whole thing was also American. As commendable, unselfish and gracious as that may seem it still got me thinking. Seems I do too much of that these days.
Anyway, how shortsighted and narrow people can be. And how guilty some must feel to go to all this trouble sending toys. But it does look good on the evening news and provides leverage to all those pesky reports of people dying, including many children due to uncontrollable illness due to destroyed infrastructure. So handing over a teddy bear to some kid is supposed to make up for ten kids dying of dysentery and diarrhea. But as long as it will appease the general public and not create an unpalatable imagery in these jolly holiday times, some people wont see or chooses not to see the hypocrisy.
The approximately 500.000 children who died because of sanctions (enforced by the UN but pushed by the US) between 1991 and 1998 could have needed actual support. Not to mention the countless thousands who have died since last year, most due to secondary effects of warfare. They could all have needed a bit more than teddy bears and a lego set.
Even the idea that children in some way require toys is deeply illogical and shows a great deal of ethnocentric thinking. And a rather capitalistic and materialistic way of viewing happiness and wellbeing. It’s pretty shallow. I would even go so far as to say it could be a determined move to create dependency and gain favor. Without engaging in that old boring debate over altruism again.
I guess some would consider me heartless for even raising the issue. At any rate, I’d rather be heartless than brainless.

Second of all, I must say a few words about the earthquake and tsunami effect that hit the Indian Ocean a couple of days ago. While I sympathize with the population of the region I can’t help but to, again, be surprised with how blatantly stupid and ethnocentric people are. More than a hundred thousand dead and all Swedish media seems to be concerned with is a few hundred Swedes apparently lost or dead. People are upset the government isn’t doing more of everything. Could I care less? At least the event is getting its share of prime time media coverage - bias or no bias. Having looked at certain foreign press and television I can see it’s even worse. American media for example are not only ethnocentric and geocentric as could be expected but also gives the event very little coverage in general. As opposed to say, the very much overexposed 9/11 event which even months or years afterwards is prime time news. Their very own holocaust with all it brings in terms of apologetics and such.
I must admit that I was thrilled at first when I heard of the possibility that a portion of the unpleasant Swedish celebrity elite could have been washed away in the region. Unfortunately they seem to have been spared by luck (as opposed to their ‘astute intellect’). I’m sorry to point out the obvious but many tourists to the region (Sri Lanka, Thailand etc) are not exactly your average man in the street. I’m not denying that there are some hardworking decent folk on vacation there, but experience tells me that most fall into one of two categories. Upper middle class or upper class families and the sensation seeking vagabond who lives for the stamp in his passport alone. I’m not shedding any crocodile tears exactly. I see it as a chance for them to experience the real world, outside of their cushioned and exoticistic illusions.
Furthermore, it seems to me that this calls for the old Darwin’s Law. I guess not everyone has the benefit of Natural Geography and know beforehand how tsunamis are formed, but still, this is a prime example of how feeble and decadent we have become. Either because we aren’t given the information or because we think we are above it. Like lemmings crossing a river. Or jumping in a pool of sharks dressed as a seal.