Pew unfaithful. Could you please use paragraphs when writing? It would make your message a lot easier to read.
Now to what you are saying; Where did you get the idea that we care less about the poor than you do?
If I did not care about the poor why did you think I was posting all those messages?
I care as much as you do, but emotions and good intentions will not help them. What I said in short was that I found it heartbreaking that all this money was spent om causes that will not help the poor one iota!
Whats "unchristian" about that? Besides the fact that you do not need to be a Christian to care. You seem to have confused criticism towards a system that lets abject poverty in existence since 1962 with not caring.
The point is that being emotional about it is not enough. If you really care you must find out *what will really help* these people!! Its a disgrace that millions are spend to organize these concerts when instead Geldolf and Bono should have campaigned for the US and the corrupt European Union, with its damned welfare measures and import restrictions to open it borders to the poor countries of the world.
If you disagree with what I and others are saying please give some ideas how to solve this crisis yourself. I would be very interested to see how you think this should be solved.
As for my example of the indian tribes, you are speaking of the tribes as if they were only one people and they always treated each other with respect. There is overwhelming historical evidence that this image is wrong.
If you can show me some historical sources that they all lived in peace with each other and did not wage war and took each others lands, children and women, before the Europeans set foot on the north American continent you are welcome to do so.
You wrote:
"instead of saying no don't send food to those other countries and help the poor.. how about we help their national economies to become stable which in turn creates more jobs in those countries, gives jobs to the poor, they help themselves etc.. etc.. (seems to be working in China where i have friends who tell me things are improving there since the U.S. and other countries have made strong investments there) which in turn helps the global economy... instead of bitching about globalization .. accept it, embrace it because it benefits all in the long run..."
Sigh, but that is exactly, to a tee, what I have been saying all along.
The only problem is that a firm will not dare to invest in a country with a corrupt government. If the government does not respect property right it can nationalize the firm when it is making money! And this has happened a lot of times in the 60s and 70s. If there is a revolution in a country the firm might get destroyed or taken over. Firms need a stable country where they can be sure their investments are protected. That was what I was arguing for.
There could be no bigger supporter of globalisation than me! I am a free trade advocate and get harassed for it here in the Netherlands all the time.
In short;
I want the US and Europe to open their markets so the poor farmers can sell their products to us and earn some serious money and built up an existence.
I want political pressure and pressure from public opinion towards the governments of Africa to respect property right clean up corruption and have a system of low taxes so local business can thrive and business from other countries are not afraid to invest in Africa. So Africa can develop a prosperous and thriving economy
Everything I wrote in this tread has the intention to get these result.
Here are two pro-globalisation blog I visit every day:
http://www.johannorberg.net/?page=displayblog&month=6&year=2005#1117
http://www.globalizationinstitute.org/blog/
And here is a piece from the New York Times that confirms what I said about property right:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/opinion/05kristof.html
Excerpt from the article by Nicolas D. Kristof:
"Mr. Bush's signature foreign aid program, the Millennium Challenge Account, is off to an agonizingly slow start, but is shrewdly focused on encouraging good governance and economic growth. The first grant went to Madagascar, a well-run country, to clarify property rights there. This isn't sexy, but nothing would help the poor in Africa more than giving them clear title to their land so they could secure loans and start businesses."
I hope any misunderstanding are cleared up now
PS I ran into a very interesting interview with The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati:
He say's ""For God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!"
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,363663,00.html