Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Why is Africa such a mess?

One reason is not colonialism. Quite often, the after-effects of colonial rule by the Europeans are blamed for many of Africa's woes. In his latest column, Dr. Walter Williams lays waste to the colonialism argument, as well as enlightens us about other aspects of Africa's despair. Here is what Dr. Williams has to say about colonialism:
African leaders, and many people on the left, blame Africa's problems on the evils of colonialism. They sometimes blame the violence on the borders colonialists created that ignored ethnicity. Many African nations have been independent for four decades. If colonial borders were a major problem, how come they haven't changed them? And, by the way, colonialism cannot explain Third World poverty. Some of today's richest countries are former colonies, such as: United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Some of today's poorest countries were never colonies, such as: Ethiopia, Liberia, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. The colonialism argument is simply a cover up for African dictators.
I would love to see Africa; the continent just has to be absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, you couldn't drag me to any location there that I can think of. That's a shame, because I would love to see it.

Good Day to You, Sir

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you sure? We need one more teacher to go to Ethiopia in July! How about it? George and Chanman's great adventure?

George

W.R. Chandler said...

In this regard, your stones are bigger than mine, my friend.

Is that blog up and running yet so I can advertise it?

Law and Order Teacher said...

I'm with you. I prefer to admire Africa from afar. The colonialism argument does smack of the victimhood argument so popular with our friends on the left.

Anonymous said...

Much like the left's contention that the outrageously high black illegitamacy rate is the result of slavery. Statistics show that the rate only started climbing after 1969. If slavery was at fault, wouldn't it have been higher in the decades after emancipation?

The Vegas Art Guy said...

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1717934,00.html

Thought you might find that article interesting to read, Mr. C.

Darren said...

I've heard it said that people used to go to Rhodesia to see the ruins of Zimbabwe, but now they go to Zimbabwe to see the ruins of Rhodesia.