[Prodigal Son]

There was a brief glimmer of hope before the Zim elections but the only thing I see there now is total despair. I feel sorry for the people there- if they can find a way to flee they should undoubtably do so. I can only say, I'm glad I visited Zimbabwe before it reached this point and it should be interesting to see what this geographic area will be named in the future.

I feel callous and jaded for just turning away, but literally, there is nothing the West or the USA can do for that country or the continent if this is the way their peoples choose to get on in the future. There is only South Africa left and after that the continent, especially the sub Saharan continent, is lost. If the Europeans seemed God-like when they showed up on the dark continent in the past, can you imagine how the West will seem to the chaotic mess and uneducated masses in Africa, 2-3 decades from now when we show up again to colonize?

The worst tragedy of all this is not the suffering of the present day African as terrible as it may be. The worst is that men of the likes of Mugabe and Kofi Anan are sentencing an entire continent of people to be forever serfs. When recolonization takes place in Africa, the West will be so technologically advanced that the average African will never, ever be able to catch up. The average Western citizen has trouble staying abreast of the change we experience when we are immersed in it. They, the Africans, will be perpetually left ever more centuries behind as the growth of the West reaches exponential levels. What have these people to offer us in the present moment? How much less will they have to offer us in 20 yrs or more?

[tyen]

I had not considered what you just posited, but I think you may be onto something here. Here is another ramification if the African continent is shredded by the liberals' favorites. While I agree that the average adult African in this scenario is doomed to a life of what will by then be considered menial labor in the West at best, I wouldn't say that the children are similarly denied the opportunity for advancement.

However, if the children adopt the ways of the more technologically advanced Western world in that future history in order to survive and prosper, African culture by and large will become extinct. Of course, the current dictators are doing a fine job of making vicious, petty brutality the modern African culture.