Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Is it better to feel good or be pragmatic

Some organization is out trying to give a laptop to every poor child in the world.

http://www.dailygut.com/index.php?i=3485

It costs about $200 and is designed to be rugged.

Of course 500 million children live in serious poverty and hunger and 15 million of those die from starvation every year. So what they really need are laptops. Really.

Is this really about making a real difference or is it about making people feel good about themselves. Wouldn't that $200 dollars be better spent in building schools, paying for teachers, food, farming equipment, hospitals, medical supplies, sending doctors there, building infrastructure like electrical plants, water processing plants, Roads and bridges, etc....

Is our goal to provide for the poor and impoverished people in this world, (you know the ones that can't read, don't have electricity, a house that pours water through it when it rains and no locks on the door to protect any thing of value in it, works 12 hours a day for pennies) with the all important ability to blog, down load porn, surf their friends on myspace and get all the junk email they could hope for. Don't forget all that ad revenue when they click on those Google add sites.

I think this maybe one of the most uncaring acts I've seen in a long time.

2 comments:

Philip said...

I disagree. I think making information more freely available in underdeveloped nations is very important. A more informed populace is less likely to put up with corruption and archaic modes of living.

mark said...

I couldn't agree with you more. So lets spend our money teaching them to read and write. Then lets help them learn how to build power plant and create an economy where people can afford power and internet connections, then it could be time for lap tops but by that time they could afford their own.