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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Before and After Colonialism and the myth of the noble, happy savage |
| 2017-03-27 |
| [Daily Caller] From their plush apartments, over groaning dinner tables, pseudo-intellectuals have the luxury of depicting squalor and sickness as idyllic, primordially peaceful and harmonious. After all, when the affluent relinquish their earthly possessions to return to the simple life, it is always with aid of sophisticated technology and the option to be air-lifted to a hospital if the need arises. Is there any wonder, then, that "the stereotype of colonial history" has been perpetuated by the relatively well-to-do intellectual elite? Theories of exploitation, Marxism for one, originated with Western intellectuals, not with African peasants. It is this clique alone that could afford to pile myth upon myth about a system that had benefited ordinary people. What is meant by "benefited"? Naturally, the premise here is that development, so long as it’s not coerced, is desirable and material progress good. British colonists in Africa reduced the state of squalor, disease and death associated with lack of development. To the extent that this is condemned, the Rousseauist myth of the noble, happy savage is condoned. Granted, Africa’s poor did not elect to have these conditions, good and bad, foisted on them. However, once introduced to potable water, sanitation, transportation, and primary healthcare, few Africans wish to do without them. Fewer Africans still would wish to return to Native Customary Law once introduced to the idea that their lives were no longer the property of the Supreme Chief to do with as he pleased. It "is an absurdity to assert that cannibalism, slavery, magical therapy, and killing the aged should be accorded the same ’dignity’ or ’validity’ as old-age security, scientific medicine, and metal artifacts," noted anthropologist George Peter. While old habits die hard, most "people prefer Western technology and would rather be able to feed their children and elderly than kill them," he notes in Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress. And the West largely eliminated "many of the worst endemic and epidemic diseases in West Africa." Ask Moeletsi Mbeki, the brother of South Africa’s former president Thabo Mbeki. He has admitted that "the average African is poorer [today] than during the age of colonialism." Even so--and whether they stay or go--the blame for all the ills of this backward and benighted region falls on Westerners. One dreadfully off-course notion has it that the colonial powers plundered Africa and failed to plow back profits into the place. This manifest absurdity is belied by the major agricultural, mineral, commercial and industrial installations throughout the continent. The infrastructure in Africa was built by the colonial powers. Far from draining wealth from less developed countries," as P. T. Bauer richly documented, in Equality, the Third World, and Economic Delusion, "British industry helped to create it there." Continues |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #2 Bwah-Hah-Hah! Now look at the China's invation! They turned all them into slaves and cannibals! They pay less that they can buy food after work at faking to eat dog in China is what they actually eat in secret is fetuses ans flesh from kidnapped young people in China and now in Africa...work it out carefully and get the surprises! |
| Posted by: Vortigern Ghibelline4246 2017-03-27 21:41 |
| #1 Probably one of Mercer's finest pieces. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2017-03-27 07:31 |