Monday, December 1, 2008

Aaarrrr! These bea a diffrunt kind ‘o pirate!

Images of Captain Hook and Blackbeard are what we typically see when the word pirate dances through our brains. Younger folks, who have never seen the great pirate movies of the past probably picture Johnny Depp staggering drunkenly across a desert isle.

That highly romanticized vision of pirates is no longer true, and in fact, never was true. The free, swashbuckling vagabond of pirate lore never truly matches up to what pirates really were: murderous, violent thugs, driven by either hate, coercion, or desperation to ply their trade.

There is only one all-encompassing truth when it comes to pirates, and that has to do with their lives, in general. That truth is that a pirate’s life can be summed up in three words:

Ugly, brutal, and brief.

Piracy is not the much-romanticized freedom that we read about and see on TV in the likes of Jack Sparrow. Piracy is an ugly, dangerous business that will just as likely result in the pirate’s death as it will his attaining his fortune.

Very few men in history voluntarily took to piracy as a career choice. Most were left with no choice by the tides, currents, and tribulations of a life lived on the shady side of the law. Many pirates of old started out as legitimate weapons of war; privateers were hired and paid handsomely for their efforts during the many wars of history. Once the war concluded, however, the pirate was left in a state of limbo. He had no honest method to earn his keep, and that which he was best at had suddenly become illegal.

Many others take to piracy out of desperation.

For the same reasons that I refuse to blame or condemn an individual immigrant that comes to America illegally to provide a life free of starvation and deprivation for his family (I would do the same thing to feed my family, wouldn’t you?), I have a hard time condemning a man in Somalia, a land plagued by ugliness, hatred, starvation, and greed, for taking to piracy to feed his family.

These pirates are created out of desperation. They feel that they have no other choice than to commit to these violent means in order to keep food on the table. Right, wrong, or indifferent, that is the truth. If Somalia were a thriving first or second world country, the piracy problem would not exist. It is desperation that is leading these men to violence.

This is proof, if anything were, that our foreign aid programs are not working. The United States has held itself out as the most generous, most philanthropic society on earth, and in many ways, we are. We give far more than anyone else to international concerns, by pretty large factors. Americans are the most generous people on earth, whether the money is given away by taxation fiat (which I am against*) or by direct, charitable donation (which my wife and I struggle to do as much of as we can every year, but after we give 38% of everything we earn to various governmental agencies every year, money is pretty tight to give to people that really need it or deserve it). We give away billions every year to Africa, a not un-sizeable portion of which goes directly to, you guessed it, Somalia.

Yet, we still have piracy.

“What has gone wrong?” a person may ask him or herself? And what has gone wrong, indeed, is that our foreign policy of aid to Africa has gone horribly awry.

Contrary to popular liberal belief, most Conservatives are not against helping someone when they are down. I, personally, am not against welfare, per se, nor any other sort of aid to help a person when they have stumbled on this treacherous road we call life. It happens. The problem arises when that help becomes entitlement, when temporary aid becomes permanent subsistence, and when the person on that aid finds themselves in a situation where it is easier to keep taking aid than it is to work to get off of it, for various reasons.

All of the above apply to Africa.

There is an old saying, that goes something like “if you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. If you TEACH a man to fish, then he will feed himself for a lifetime.” It is all about self-determination and responsibility. We have been giving the African nations fish for almost 4 decades, and during that time, they have eaten the fish that we have given them, but have not learned to catch fish for themselves.

I suggest we stop giving them fish, and start giving them fishing gear.

Several times, I’ve read articles in magazines, such as National Geographic, that talk about the fundamental problem with pastoral and urban society in Africa, and that problem is fatalism brought about by ignorance. We haven’t been teaching the Africans in Somalia about irrigation techniques in drought areas. The drought comes, their crops die, and the African mentality is to shrug your shoulders and prepare to starve to death. One of the articles that I read showed a lake, full of water, being fed by a year-round river not 5 miles from the site of a drought-induced famine. The crops died from lack of water. The Africans shrugged, and figured that since Mother Nature had not seen fit to provide enough water, that they were simply going to die. Not a single one thought about bringing water from the lake. Not one.

Why is that? I’ll tell you why. It is because instead of providing a pump unit, and teaching them how to get irrigation water from the lake to their fields, western society has been giving them food when their crops fail. Yet one more reason for the farmers to be unconcerned when the drought killed their crops. They would eat. In fact, why plant crops at all?

We’ve been giving to them for so long that they expect it, and therefore, do nothing to prevent crop failures and poverty.

When, due to evil regimes in power, the aid stops flowing, the desperation sets in, and piracy begins to look more and more inviting. Ugly, brutal, and short beats imminent death by starvation any day.

In the short term, shipping can be protected by allowing teams of security personnel on board ships in these danger zones. These security teams would be armed to the teeth and ready to fight to protect the ship. This isn’t about one ship, or even a dozen ships. It is about protecting the civilized world’s ability to peacefully trade without violent intervention, and as a result, we cannot allow even one more ship to be hijacked.

However, in the long term, this entire debacle can be eliminated by teaching the African people to fish, metaphorically speaking. Help them to develop economies of their own. Help them learn how to produce more than simply what they need to survive, and sell the excess for profit. Help them become educated, and to eliminate the same ignorant fatalism that has lead to famine and the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Help them to learn that their OWN fate is in their OWN hands, and that help is not one picture of a starving child away. What I mean is this:

Africa has everything it needs to stand on it’s own. Natural resources are abundant. Tourism opportunities abound. Personnel are almost infinitely available. All they need is the education to get started; to be taught how to fish on their own. If life in Africa met even a second world standard, it would be too comfortable and happy for the denizens of Africa to even consider the ugly, brutal, and brief alternative presented by piracy.

15 comments:

Goober said...

Cut off my footnote. Here it is in it's entirety:

*Forced charitable giving is not charity, nor is it giving. It is coercion by threat of violence, and is neither charitable, nor just. If a person wants to be a money-grubbing greedy scumbag (three cheers!) then that is his or her right. I cannot understand the person who thinks that the only way to be charitable is by giving your money blindly to the government to do with what they choose. That isn’t charity, it is laziness.

Anonymous said...

nuke 'em

Jimbo said...

Damn, Goob.

Sometimes I wish I had time to read your posts.

Okay - I did read most of it.

Don't get too caught up in 'romantasism' Goob. There is always a choice between right and wrong. There's also a choice in easy and hard, and easy is, too often, just plain wrong.

And when some folks say we don't give enough - we'd be giving plenty if the liberals and the UN didn't take their 95% cut.

If the bastards suddenly discovered piracy meant certain death they'd learn to be farmers and fishermen. As you point out - survival is instinct.

Welfare queens are no different. If liberal freaks would quit feeding them, they'd figure out a productive way to put food on their tables then everyone would be healthier, happier, and more properous.

Socialism begats apathy - a lesson liberal fools will never learn - they're WAY too stupid.

Anonymous said...

Jimbo;

I think we more or less said the same thing...

:)

Spider said...

Gee Goob, on the one hand you say you agree with the illegals who come here and suck the life out of our country "just to feed their families", yet you're against these pirates for doing pretty much the same thing in their own part of the world. Why the double standard? Is it based simply on the methods used? We don't need to teach Africans how to fish. They've been doing it longer than America has existed. But why fish when you can sit there and wait for someone to hand you the fish.

America has not only created a nation of hand-out addicts right here at home, but an entire planet of hand-out addicts. One of the very first things you learn when dealing with addicts is to stop feeding their addiction, something bleeding-heart liberals can't comprehend!

And where does it say that America has to be all things, to all peoples, all the time? Why is it the sole responsibility of America to fix the worlds problems, especially when we can't seem to fix our own? We're constantly going around the world telling people how they should live, while being a classic example of "FUBAR" here at home.

America needs to learn how to mind it's own business once in a while. We also need to learn that charity begins at home, meaning, you take care of your own first! If more people around the world followed that simple principle, we wouldn't have nearly as many problems. But we don't give them the chance to stand on their own feet, do we. We're always right there with plane-loads of money, food and everything else. In return, we get world-wide hatred and condemnation. A fitting reward for a nation of weak fools.

Anonymous said...

When people are on the dole they lose self respect and feel beholden.

That breeds a subconscious dislike towards the giver for 'making me feel this way'. That manifests itself in outright hate most times.

Somalia is unique in that it has no government and infrastructure. In place are brutal gangs (clans)that are in constant opposition. Most all citizens call themselves aligned with one clan or another.

As you say, they could be an agricultural success and a tourist draw...but, they have one thing I've noticed in 3rd world countries:

failure to dream.

I'm not talking about something that occurs when asleep.

They cannot visualize the future, never consider 'what if' so they don't plan for new alternatives.

Everything is immediate based on past experience.

Why not bring water only 5 miles to irrigate their crops and, basically, save their lives?
They can't visualize that concept. It was never here before so it's unfathomable.

I ran up against this mindset too many times when I worked overseas. Very sad, frustrating if you want to do something new.

I don't have a clue how to fix it, either.

Missy said...

You know for pirates they are pretty nice. No one seems to get killed (among the hostages) and they apparently even hire caterers to make western style food for them. But the one problem that I have is there are no parrots. How can you have a pirate with out a parrot?

Anonymous said...

un-ZIIIIIIIIIIIP

Here's my Parrot Missy. Polly wanna CRACK.

Hope yer 'kitty' isn't allergic to feathers.

Anonymous said...

speaking of pirates, what happened to our new Butt-hole pirate on this topic?

Anonymous said...

But why is the rum gone?

Oy, mates--click me name for a right gut-buster.

Anonymous said...

"Gee Goob, on the one hand you say you agree with the illegals who come here and suck the life out of our country "just to feed their families", yet you're against these pirates for doing pretty much the same thing in their own part of the world. Why the double standard? Is it based simply on the methods used? "

Spidey, I think you misread that passage. I never said I AGREE with either of their actions, I just simply said I UNDERSTOOD why they did it, and refuse to condemn them for their choice. I would do the same thing in desperate times to feed my family. Wouldn’t you? Here is the passage again:

For the same reasons that I refuse to blame or condemn an individual immigrant that comes to America illegally to provide a life free of starvation and deprivation for his family (I would do the same thing to feed my family, wouldn’t you?), I have a hard time condemning a man in Somalia, a land plagued by ugliness, hatred, starvation, and greed, for taking to piracy to feed his family.

Do you understand now? I don’t AGREE with what they are doing, but UNDERSTAND why they are doing it, because I would do the same to keep my family from starvation. You say I am against the pirates and FOR the immigrants, yet it is clearly stated in this passage that I don’t condemn either one for their choice. Again, I think you misread it.

Anonymous said...

Hey, BTW, where is HLF to accuse me of complaining about all the money I'm spending on welfare (even though, if he had been on this site for more than a few days, he would have seen countless times where I have stated that I agree that we need a safety net to help people that have fallen.)? He is a no-show on this one.

i wonder if it is because I didn't call for an end to the aid? I wonder if that shocked his little liberal panties right off that a conservative is not concerned about spending the money, but just wants to make sure that it is well-spent looking for solutions instead of perpetuating the problem?

Spider said...

"I just simply said I UNDERSTOOD why they did it, and refuse to condemn them for their choice."

You understand why they do it, and you refuse to condemn them for their actions. That's not exactly disagreeing with what they do, is it.

Anonymous said...

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
–Mark Twain

Anonymous said...

"You understand why they do it, and you refuse to condemn them for their actions. That's not exactly disagreeing with what they do, is it."

So if your family were living in squalor, and constantly hungry because you lived with them in a third world shit hole, are you telling me you would watch them starve on principle before you would jump a border illegally?

Or rob someone?

I think I disagree with their actions on PRINCIPAL, but understand why they chose to take them, in REALITY. I would sacrifice my honor and principal to save my family. Any day. A father has no higher calling. I would disagree in PRINCIPAL with what I was doing, but would do so anyway, because REALITY is that my family is starving to death.

Do you understand now?