Just returned to work from two weeks of holiday. Did the staycation in London, including a trip to the Olympics to watch the USA basketball team annihilate a surprisingly good Nigerian team, and then a few days in the charming English countryside of Devon, which was full of last-minute deals on cottages because the predicted tourist hordes frightened so many people away.
So you’ll have to excuse this rather quick post, as my inbox appears to have been consuming too much product from proud Games sponsors like McD’s, Coke and Cadbury (two thumbs up to sleb chef Jamie Oliver for calling out God, in the earthly form of David Beckham, for endorsing the junk food industry).
Sure am glad Mitch Romney didn’t pick Mo Farah for veep. He could run for prime minister and win about now. Taking gold in both the 5K and 10K had to be a top-3 highlight of this Olympics. Heart. It reminded me of Lasse Virén, one of those pieces of trivia that has stuck in my head for an inexplicably long time. He did the same thing in 1972. And then again in ’76.
Anyway, the issue here is Mo. He’s from Somalia. He moved to the UK and managed to clock one of the great sporting accomplishments of this young century. The question: what if he hadn’t left Somalia? The answer is pretty clear. Remember “A mind is a terrible thing to waste”? Remember those ads? I think they somehow played a role in my choosing this career.
Is “terrible” enough of a term to describe the waste of human potential in places like Somalia? What is the world missing? What are the equivalent achievements in the sciences to Mo Farah’s double gold? A vaccine for TB? Maybe even we could dream bigger, like a formula for cold fusion, or an end to Jersey Shore (and Geordie Shore, because somebody over here thought the original was simply too good not to spin off)? Don’t we undermine the very idea of human dignity when the leaders in places like Somalia or Congo are thought of as nothing more than ineffective, tribal or corrupt?
To answer that question, I’ll quote from a recent essay on Congo posted by a buddy of mine, Ed Rackley: The loss of human lives and potential in the Congos, Haitis and Afghanistans of the world amount to much more than the personal and political failings of national leaders; they are calculated criminal acts. Crimes against humanity of a lesser degree than genocide, yes, but surely the act of trapping entire populations in cages of illiteracy, hunger and constant insecurity for decades, even generations, should be punishable.
thanks for your comment on my post Marc. thanks for reading it! hope our paths cross soon buddy.
Wonderful thoughts here, Marc.
I would argue that the world’s constant classification and focus on the faux-pas of the leaders in developing countries, like Somalia, is a major problem.
I feel as if the West (especially in media) imposes these negative identities on these countries that are unwanted, and I think we set them up for failure at times. If all we do is focus on how, say, Somalia’s leaders are failing and we consistently refer to the nation as a “failed state”, then I think we are diminishing the human potential of that state’s citizens.
Sure, many of these governments need criticism, but I think the international community, governments, and media outlets need to recognize that a government doesn’t define it’s citizens.
Karen,
Thx for your comment. Spot on about the negative identity. This post of mine falls into that trap to some extent. But check out my post below, The Narrative Divide (June 7). I think you’ll like the link in the first line, to a Kenyan journo who nails the problem.
True that a government doesn’t define its citizens, but there’s also a saying that we get the govt we deserve. I wouldn’t want to lay that on those suffering a brutally imposed government, but what about all the places where voting does take place, often with citizens reinforcing ethnic or religious alliances, or corruption? Marc