I read the following allegory on a blog in the UK recently. it’s meant to reflect on the issue of mass immigration into the UK and the local populations percieved reaction to this.
“Eight people in a lifeboat, awaiting rescue. All comfortable and warm. Each checked their ration packs. All had ample rations, even luxuries of wine, chocolate and biscuits to keep them going. A person glanced out of the porthole to sea. A person in the distance was drowning. One asked should we not go and rescue them? Each glanced at their ample rations. Some muttered about having to share their wine and biscuits, some ignored the talk and ate. Some had already tucked into them. They didn’t turn back. The lifeboat is the West and the drowning person is the third world.”
The quote is designed to guilt trip people into thinking that they are “well off” while others struggle and that they are selfish people if they don’t help or feel guilty about their “good fortune”.
The reality is a lot more complex.
Two Trillion American dollars have been donated to Africa in the last 50 years to fix these problems for no discernible gain, except that some Westerners get to feel good about themselves and possibly get a power trip by having power over others.
The issue is complicated by Westerners paternalistic and/or patronising attitude to other cultures.
The situation is explained in depth in the following link. It is a speech by a former volunteer for an Italian NGO (non Government organisation) and his experiences of working for an NGO in Africa, and how everything they did turned to custard.
Uncoffined 