Iweala, U. (2008) Stop Trying to 'Save' Africa-- washingtonpost.com - 13 views
started by Kaitlyn Guilbeaux on 03 Oct 11
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#1 Kaitlyn Guilbeaux on 03 Oct 11Do you think that "saving" Africa is a good idea? Or do you agree with the idea that portraying Africa as a helpless region in need of a savior is actually causing damage? -
#2 Felecia Russell on 04 Oct 11Great Question. It is not exactly saving Africa, but rather, helping Africans. Africa is in dire need of help. Yes, there is progress, but why do we want to highlight progress when there is so much progress that still needs to be made. I guess we can show the great things about Africa, but what good does that do? Africa is not being portrayed as a helpless nation, it is being portrayed for what it is, which is a country in need of help. There is no image damaging, there is image building.! -
#3 Eric Henderson on 05 Oct 11This is a very good question. To help clarify though, I think the word "save" should be defined as bringing the quality of life and government up to par with developed countries such as the United States and numerous European Countries. That being said, I do not think that Africa needs to be "saved" whatsoever. For many years before the modern time, Africa survived, and in good order too, without the help or aid of any other foreign country. Also, during the Imperial Age, most of Africa's natural resources were depleted, yielding a lower economic output leading to a lower standard of living. All of that said, I think it would have been best to not help Africa in the first place, and just let the continent work its own problems out. -
#4 nsamuelian on 05 Oct 11I think that by portraying the desperation of Africa, we are actually causing more damage rather than saving. I think that if people around world do acknowledge what Africa has done for itself and what other Africans have done for their country, it is much more helpful than having Americans, specifically American celebrities, act as though they truly care about the poverty and helplessness of Africa. -
#5 Sarah McKee on 05 Oct 11I think that "saving Africa" and portraying it as a helpless region are not the best ways of going about it, but I do believe that helping the parts of Africa that need it is good. So even though I don't necessarily agree with the amount of attention given to celebrities and the like who are helping in different ways I do think that it at least brings some awareness to people in America and it does inspire some people to help as well and I think that is a good cause. There are definitely parts of Africa that need assistance and there are others that maybe don't as much but the places that do need help, any help is good whether it comes from a discrete source or from a well know celebrity I don't see a problem. I mean we can get caught up in whether they are doing it to help or just get attention but if they are helping, isn't that all that matters? As long as the job gets done it shouldn't matter who gets credit. I'm not saying that it's good that we portray Africa as helpless or that we make celebrities into heroes, that is definitely a flaw in our society but I don't think that means that everything that we do is bad. -
#6 Joette Carini on 05 Oct 11I do not necessarily think that "saving" Africa is a good idea, but I definitely think that helping and aiding Africa is a good idea. I do not think that the continent, as a whole, being seen as a helpless area is exactly a good thing, seeing as that image could prove to be detrimental to the thoughts that people have about Africa, and that is not the image that a continent necessarily wants to have. We should be able to help them without just seeing them as helpless, though. -
#7 Valencia Hamilto on 05 Oct 11The problem with this topic is that people generalize Africa as a country and not a continent. Africa is made up of many different countries and not all of them are suffering from poverty. People quickly assume that all parts of Africa are poor because of what we Americans portray it to be. Africa receives the image of being the poor and I don't think that's what they truly want to be referred by. But yes there are parts of Africa that are less fortunate than others and need some help. We use helping out Africa as a publicity exposure rather than through generosity and being charismatic.
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