Maybe the most important step is to stop thinking of these people as 'poor people' and start realizing that they are people that are poor. I agree with Easterly when he says, "The world's poor do not have to wait passively for the West to save them...The poor are their own best Searchers."
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Poor People
Near the beginning of the book, when Easterly is talking about the history of the White Man's Burden, he brings up the long-held arrogance that much of the Western world has held towards the 'rest.' He lists quotes that say things such as, "These vast lands...need only assistance from us to become civilized." Reading that, it just seems outrageous that people could be so arrogant towards another race. But, we're doing the same thing still. We think that these 'vast lands' just need assistance from us to become civilized (economically, politically, etc.) Thinking about it in a historical context--how could the Western world have expected to civilize these people, while treating them completely uncivilly. I think that it is the same now; we need to treat these developing nations with respect, trust, and hope that they can succeed.
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I really like that quote that the poor are their own best searchers. The west has the mentality that just because other people don’t live at the same level, don’t have the same luxuries and have a significantly simpler way of life that they need to be saved and that it is our duty to save them and turn them into a civilized people. I think that how we act towards and treat the ‘poor’ is one of the most harmful things. We look down on them like they are lesser beings, like they are still poor because us as a civilized and thriving society hasn’t come up with a groundbreaking plan to rid the world of poverty. In many incidences, big groundbreaking plans to ‘save’ the poor in underdeveloped countries ultimately end up making a bad situation even worse.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that we need to show these nations respect. We need to change our outlook on how we view these nations and possibly these nations will begin to be their own searchers.
I like you post. I would agree that people do look down on Africa as a whole and I think that can be harmful. But here is my question, how do we change the thinking of "oh, poor Africa" but still encourage people to be willing to "help out a brother" every now and then. I don't know if I believe that Africa should be left all on their own, but I do believe all the people who live there deserve to be treated with respect and be enabled to create the changes they see fit.
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