Pirates? Are you kidding me?

In the next Johnny Depp film, maybe he could be a pirate who kills children. We could personalize them if we wanted. I figure it'd raise awareness.

It's more like "inrage."

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I love it!

So you're outraged that we're not outraged by the lack of outrage about dying children.

It's just that disproportionate interest in matters of emotional significance is an old, old story which goes to the heart of human psychology. Why did media obsess over O.J. Simpson and JonBenet Ramsey and ignore millions of other murders? Why do we care when a few western tourists are kidnapped in Algeria while millions are dying in Congo.

People react to narratives, particularly narratives that they can relate to. That's why the micro-loan program you wrote about directed your money to a specific individual and told you her story. The most efficient way to do it would been just to put your money in a fund, but then you would have been less likely to donate.

As for the media, they just report on what interests us. If you were to title this post "Malnourishment and disease kill African children" instead of "Pirates? Are you kidding me?" I expect that you would not receive as many clicks.

So my advice to you, fellow member of the media, if you want to generate interest in issues of social justice, is to tell good stories.

Nothing like attacking Western interests to get the world to pay attention to you.

Agree about negotiating with the Islamic movement. Unfortunately, the movement is more extreme than it once was, and I'm sure how open to negotiation they are or how well they'd be able to work with secular interests. I fear that the only available alternative to anarchy is a Talibanesque regime. That would improve stability, as Taliban did for Afghanistan, but at the expense of women and could offer a safe haven for militant jihadists.

I'm not sure how people can be surprised at coastline in a gigantic continent surrounded by water. But then, my college roommate, a very smart woman from Brooklyn, thought of Lake Michigan like a pond in somebody's backyard until her frist visit to Chicago.

Functional government would be nice, but how do you force democratic rule on a country that's not really a country but a region shared by tribes and ruled by warlords? The west can't just go in and pull a government out of its hat. We keep trying and we keep failing--all over the globe.

It's a bit of a quandry--no social movement to usher in democratic government until the people don't have to worry about survial, no peace until there is government, no guaranteed survival until there is peace. That's not just in Somalia, but in the other war-ravaged African nations as well. Like I said...depressing.

A pirate escort might not be so bad. From the article I quoted to Orlando:

Fatuma Abdul Kadir said she went to a pirate wedding in July that lasted two days, with nonstop dancing and goat meat, and a band flown in from neighboring Djibouti.“It was wonderful,” said Ms. Fatuma, 21. “I’m now dating a pirate.”

To your separate note, I think that people are surprised by pirates period. Most people think of pirates as parrot-owning swashbucklers with funny socks. There area also a lot of pirates in Indonesia, which I expect surprises people as well

That's fascinating and troubling, Donal. Thanks for the link. I wonder if this kind of arrangement will become more common. I don't think that the problems are quite as clear cut as you suggest. Madagascar is more democratic and less corrupt than many other African nations. Neither Madagascar nor Nigeria has a "strongman" like Mugabe. Conflating them belittles the real successes that these nations have had. But there is a ruling class that will reap most of the benefits, as has happened in Latin America. Still the deal will provide much needed capital to the country, and assuming that Korea hires locals, some compensation will go directly to the farmers. Finally, with a true democratic government and international stature, Korea may be more responsive to human rights pressure than Madagascar itself.

There are serious issues of concern though. You're right about the threat to the environment. Furthermore, the price of food is likely to go up locally, so even if the Malagasians have more money, they may be able to buy less with it. Moreover, if Malagasians are excluded from management, they won't develop local expertise, and the arrangement will truly be nouveau colonial, or even nouveau feudal. Furthermore, the system may be replicated by undemocratic powers like China and Russia who could cut deals with third world regimes that are much more corrupt and totalitarian than Madagascar.

According to this Telegraph article, Daewoo Logistics expects to pay nothing for the land. Even worse, they only intend to grow maize and raw ingredients for biofuels. All the locals will get out of it are jobs, roads and "expertise."

Yes, Genghis is right that when economic interest or heartstrings are involved, the world pays attention and moves fast. Look at the tsunami relief effort. That was a huge amount of money raised in such a short time. It's good, in that the opportunity and possibility exists to address problems quickly. I just wish that we wouldn't give up on the more desperate-seeming problems.