Global Interconnectedness

[browngirl]

I usually think it's really cool that the world is 'growing smaller', that I can use the Internet to have friends on several continents. But nothing is an unalloyed good, it seems.

Yesterday, on the bus, I was idly and gloomily wondering how many bullets my tax dollars have bought, how many people have died in the current war because of my particular contribution. Then, later, I read this, linked from a friend's journal, and it depressed me further. It's about the interconnected wars in Africa, the price of tantalum, rape as a weapon of war, and how the growth of the Internet, with all its potential for bringing people ideas, information, communication, and freedom, has resulted in the severe oppression of many people.

http://pandagon.net/2007/03/07/fotisii/

I said to the friend who linked to this, "I feel guilty for having a computer." (And how awful of me is it that *that*'s my honest reaction, or at least part of it? I should care a hell of a lot more about women suffering in ways I can barely imagine.) Sometimes, as an American, as a citizen in a developed country, I feel like I necessarily leave a trail of destruction behind me in the world, one I hardly ever even see, just by living in this culture. And I don't want to feel that way, but I also don't know what to do to make it not be true, to be more good for the world than I am bad, especially as I learn about more and more evils that I share culpability in.

I don't know.

Comments

[jenny_evergreen]

My compromise is to move to Canada. Still the bad stuff that comes with being a developed country, but minus the USA bad stuff.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Heh. But why would Canada want *me*?

[jenny_evergreen]

I wouldn't stand a chance of getting in; I don't have the work experience. Fortunately, I happen to be married to someone who does.
The fastest way in is to fall in love with a Canadian and get married.
Alternatively, you could fall in love with and marry someone from the US who ALSO wants to go AND has the points to get there. (Like I did. :)
Assuming, of course, that you've taken the assessment and don't qualify currently yourself.
The hardest option would be to alter your career path in such a way that you would qualify in time. (Which, since you aren't happy where you are and you're pretty young, is actually a possibility for you.)
Canada wants and needs contributing members of society, and you would (oh yes you would!) be that.
Well, you asked!

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Why not focus on some of the good things as well and try and achieve a little balance?

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I guess. How much good do I have to do to make up for it, though?

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

As much as you think necessary.

No, wait, scratch that, as much as I think necessary, because I can bet you won't think that you could ever do enough (which is, BTW, not true).

Try and live your own life as best you can.

[cornute.livejournal.com]

"And I don't want to feel that way, but I also don't know what to do to make it not be true, to be more good for the world than I am bad, especially as I learn about more and more evils that I share culpability in."

Before even reading the article and seeing the specific mention of it there, I thought, "What's browngirl doing with a case of Original Sin?"

I know this is not the usual position for folks of my faith, but I'm going to urge you to give up sinning. Not in the "turn in your sins for valuable prizes from Jesus" way, in the "stop blaming yourself for things you didn't directly do and didn't know were happening in your name" way.

If nothing else, the guilt from it is keeping you from *doing* anything about it!

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I've been keeping your reply in my inbox, because it's so inspiring. So I figured it was past due that I thanked you for it. :)

[cornute.livejournal.com]

Aw, shucks!

[catalana.livejournal.com]

I would note that the Congo has been having brutal wars over resources for the last couple of hundred years. First it was ivory, then it was rubber, and now it's Tantalum. It started with the Belgians (since that's who originally owned/occupied the Congo) and went from there.

So I agree that this is horrific and brutal, but it's also not just specific to computers. The West has been exploiting this region of Africa for a *long* time.

*sigh* Not that that's really an encouraging thought...

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

It's not limited to tantalum... but it didn't help, either. I'm still trying to figure out how *I* can.

[ceo]

For what it's worth, here's a much less depressing article about events in Africa.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*grin* That was a very cool article indeed. :) Thank you.