A long time ago, my stepfather gave me a bunch of magazines that he had kept for many years. The were National Geographic. These magazines dated from the 40's through the 90's. To me, that was a treasure trove. As I read through these, I noticed that in several issues, decades apart, they had covered the same country or area, or group of people. One of these areas was Bangledesh. The thing that really stuck out about it was this though. In the 40's they sere starving and flooded out. In the 50's they were starving and flooded out. In the 60's and 70's and even now, they are starving and flooded out. The magazines did the same to many other places and the same pattern appeared. In africa, they have changed the names so much who can keep track, but the thing that has not changed is this. The people are hungry, they are killed and raped and abused. They are sold into slavery. In India, it is a rich country on the surface. Underneath though, they still have the caste system and they officially or unofficially enforce it. If you are born into one of the lower castes, you stay there, no choice. They starve and beg and clean water is almost nonexistant. It has been that way for a very very long time. This is just a couple of examples I read about in a magazine. In these National geographics, they told about how bad things were for these poor people. The articles also discussed all the foreign aid that was going to them to help to improve their future. Most of the aid was from the U.S. It did not happen, these poor people are still in the same straights as they were over 60 years ago, and I am sure that it goes back much farther than 60 years. Nothing has changed. The only thing that has really changed is this. WE can see it. Those 60 year old magazines of mine show so much, and so little. With the internet, we see what happens instantly as it goes on. Sure, you can hunt anything you want. It is the largest library on the planet. You can see the people starving. You can see who enslaves them. You can find out so much information about anything that you are an overloaded expert. But you know what? The Bangledeshis are still starving. The Africans are still starving and being killed. The Indian caste system still controls the people. Millions of people the world over are in poverty, dying of starvation, being murdered for religion, abused, and treated like cattle. What can we do about it? Nothing, it will not go away. I have blogged off and on since the inception of the internet. The term blog had not come into existance yet. The existance of this thingy as a major communication device is less than 20 years. It occurs to me that maybe I am so overloaded with information that it is impossible to sort out or deal with at times. The porn industry skyrocketed, con artists and crooks use it to steal, defame, and blackmail. Evil governments and people use it to plan more evil. The list is endless. Basic treatment of people the world over is the same. Old customs, hatreds, and abuse never go away. And nothing has changed, except now, we are aware. You remember that old adage, "ignorance is bliss".
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