Texas in Africa – Develop Economies

Films about Africa: “Blood Diamond”

July 6, 2011 Josh Comments 1 comment

I watched the film “Blood Diamond” for the first time the other day. For those who have not seen it, the movie is graphic, placing the horror of armed conflict in Africa on full display. The director does not seem to pull any punches in terms of violence, choosing to show child soldiers doing drugs and killing women and other children. The main storyline, however, tracks the odyssey of Danny Archer, a white mercenary from Rhodesia played by Leonardo DiCaprio,…

The Aversion to Government-Run Development Programs

November 24, 2010 Josh Comments 0 Comment

Andrew Sullivan of The Altlantic writes a popular blog about politics, economics, culture, and anything else he finds interesting or relevant at the moment. With 20-30 posts today, it has the depth of a traditional blog and the breadth of a link aggregator. The relative exposure he gives a subject depends on how much he likes the people who are writing about it. He is a fiscal conservative and likes the idea of market-driven, bottom-up development. Over the past year,…

The Awareness Dilemma: How Nicholas Kristof Gets Us to Care

July 15, 2010 Josh Comments 1 comment

For those who do not know, Nicholas Kristof is an incurable optimist who writes a column for the New York Times on aid, development, foreign policy, and all things related. In a video posted to his blog, he took questions from readers. The author of one development blog point out that most of Kristof’s articles follow a standard narrative that: “one that often focused on the foreign, typically American “savior” helping the poor Africans in need, to the exclusion of…