Zimbabwe government plans to return land back to white farmers [03:08]

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Yep, when I was younger I at first felt some sympathy for poor starving Africans. Even my Grandpa tried to use that "people starving in Africa" to get me to eat stuff I hated. One day he was doing it again over some cabbage I refused to eat raw without putting some mayonnaise on it. I tried telling him, I don't like the basic taste of raw cabbage and prefer some flavor on it. "There's kids in Africa who are starving and would love to eat that just the way it is". Blah blah. I lost my temper, shoved it away and told them, "Then package it up and send it to them if you care so much!" and left the table hungry. Well, not hungry enough I guess.

But as a kid it set me to thinking. First off, all these rich celebrities were going to Africa and presenting starving kids and asking us to send money. Wait, they have plenty of money, what were they doing? The kids are still starving, always seem to be starving and where do these millions of dollars really go? And why keep sending money? They have plenty of land and they can certainly learn how to farm productively, why don't they? Wouldn't putting in some wells and pumping water solve the drought problem? After all, in the Midwest where I was growing up we had frequent droughts but no one ever starved because of it. Our farming system is resilient as farmers just pump more water for crops and cows. Sure, some crops are lost but not all, prices for food go up and down but we don't starve.

And haven't these Africans had hundreds of generations to figure out their problems? USA only has existed for a couple hundred years at that time and already was a world power with plenty of food and productivity. How's come we can succeed and Africans remain poor and starving?

So I grew up always watching the news for things happening in Africa. What I found made me realize that Africans always take the shortest possible gain while ignoring long term solutions. If they have a tree they cut it down to cook their cow. Then they have no tree and no cow and cry because they are hungry. If they have grain they eat the grain and neglect planting even a portion of it so they end up hungry when the grain is gone. If they farm they only do small plots large enough for just the people planting and then go sit around waiting for that one small crop to be ready.

Africa will always be hungry and poor because they misuse what they have. Plain and simple.

If you feed them for a generation all you end up with is more hungry children who repeat the process.

Yep, when I was younger I at first felt some sympathy for poor starving Africans. Even my Grandpa tried to use that "people starving in Africa" to get me to eat stuff I hated. One day he was doing it again over some cabbage I refused to eat raw without putting some mayonnaise on it. I tried telling him, I don't like the basic taste of raw cabbage and prefer some flavor on it. "There's kids in Africa who are starving and would love to eat that just the way it is". Blah blah. I lost my temper, shoved it away and told them, "Then package it up and send it to them if you care so much!" and left the table hungry. Well, not hungry enough I guess. But as a kid it set me to thinking. First off, all these rich celebrities were going to Africa and presenting starving kids and asking us to send money. Wait, they have plenty of money, what were they doing? The kids are still starving, always seem to be starving and where do these millions of dollars really go? And why keep sending money? They have plenty of land and they can certainly learn how to farm productively, why don't they? Wouldn't putting in some wells and pumping water solve the drought problem? After all, in the Midwest where I was growing up we had frequent droughts but no one ever starved because of it. Our farming system is resilient as farmers just pump more water for crops and cows. Sure, some crops are lost but not all, prices for food go up and down but we don't starve. And haven't these Africans had hundreds of generations to figure out their problems? USA only has existed for a couple hundred years at that time and already was a world power with plenty of food and productivity. How's come we can succeed and Africans remain poor and starving? So I grew up always watching the news for things happening in Africa. What I found made me realize that Africans always take the shortest possible gain while ignoring long term solutions. If they have a tree they cut it down to cook their cow. Then they have no tree and no cow and cry because they are hungry. If they have grain they eat the grain and neglect planting even a portion of it so they end up hungry when the grain is gone. If they farm they only do small plots large enough for just the people planting and then go sit around waiting for that one small crop to be ready. Africa will always be hungry and poor because they misuse what they have. Plain and simple. If you feed them for a generation all you end up with is more hungry children who repeat the process.

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