Tsunami, Etc.

Hello all, and Happy New Year. I'm back from my holiday hiatus, and there are lots of things to discuss. Over the next few days, I'll be weighing in on the signing of the Sudan peace agreement, the college football Bowl Championship Series system, and events surrounding the recently convened Congress. However, today I want to discuss the December 26 tsunami and issues surrounding it. First off, click the banner above if you would like to contribute money to UNICEF's tsunami relief efforts. This is probably the most devastating natural disaster of our time, and hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom are children, are without food and shelter. UNICEF and many other organizations are working to provide food and shelter for these people whose lives have been shattered.

Now, one of the things that I've noticed during the coverage of the tsunami and its fallout is America's obsession with "human interest" stories. I've decided that we need to be more specific, however, and admit that we only care about American human interest stories. We can hear on the radio, see on TV, and read in the papers about how many dozens of Americans might have been killed in the disaster or what Americans survived the event to be joyously reunited with their families. Let me make this as clear as I can. The international death toll is currently hovering around 150,000, and the United Nations warned today that this number could double before the dust settles. 300,000 people possibly killed, and hundreds of thousands of others struggling to survive right now. Early estimates show that about one third of the victims were children. Yet somehow these number don't tug at our heart strings the way the comparatively tiny number of American casualties do. This is a travesty, and, I believe, a testament to our general isolationist attitude toward the rest of the world. 300,000 people dead. Whatever producers or editors who made the decision to devote airtime and print space (usually more prominent space than the coverage of international casualties receives) should be given the axe immediately. There's absolutely no excuse for this kind of journalistic irresponsibility.

Now, moving onto the international aid aspect of the ordeal. Countries all over the world are pouring money and resources into Southeast Asia in an inspiring display of unified support. The United States government has certainly come around significantly from their initial pledge of a mere $15 million, raising their promise to $350 million (White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has repeatedly lied about this, claiming the $350 million was our initial pledge). This increase came on the heels of comments made by Jan Egeland, United Nations emergency relief coordinator, where she suggested that the wealthiest nations in the world were being "stingy" toward the poorest nations in the world. It's no surprise, of course, that the throngs of Bush Administration ass-kissers were enraged at the accusation doesn't give enough in foreign aid. "We give away more than anyone," I can hear Limbaugh saying in his guttural tone. However, when you evaluate foreign aid by percentage of gross national product, the US doesn't look so generous. Norway devotes 0.92 percent of its GDP to humanitarian aid and development. Denmark, 0.84 percent. Our apparent nemesis, France, 0.4 percent. The US, 0.14 percent. So we don't make the sacrifices that other countries make in the foreign aid department. And in this case, we can't even claim that we've contributed the largest volume, GDP percentages aside. A number of countries have promised more money that they U.S. Among these are Japan and Germany, the latter promising the equivalent of $674 million US dollars.

Don't get me wrong, it's great that we're contributing what we are, but we could certainly be a lot better. I think calling us "stingy" is probably a stretch, but we are certainly not being liberal with our tsunami relief donations. We are giving a very average amount of aid, and personally, I think that for the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world, average just isn't good enough. Please consider clicking on the banner above to donate money, or click here for a list of other resources.