Hold your horses Rob!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

It's one thing to make us feel guilty enough about our prosperity to crack open our wallets and donate to a noble cause such as feeding the hungry people around the world. And lobbying our Government to get tax-dollars for organizations that serve these noble purposes can be a good thing too. But when you call us thieves, I take offense and question your motives as well as your methods. Oxfam bio-fuel policy adviser Rob Bailey said this today in an article published by the BBC;

"Rich countries... are making climate change worse, not better, they are stealing crops and land away from food production, and they are destroying millions of livelihoods in the process."

Stealing crops? Just who does he think owns those crops, and the fields that they are grown in? As a Christian, I do feel obligated to respond to the needs of others as well as I am able, but who's calling who a thief? It sounds to me like Rob thinks one mans property should belong to another man regardless of how much blood, sweat, and tears the actual owner has invested.

I've been reading a lot lately about the food vs fuel controversy, and the Food Summit recently held in Rome. I've kept a short list of relevant articles, tagging them as they are published on my Google rss feed reader. If you've been following the story, I'm sure you are aware of several major Natural Disasters, and Wars that have Great Effect on the price of food and fuel.

I understand that a free market system can be cruel, and that much could be done to improve the way food is produced and distributed around the world. But from what I've read and heard, food production efficiency and the range of distribution has increased vastly over what it was a century ago, and in fact is better now than it has ever been.

I've tried hard to be unbiased, and to tag articles that represent differing viewpoints, opinions and agendas. But some of the ass-hats that attended stretch the envelope of credulity. Case in point;

Statements like the one above make my butt crave barbed wire! This guy isn't soliciting for donations, he's inciting riots in the very areas he claims to be so concerned about. Incendiary remarks like this serve no good purpose...that's just the way I feel.

Until now, I've held Oxfam in the highest regard, and I hope this one man doesn't speak for the entire organization.

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