Re: [NTLK] A new eMate in the offing?

From: Deborah Mitchell (debbym1_at_mac.com)
Date: Thu Nov 17 2005 - 09:54:29 PST


I have to agree with Martin. Unless you have travelled to "third-
world" countries and verified they don't have electricity, you might
want to refrain from saying so.

Even places like Belize and Gambia have electricity, at least for
part of the day. They have aspirations for their children. Their
populations adopt technology rapidly when it fits the circumstances
they live in. The adoption of the cell phone comes to mind.

These countries don't need our junk; they need our compassion and
respect, while they sort out what exactly it is about their cultures
and societies they need to change. We need their compassion and
respect while we sort out what exactly it is about ours that we need
to change.

MIT's notebook is affordable, reliable under all power conditions,
and will give children a door into learning and technology they
wouldn't have otherwise. So some of them get sold on the black
market, so what? If you don't think that happens here; if you don't
think Americans are involved in that the world over, you are naive.

I have first-hand knowledge of what I say above. My ex, a good man,
lost a leg when he tried to stop the black marketing of medical aid
items in Asia. Americans were the first link in the black marketing
chain.

These countries also don't need to be called "third-world". Just what
are people thinking when they use that arrogant expression, myself
included? This is one world, and we all live on it.

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