[governance] Bad happens when good does nothing

[cogitoergosum at sbcglobal.net]

There are some people on this list that work tirelessly for the good of "their" translate all  people.  They have courage, empathy and rightful energy.  I very well may be unworthy to loosen their sandals so as to clean their feet, from their journies & battles.
 
Here is an (anonymous for this post) debate between me and just such a man. He is arguing protectionism in its purist form -- which is a good thing if you can find it. But more he is arguing empowerment through the knowledge and access that the internet can provide in developing regions.  I disagree in part. But I appreciate and admire the notions that if we let regions develop in their own way at their own cultural speed we maintain a higher level of human dignity which essentially comes from preservation of heritage.
 
Rock on Africa!



On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 9:04 AM, Eric
Dierker<cogitoergosum at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> And this is good why??

It's a farily well understood concept that if the Internet will be
useful for folk in remote/underserved locations (such as African
villages) then content that is useful for them needs to be available
to them, especially in their own language(s).

>
> Is it to keep information flow in the hands of the status quo power
> structure?

the reverse actually.

>Why would knowledge be geographic?

knowledge, applications, services are only useful to folk if they
understand them in their own language and the economic benefit is
greater than the cost of accessing them.

Facebook in English is not going to be useful to someone who only
speaks Teso and needs to know (for example) commodity prices in
his/her area.

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