Are there any good Pilates classes in Malawi?
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Madonna's activist cred has always been, um, borderline at best...burning up the distinction between making a statement and creating a photo op. Her latest press release moment maintains Ms. Ciccone's focus on Malawi and involves the building of a solar powered, eco-friendly academy for girls in the African nation.
Wouldn't it be swell if some folks from Malawi came to America and taught us how to live happily on much, much less? But I digress...
Before we address the situation in Africa, let's first note that it's not only Papa who should be wary of preaching. The Material Girl may have graced the cover of Vanity Fair's "green" issue but it takes more than a tiny ray of pea green light to justify our eco-love :
- Madonna's Ray of Light foundation owns shares in polluting companies like Alcoa, BP, and Ford
- Like the vast majority of pop stars, her carbon footprint is rather deep.
- Madonna wears fur.
- She shoot birds and calls it "hunting".
Not exactly like a prayer is the scoop from Madonna herself:
"I'm not a vegetarian. Someone has to shoot the chickens you eat ... I think when you shoot a bird and are involved with the whole process, you have more respect for it ... At least I'm taking responsibility for it."
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Left to Die Another Day?
Of course, there are positive aspects of a solar-powered school being built anywhere but let's start with the name of Madonna's non-profit: Raising Malawi. What's implied in that title and what's missing?
Implied is the supposition that the privileged, mostly white world is needed to "raise" a backward, unlucky nation (we've already seen this movie a few times, e.g. Lawrence of Arabia, Dances With Wolves, etc.).
What's missing is twofold:
1. Any interest in how it came to be that in certain parts of our beleaguered planet, waste-producing humans are awash in material excess while in other parts, they live on less than one dollar a day with others' waste dumped nearby. The first step towards helping Africans might be to recognize that the conditions that inspire celebrity pity are not the result of bad luck or ignorance.
2. Also missing is any acceptance that perhaps the "backwards" people have much more to teach us than we could ever imagine. As far as I know, no one in Malawi invented DDT, napalm, nuclear weapons, GMOs, the internal combustion engine, or any of those pricy gadgets that make Madonna's voice sound better on CD. What valuable skills—passed down through generations in Malawi (the world's fourth "poorest" country, by Western standards)—are we missing out on by clinging to industrial civilization?
Acts of Contrition: Don't be frozen out from the truth about Africa. Dig deeper and deeper to discover the path to global survival. Take small steps to help Malawi now but keep your eyes on the bigger picture.
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