Stephen Lewis’ “Pandemic: My country is on its knees” is an attempt to reach out to Canadians in order to raise their awareness that AIDS is the most pressing issue facing Africa. The effects of the pandemic have reached into every aspect of life on the African continent. Without overcoming the tragedy of AIDS first, no other issue can be looked at and no other action will succeed.
Lewis strives to connect with everyday Canadians through his lectures and novel. In a very public way his communications share his experiences in Africa over the course of his adult life. His greatest strength is his reflective and informal style of storytelling. His style allows the reader to easily connect with the images he creates. He paints scenes such as the teaching hospital where ‘nothing was more common place than death’, when one PLWA group sells coffins to another or the disabled and helpless aging grandparents outlive eight of their nine children and stepped in to care for thirty-six orphans when no one else would. These emotional and personal case studies really jar the reader as they are a more persuasive argument than any statistic could be.
The least effective passages in Lewis’ article are when we are exposed to a sense of his paternalism. Lewis makes broad generalizations about all Africans and sees them as childlike in their innocence. The fact that one grade ten student did not know what a Jew was does not mean an entire society is free from intolerance. I do not agree with ending his focus on the success stories of western aid groups like the WFP education, the Rockefeller Foundation MSF and Oprah, instead of celebrating the role Africans have played in saving their own lives. I feel this gives the reader the sense that they cannot help themselves and can only succeed with our help. However by doing this Lewis has achieved his purpose of making Canadians aware and nudging them into action.
In recent news, the UN general assembly has debated the failure of the Millennium Development Goals, largely as a result of poor funding from Western nations. Do you think we are more inclined to help out with natural disasters rather than viral disasters?
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
A Letter to Canada?
Margaret Atwood's "Letter to America" is addressing Canada rather than America. It is an attempt to make Canadians aware of our relationahip with America and the consequences if America continues on its current destructive path.
Being one of Canada's most famous writers, Atwood chose to originally publish this letter in the Globe and Mail, were this letter actually intended to reach Americans, she might have aimed for the New York Times. She states that America has plenty of soothsayers telling them everything they need to know so she isn't giving them any new information. This implies Atwood is either writing a letter she admits is useless or not writing to the Americans at all. She argues the desire to remain silent on an unpleasant issue needs to be challenged because America's business has become the world's business, with very real implications for Canada.
Atwood is making Canadians alert of the problems we face as a result of America's turmoil when she states that they are "our biggest trading partner" and they're "running up a record level of debt" so if they do "go down the plug-hole" we go with them. America's financial meltdown is a very real thing today and Canadians have all been affected by this. Atwood's letter is still relevant as it is only proving her point that "when the Jolly Green Giant goes on the rampage, many lesser plants and animals get trampled underfoot".
For the most part Atwood makes a very strong and persuasive arguement, however her opening section that relies on popular culture is the weakest element of her piece. She makes it clear that Canadians are strongly influenced by America's culture through the use of media as she references comic books, radio shows, music, novels and movies. It is obvious she has been affected for the past fifty-five years and Canadians can relate in a general sense but she undermines her ability to create a widespread shared identity with dated references. An appeal to pop culture is ineffective if noone under 50 is familiar with the source material.
Atwood finishes her piece with the need for America to summon it's great spirits of the past to stand with them before it is too late. The Tea Party movement often claims to be the modern incarnation of the founding father's ideals.Is the Tea Party movement America's 'King Arthur'? How would Margaret Atwood view a response to her advice that has its roots in an ideology so different than her own?
Being one of Canada's most famous writers, Atwood chose to originally publish this letter in the Globe and Mail, were this letter actually intended to reach Americans, she might have aimed for the New York Times. She states that America has plenty of soothsayers telling them everything they need to know so she isn't giving them any new information. This implies Atwood is either writing a letter she admits is useless or not writing to the Americans at all. She argues the desire to remain silent on an unpleasant issue needs to be challenged because America's business has become the world's business, with very real implications for Canada.
Atwood is making Canadians alert of the problems we face as a result of America's turmoil when she states that they are "our biggest trading partner" and they're "running up a record level of debt" so if they do "go down the plug-hole" we go with them. America's financial meltdown is a very real thing today and Canadians have all been affected by this. Atwood's letter is still relevant as it is only proving her point that "when the Jolly Green Giant goes on the rampage, many lesser plants and animals get trampled underfoot".
For the most part Atwood makes a very strong and persuasive arguement, however her opening section that relies on popular culture is the weakest element of her piece. She makes it clear that Canadians are strongly influenced by America's culture through the use of media as she references comic books, radio shows, music, novels and movies. It is obvious she has been affected for the past fifty-five years and Canadians can relate in a general sense but she undermines her ability to create a widespread shared identity with dated references. An appeal to pop culture is ineffective if noone under 50 is familiar with the source material.
Atwood finishes her piece with the need for America to summon it's great spirits of the past to stand with them before it is too late. The Tea Party movement often claims to be the modern incarnation of the founding father's ideals.Is the Tea Party movement America's 'King Arthur'? How would Margaret Atwood view a response to her advice that has its roots in an ideology so different than her own?
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