Back in 2005, MTV had this silly show called Trippin' which was hosted by the ultra annoying Cameron Diaz. If the channel and the host have not already got your alarm bells ringing then the premise of the show should: A-list stars traveled to Tanzania, Honduras and Nepal and heaped praise on the quality of life in these countries. Heaped praise on people struggling in dire poverty.
Drew Barrymore was particularly impressed by the environmental correctness of village life. "I aspire to be like them," she declared after spending a few days in a remote village. But it got funnier, "I took a poo in the woods hunched over like an animal." This was a source of great novelty for her and as I watched her I couldn't help thinking of Huxley's Brave New World where the pampered and stupid visit the degraded and unruly rebel cities and enjoy gawking at the natives, sometimes wore their funny costumes, and sometimes even lived like them for a few days.
Hot on the heels of Barrymore and her enlightening poo in the woods, we were also reminded by American singer, songwriter, Sheryl Crow, that when it came to that nasty toilet business her fans should only use one sheet of toilet paper (apparently the environment will thank us for it). I can hear it now, Sheryl Crow fans everywhere lifting up their single sheet of toilet paper and singing in one voice, "All we are saying, is give one piece a chance."
This politically correct nonsense is not only sappy (like Richard Gere's plastic Buddhism) but I find it offensive to the millions struggling and dying in the third world (heck, I find it offensive to common sense). Let's be realistic for a moment shall we? More of America's Civil War soldiers died from diseases related to exposure to human feces than were killed in battle. More of the Crusaders lost their lives to typhoid fever and campylobacteriosis than were ever murdered by Saladin's troops. The rate of death from exposure to human feces was so high with the Romans that entire legions were wiped out. And we know that the horrific WWI condition known as 'trench foot' was made potentially deadly by the presence of bacterium found in human feces.
I am happy that Drew Barrymore found her sphincter release in the woods delightful but would love the opportunity to remind her and Sheryl that in many parts of West Africa infant mortality from contamination rests at one in three. Let me repeat that so it sinks in: one in three. Male life expectancy in Cote d'Ivoire is forty-two and in Sierra Leone it reaches a delightful thirty-seven.
But enough with statistics and common sense. There is irony here. The self-loathing found among 'progressives' these days is so all-consuming that they cannot realize how they fuck up on two fronts. They are transforming the need for hygiene (a basic block of any growing civilization) and transforming it into an issue of Western consumerism. But even worse, they heap praise on the unpicked lifestyle of unfortunate millions who would dearly love the opportunity to move up from the squalor they find themselves in. People who would love for their children to break the cycle of poverty they find themselves in so their daughters never have to prostitute or risk being trafficked like cattle. People whose hearts are broken at the sight of their children, malnourished and riddled with preventable disease, who would dearly love to see their little ones enjoy the opportunities we can enjoy and which we take for granted. Worse, which we self-loath about.
Parents who have to watch their children become blind because of vitamin A deficiency. Including the 250 million children who are suffering from deficiency today and the 8 million kids who died as a result of the deficiency in the last 12 years.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/project_syndicate0/2013/02/gm_food_golden_rice_will_save_millions_of_people_from_vitamin_a_deficiency.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/15/us-genetically-modified-rice-idUSBRE87E0RO20120815
Every single one of those deaths would today be preventable with the introduction of genetically modified vitamin A enriched rice, but try telling that to the PC crowd. The racism of the new PC demands some suffering, as long as it is dark skinned and far away in Africa (or some other 'friendly village'). Then the PC crowd can have the excuse they need to get down to some serious self-loathing.
Perhaps Drew and her crew can go do a poo in Cambodia where some children have their tongues cut out and are forced to beg:
http://www.bettercarenetwork.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=28064
Perhaps Drew could let her own tongue be cut out so she can really experience the joys of living in a third-world village. Perhaps she could then also shut the fuck up.
Enough of my rant, I apologize if I have upset the PC crowd and I promise that I will try as hard as possible to attend the next Occupy something fiasco.
http://www.decodedscience.com/possible-illnesses-caused-by-human-waste-at-occupy-wall-street/4123
