"Let's see, it's too bad they are starving, but Mugabe brought this whole thing on himself. He's going to use starving children to get aid, which he will promptly steal. We could try giving aid through nongovernmental organizations, and that might help ease the suffering. But even nongovernmental aid might help prop up Mugabe, so we have to be careful."
We need to send a message that Mugabe's behavior is unnaceptable. He should be removed from power. But with so much else going on in the world, we can't really send in the Marines. It's a tragic situation, and people are going to die. The question is how can we get rid of Mugabe? No easy answer exists."
How a liberal brain might respond to this article.
"Okay, Mugabe has killed a lot of people and driven people off the land. But he is going against white people. That must mean he hates western civilization. I hate western civilization too, because my parents were brought up in western civilization, and I hate them. They used to tell me I was special when I was a baby, but then they stopped telling me that as much as I got older. They even made me take out the trash and clean my room as if I was just another kid! Well, I AM special, darn it!
I bet Mugabe is just like me. He's just trying to get respect from a civilization that doesn't understand that he's special.
Okay, we've now logical established that Mugabe is the good guy. If he's the good guy, then the starvation is either bad luck or the fault of western civilization. In either case, more sensitive souls like me have to help. Part of being special is being more sensitive than everyone else.
"I know! I'm going to organize a benefit concert tomorrow! Maybe I'll even get to meet Bono!"
You couldn't be more right, pardon the phrase.
I can still remember the "We are the world, we are the people" business, with all those rock stars and everybody being begged/ordered to send money for the starving Ethiopians, while their own government was the largest part of the problem. A lot of people did send money and felt SO GOOD about themselves as enlightened liberal Westerners helping the blighted downcast. And practically none of that aid reached the starving, distended-bellied young Ethiopians who needed it so desperately. It was just another scam.
Excellent article on Poverty, autocracy and aid: