There’s been a lot said and written about Cyclone Nargis recently, and reading the coverage by Chris Mooney and others makes me feel a little like a Bad Person for not saying anything myself. But, really, what is there to say? It’s a gigantic disaster, and the deplorable political situation in that part of the world isn’t helping anything.
In an effort to do something halfway constructive, I’ll pass along a link from my email, to Mercy Corps’s Myanmar Cyclone page. They’re one of the organizations that I sent money to after last summer’s atheist charity search, and from all reports are an organization with an excellent track record.
If, like me, you can’t think of anything useful to say about the tragedy, you might think about sending them a few bucks.
Nothing about the “political situation” in Thailand or Malaysia (that part of the world) is contributing to what is taking place inside “Myanmar”. It is the fault of a handful of individuals who put their own power ahead of anything.
I happen to know a refugee family from Burma that is making a positive difference in the United States. Nothing that has happened in “Myanmar” (before or after the storm) is a surprise to them.
Read up on how Stalin treated the Ukrainians.
In this case, the phrase “that part of the world” was an attempt to avoid having to decide between “Burma” and “Myanmar” as a name for the place where the cyclone hit, because that is evidently a politically charged question. No slight was intended towad Thailand or Malaysia.
If God wants the Earth cleansed who are we to block the nozzle? US tornadoes, southern Asia cyclones, Chinese earthquakes. Acts of God, tests of faith!
When prayers are chosen over engineering the result is technically designated “bad luck.” Watch the priests prey harder. Is Bush the Lesser any less reprehensible than Myanmar generals given their respective civilian dead body counts? Why is Myanmar more important than New Orleans?