On Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:28:57 +0100, Hot Badger Deluxe
 wrote:

>> The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.  The anti-apartheid
>> movement has led to a heck of a lot of suffering in Africa.  You
>> meddled with a system that you didn't understand, thinking that it
>> must be bad because it is different to what you are used to.

>What makes you think that I didn't understand it?

For the same reason that if you were to advocate replacing fuses with
6" nails to prevent them blowing, I would be justified in concluding
that you don't understand what a fuse is for.

The fact that you supported the elimination of apartheid without
suggesting anything workable to take its place tells me that you had
no understanding of even the basic issues involved.

-- 
Cynic

On Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:01:13 +0100, Cynic wrote:

> The fact that you supported the elimination of apartheid without
> suggesting anything workable to take its place

Strawman. Again.


-- 
A gentleman never strikes a lady with his hat on.

In article , cynic_999
@yahoo.co.uk says...
> without
> suggesting anything workable to take its place 

And you know this how, exactly?

-- 
People all over the world
Join hands
Start a love train
Love train

Cynic  writes:
>
> So in with a few miles of steel pipe, a corrogated iron shack near the
> river, a Lister diesel engine, a pump and a prefab water tower.

A tubewell is a rather more normal, and simple, solution than your
imaginary one.

http://www.wateraid.org/international/what_we_do/how_we_work/sustainable_technologies/technology_notes/2060.asp

-- 
say I drowned in a barrel of wine

On Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:21:04 +0100, August West 
wrote:

>> So in with a few miles of steel pipe, a corrogated iron shack near the
>> river, a Lister diesel engine, a pump and a prefab water tower.

>A tubewell is a rather more normal, and simple, solution than your
>imaginary one.

Ah yes.  Someone in an armchair with an Internet connection is far
more reliable than what I have seen whilst living over an African
village on and off for three years.

Perhaps you should visit the place sometime.  Careful you don't run
into any of my "imaginary" water towers.  If you keep your eyes closed
you may not see a single one.

-- 
Cynic

On Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:55:37 +0100, August West 
wrote:

>>>> So in with a few miles of steel pipe, a corrogated iron shack near the
>>>> river, a Lister diesel engine, a pump and a prefab water tower.

>>>A tubewell is a rather more normal, and simple, solution than your
>>>imaginary one.

>> Ah yes.  Someone in an armchair with an Internet connection is far
>> more reliable than what I have seen whilst living over an African
>> village on and off for three years.

>> Perhaps you should visit the place sometime.  Careful you don't run
>> into any of my "imaginary" water towers.  If you keep your eyes closed
>> you may not see a single one.

>Goodness, so many assumptions in there.

Three assumptions in fact.  Two of them reasonable.  If you had ever
travelled amongst African villages, you would not have accused me of
making up imaginary stories, because the Lister diesel pump situation
is extremely common (or at least was when I was there).  Your cite to
a URL as well as the fact that you are posting here tells me that you
most probably have an Internet connection.  My assumption that you sit
in an armchair was, I admit, completely without foundation and so I
retract it.

-- 
Cynic

On Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:43:00 +0100, Miss Baltimore Crabs
 wrote:

>>Ah yes.  Someone in an armchair with an Internet connection is far
>>more reliable than what I have seen whilst living over an African
>>village on and off for three years.

>Which, elsewhere, you've told us was at least twenty years ago.
>Is it just possible that other people may know more about things that 
>are happening now?

Most of the points I have been making is *about* things that happened
20 years ago.  If your knowlege is only of recent times, you cannot
comment from personal experience on the situation as it was during the
apartheid era.

>Given that you have been in the UK for the last 20 years, you are, more 
>or less, someone in an armchair with an Internet connection.

True to a point, though I have frequent conversations with friends who
are still there, and am quite happy that I understand the current
situation and standard of living in Zimbabwe very well.  If you want
to tell me that it was a fantastic country when you visited last week,
with plenty of food available for everyone and full of smiling, happy
faces, I'll not believe you.

-- 
Cynic

On Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:15:41 +0100, August West 
wrote:

>>>Goodness, so many assumptions in there.
>>
>> Three assumptions in fact.  Two of them reasonable.  If you had ever
>> travelled amongst African villages, you would not have accused me of
>> making up imaginary stories, because the Lister diesel pump situation
>> is extremely common (or at least was when I was there). 
>
>In which part of Aftica? It's a very 1big place; it seems rather likely
>we have vistited differetnt places. And I rather more recently than you,
>I suspect.

I have lived in the Transvaal and in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).  Yes, it
was some time ago (about 20 years).  But most of the discussion has
been about events from that era.  My anecdote about the water pump was
something that I personally witnessed from the viewpoint of an
uninvolved bystander who had some rapport with the villagers, and was
meant to illustrate how good deeds can have unintended bad
side-effects because the long-term consequences have not been
considered rather than indicate that the specific scenario is likely
today - though I'd be surprised if riverside water pumps have been
completely abandoned.  I would have thought that there is a far higher
probability that a well will become polluted than a river, but I do
not profess to have any significant knowlege on the subject other than
my own observations.

>> Your cite to a URL as well as the fact that you are posting here tells
>> me that you most probably have an Internet connection.

>I also have a godson who is a water engineer with WaterAid, digging tube
>wells.

And what does he say about deciding on a well rather than a river when
a choice exists?

-- 
Cynic