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"Conspicuous Consumption" doesn't even begin to cover it.
Its just plain...vulgar.
I wouldn't spend that much on a boat even if I had it.
But.
It's his money to do with what he wants.
Pretty much as its our money to spend on pointlessly expensive telescopes and accessories.
What some of us spend on gear would feed a Somalian village for a year and hire mercenaries to protect it.
But as Paul and Marc have pointed out, giving money to aid agencies is not necessarily the best alternative.
It inevitably winds up in the wrong hands and merely prolongs the situation.
For the amont of aid (in dollars) it gets, you could finance a revolution in Somalia, kill all the bad guys and start over.
But that's not really part of the UN Charter-especially as China has strong interests in the area and the US is busy not interfering in the internal affairs of Lybia.
Any one who believes that war or violence never solved anything is fooling themselves. Commited military action without regard to public opinion or international pressure solves a great deal very quickly.
But your standards must be universal and you cannot waver if a moral imperitive is motivating your actions.
Alas. It rarely does.
The situation in Africa, pretty much all over, is appalling. It is mired in centuries old tribal conflicts, irredentism, sexism, corruption and racism (black Africans hate other black Africans far more than their former colonial masters and Arabic Africans hate them all).
As a former "Local Liason" for an oil company in Nigeria, Tanzania and Libya I've had to "manage dispersments" for aid that should have gone to building roads, schools, hospitals etc, and most of it has wound up in the bank accounts of the leaders and their families.
When it was spent on materiale for purpose, it would be stolen by some other tribe for their exclusive use.
Made me puke.
My heart goes out to those 'ordinary' Africans caught in the middle.
Its desperately hard to see the suffering of the poor and weak in these countries, but one Malay Bogan spending 5 Whoppers on a yacht won't change it.
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