Hacker News Reader

Comment by mhuffman | Hacker News Reader

I am all for multi-tasking, but you would really think that Africa would have bigger fish to fry right now, without worrying about censoring the Internet.

View on HN

Ah yes, the good old republic of Africa. Who is the president of Africa?

"republic of Africa"?

Africa is a continent that consists of at least 54 separate countries. It is like asking "Who is the president of Europe".

That's what my post was getting at, over-generalising about an entire continent...

Sorry, replied to the wrong thread. Was obviously meant for the parent thread :-/

It was a snippy comment. If you don't specify "South" Africa (which itself is a generalization), people can get jimmies rustled. It is like saying I live in America. People know exactly what you mean from context, but some will be pedantic about "America" including many countries in North and South America.

If there were no context (not the situation with this post), then it could lead to confusion.

> Like saying I live in America

Not exactly. The true size of Africa:

http://static02.mediaite.com/geekosystem/uploads/2010/10/tru...

Well, I was comparing continents to continents and countries to countries, not the US to all of the African continent. How does your image look if you overlay the entire continent of the Americas over the continent of Africa?

You're right of course. I was referring to the rare countries in Africa that social, economic, and health issues. My apologies.

Yes, because all issues need to be tackled sequentially.

No, in fact my original post said I am all for multi-tasking. I do not understand the knee-jerk reactions agains prioritization, however. I guess I am just of the mind that if your country has the world's highest rates of rape, murder, assault, and unemployment are having trouble feeding your citizens, perhaps Internet censorship may not be a top priority -- perhaps your resources aren't being focused enough.

SA, like any country, has a variety of issues. Check out: http://www.news24.com for a better idea of current issues.

That is a very interesting link. Thank you. The electricity situation, in particular, I was unaware of.

Firstly, South Africa is Africa's richest country. It's not Denmark, but it isn't Somalia, either.

Secondly, freedom of speech is a fundamental issue and not a luxury. I'm sure per-capita GDP in the US was lower when the Bill of Rights was written than it is in SA today. In fact, all problems anywhere in Africa are political. Strengthening the freedom of expression is one of the best ways to get at Africa's problems.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com