FW: lug_: OT: Costliest Man-Made Tragedy

[Mark Tinka]

Title: Message

Sorry, meant 12,000Km per month, not per year.

 

Regards,

Tinka

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Tinka
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 3:08 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: lug_: OT: Costliest Man-Made Tragedy

I'll tell you for a fact, with live examples down south here, we are definitely losing the plot. In SA (Jo'burgh to be more precise), it's all about image; what car you drive, what music you listen to, what shoes you wear, what car you drive, what clothes you wear, who your friends are, what car you drive, where you hang out, what you eat, where you eat it, what car you drive....

 

I was at JNB airport late last year, and some waiter came up to me and asked me the strangest thing (in the middle of me chewing on some pork sausage and egg), "Where did you get those sun glasses from?" I couldn't beleive it, I was so taken aback, all I could say was "Uganda!", to which he replied, "They are very nice." Even the waiter is concerned about his most mundane image (no harm in that, though).

 

You should see the prices of cars, you'd really wonder whether some of these people consider themselves Africans. I have seen more BMW's in this place than in London (okay, bad example; maybe more BMW's than Toyotas). And the average BMW, new, goes for some R250,000 (which is some $41,000, about 80m/=). Used BMW's, around the same age (2001 - 2003) go for about R150,000 (some $25,000). Mind you, here, mileage isn't such a huge concern. The average car in the deep southern countries does about 12,000Km per year, which is much more than you can say for a 1993 Toyota Corolla owned by so many Ugandans, purchased with a low average 40,000Km - 95,000Km in 2004, and yet you can easily clock this down south, inside of one year. And it's so easy to see why; roads are good for endless miles, people will drive from Cape Town to Windhoek and back e.t.c.

 

However, even after all that, a man will put up his 2002 car, with well over 180,000Km, and sell it for over R150,000. What happens? Well, because of all the pressure on people to look the (Western) part if they want to play it, means you get alot of crime in Jo'burgh (car jacking, pick pockets, robberies, mugging, rape e.t.c.). Buying a stolen car in SA is easier than saying, 'police.'

 

People are forced to take loans (from a very well developed financial institution down here) to buy those expensive cars, rather than think long term and put cash down for that house. You find alot of people with very expensive cars, nice looking broads, the latest Nokia has to offer, dropping everyone else home first because they live in a 'muzigo' just by the road-bush. Younger and younger people are building piles and piles of debt on their credit cars. Soon, the cars get impounded, and are put on sale (at pretty much, the same price). Then what...

 

There's a point to all this: we should not lose the plot to the extent of being blinded by the problems, cultures (and freedoms) of other societies, instead of identifying our own. We need to evaluate how much We have LOST to the workings of the WORLD.

 

In this regard, I agree with you when you say that poverty is, indeed, a critical man-made (and war) strategy.

 

Regards,

Tinka

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joseph Ogwal
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 2:54 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: lug_: OT: Costliest Man-Made Tragedy

The costliest man-made tragedy is poverty...how many have died from Malaria ONLY....the AK-47 problems stem from, yes, poverty.

 

A correlation has been found between a country's standard of living and its propensity to engage in war(s) (okay, America is different because of the cow boys).

 

Joe

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 2:44 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: lug_: OT: Costliest Man-Made Tragedy

My take on this is that perhaps the costliest man-made tragedy of all time was the invention of the AK-47

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Simon S. Kaggwa

Network Administrator(Routing / E. Mgt Systems)

MTN Uganda Ltd

Tel: +25677212622; Fax: +25678212288

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-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Tinka [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 1:16 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: lug_: OT: Costliest Man-Made Tragedy

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> You went far enough...:)

While this holds truth, just because someone never took the time to

quantify, or at least, guesstimate the effect of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki

bombings had on the world, or even the effect the outbreak of SARS had in

that and other regions, effects of such on tourism, flights, work e.t.c.,

doesn't mean that they could have been any less than the effects of 9/11.

In Hong Kong, people don't even touch public escalator or stair rails

anymore, people don't shake hands, people hardly go to the hospitals as

medical staff could be infected with SARS. Can you quantify the effect of

that on Hong Kong, much less, the global economy?

The problem here seems to be, that while Americans are valid to take more

pride and precedence on their own affairs and problems, doesn't mean we

should join them with blind eyes. As spectators, I believe we have the

bird's eye view of what we think the most disastrous man-made caualties are.

Look at aircraft; millions of lives have been lost since the inception of

powered, controlled and sustained flight. More than 60% of the aircraft in

today's skies are manufactured in the USA, others in other parts of Europe.

Can you buy a single person's life for even $30 billion. Boeing, Airbus,

Fokker, Jetstream, BAE, Gulfstream, Dassault, Cessna, CFM, Snecma, Rolls

Royce, Pratt & Whitney e.t.c. are all man-made aviation companies building

man-made aviation technology that causes man-made aviation death. If one

person isn't even worth $30 billion, how about the millions that have died

from airplane accidents (notwithstanding, the fact that a trans-continental

jet aircraft is anywhere between $80 million and $200 million, a piece)? And

then man still has some balance left in the kitty, to take manned space

ships to Mars in a decade.

The bombings in Kenya and Tanzania claimed thousands of lives, and had far

worse rippling effects (new US embassy built in Uganda and the region,

imposing higher security, less accessible US visas and associated effects on

Ugandans wishing to travel, e.t.c). But just because these effects aren't

quanitfiable, doesn't mean they don't have a (long-term) financial effect on

the whole world.

I hope we are not losing the plot :).

>

>

> Quoting Kabagambe Kenneth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:

>

>> On Mon, Jan 19, 2004 at 09:20:44AM +0300, Mark Tinka wrote:

>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

>>>> It is simple. These are American lives we are talking about, not

>>>> simple Japanese people. Over a million Vietnamese died in the

>>>> Vietnam war - besides Vietnam being carpet bombed for I do not

>>>> know how many years... but again it was cheaper.

>>>>

>>>> T.

>>>

>>> Over a million you say... And, ummh, 9/11 was how many... Over 300

>>> confirmed and another 4,000 or so missing.

>>>

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> ----Original Message Follows----

>>>> locations, ecnomically, socially, and in health.

>>>>

>>>> How can that be quanitified, in billions, if not gazillions?

>>>>

>>>> Regards,

>>>>

>>

>> Firstly, Americans treasure their blood more that most nationalities

>> I know.Whenever an american is wounded or killed in the middle east

>> or some other conflict area, it is sure to make the news, that means

>> CNN->BBC->Reuters-(spill over effect)->New Vision->Your desk. So

>> this, to Americans,is personal. The reason why that attack was the

>> costliest is because of the spill-over effects to the rest of the

>> world.Besides causing a financial crisis in the US that spilled over

>> to Japan, Europe and england,resulting in massive losses in

>> stocks and bonds, it has led to countries shifting their priorities

>> from development to fighting terrorism.This is

>> very expensive .This is an ongoing fight as Rumsdel will tell

>> you,but that means that the economy of Kenya which depends on

>> tourism will have to go into noise dive, countries that used to

>> enjoy excellent trading cooperations with the US are force to address

>> conditions that the US imposes on them before trade agreements can be

>> made.The middle east flared into allout war, with

>> sides being aligned pro- and anti- war on terrorism.i stop here.

>> - ken

>> (not a politician)

>>

>>

>>

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Regards,

Mark Tinka

Technical Manager, Africa Online Swaziland

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