In 1997/1998/1999/2000 I participated in purchasing African slaves for about $100 each for the purpose of setting them free. Hundreds of slaves were set free permenantly but others (more than 50% of them) were recaptured by the same slavemasters and trapped in slavery again and again. A lot of the money was used to purchase weapons. You can look at it this way:
– Hundreds of slaves were set free and are now doing very well
– Hundreds of slaves were set free and then recaptured, and their slavemasters have better guns now
In 2001/2002/2003/2004 I gave away a lot of money (let’s just say tens of thousands) towards helping people directly with their living expenses, and found out that a large portion of that was going towards shopping, entertainment and drugs. You can look at this way:
– Dozens of lives were improved, people who wouldn’t normally finish high school or enter college actually did so successfully and stayed out of trouble.
– Several people wasted resources that could have been better placed and simply got drunk and high.
The way you look at things, how you interpret a matter can make you a conservative or liberal, democrat or republican. Who’s right and who’s wrong? Who did bad and who did good?
