DATELINE: SELLING TOURISM WITH A TWIST – That would be a twist of the thumb screws, at least when you are talking about the United Nations World Tourism Organization and their new... ambassador? Now, I have been trying, very judiciously, to refrain from emphasizing my blogs with colorful euphamisms, and I am trying not to pick on any one individual or issue. That said... what in the name of all that is fucking holy are they putting in the koolaid at the United Nations these days. I have said it before, and that was before their most recent unbelievable announcement... it is time for the whole fucking thing to be over and done with. It is time for that prime piece of downtown New York City property to be turned into a MacDonald’s or something... something useful, with meaning and that might actually not make people puke at the mere mention of the name.
Let’s start with a refresher course. Robert Mugabe... why could just the mere mention of his name create such intense outrage? Why should we not rejoince at the concept of him being the chief tourism officer of the world? Well, it could be, for starters, that tiny little detail that he is not even allowed to travel to many countries because of international sanctions against him. Why would someone put sanctions against Mugabe? It might have something to do with his complete disregard of the wishes of the people of Zimbabwe when they did not elect him, but he claimed victory and the leadership of the country regardless. It could be because he personally bankrupted the country as he was leader, or perhaps his little ‘quirk’ of ordering ethnic cleansing in his country. Yes, come to Zimbawbe, the country with the lowest average lifespan in the world, where celebrating your 37th birthday is against all odds. No worry though, because the people in Zimbabwe are too poor to have parties, food, houses, education, good health... well, you know, all those silly inconsequential things when you are talking about tourism.
What happens in Zimbabwe stays in Zimbabwe? Yes, well, that’s true, because if you are a reporter or a photographer, you were, at best arrested and inprisoned for five years if you were caught. Robert Mugabe made it illegal for reporters or photographers to report what he was doing to his people, to show their agony, their torture, their suffering... sort of a sick fucking irony, isn’t it, that he is now in position to promote camera use to record the sights as your travel the world. We are not talking ten years ago, or twenty years ago... we are talking of events that happened four fucking years ago... where the inflation rate in the country reached an unbelievable 260 million percent... yes... we worry about 2% inflation. 260,000,000% is absolutely unfathomable, and was a death warrant for almost the entire population. People were dying at a rate of 4500 a week from starvation alone... that didn’t include those who were sick with flu, cholera (you know... the cholera epidemic that also killed thousands, but that Mugabe insisted wasn't happening?) or other diseases. Now factor in the tens of thousands of Ndebele people he ordered killed – beaten, burned, shot… because they were Ndebele.
This is not some unfortunate oversight on the part of the United Nations. It is not merely asinine or ridiculous, and it sure as hell is not laughable. This is an outright insulting slap in the face to anyone who has lived or now lives under oppression, to anyone who has suffered from genocide, anyone who has lost loved ones to those conditions. In a time when we are desperate for leaders of moral fiber, to see the United Nations reward a murdering, lying, stealing, power-mongering thug with an international ambassadorship is absolutely unforgiveable, and just additional proof of the corruption and ineffectiveness, and now cruel heartlessness, of the organization that was intended to champion human rights and safety globally. That ANY country should support this appointment is unacceptable, and the saddest indicator yet that society as we know it, is truly fucked up.
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