Painting the Pretty Picture

Anyone in business knows that the way to get ahead is to paint the pretty picture, regardless of what reality shows. So, if your business practices are not up to par and you leverage out your competitors, you cover it up to the outside so those who want to be in the know, like investors and customers, only see the best of your product and your company.

Imagine, however, if someone who claims that they only want to help your company comes out and tells the world your inequal business practices? Well, it would be devastating to your product, and eventually might lead to the demise of the company, right?!

For decades, we have been led to believe that Africa is suffering in dire conditions. Most of the African people living in oppressive, famine-like conditions under evil governments that want to enslave children as soldiers, and such. So, imagine my surprise when I read this article about the implied horrors of Africa.

So, what the statistics from this article tell me is that Africa, well, it's not so bad. Not as bad as we were led to believe, anyway. Take this stat: One half of 1% of the population, in each case, die in war each year, are child soldiers, afflicted with famine, died with AIDS, or living as refugees. That's hardly a drop in the bucket. Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill!

Okay, I do understand things are getting better in Africa. So, why are all these advocates, like Bono and Bob Geldof, not painting the pretty picture? I mean, things won't get better in Africa, until it does get prettier there.

Gotta have that pretty picture so Wal-mart will open there, just like they do here, to help out small, declining rural communities with their economic powerhouses. Just think of all those women and children that previously were forced to be cast as poor, barely clothed and starving (how humiliating and degrading) in all those late night "feed the children" commercials , could possibly be greeters at the new Wal-marts built in Sub-sahara Africa--if only we'd paint the pretty picture.