People sometimes puzzle me September 18, 2005
Out of professional interest, I’ve joined a listserv which deals with issues I deal with on a daily basis. Mostly, it’s full of information I can’t use or is of no interest, but occasionally there are gems. However, it is a high-traffic listserv and I don’t get a chance to read every piece of email every day, so I’m still getting caught up.
Back in July, a discussion about aid for the Third World (in response to the Live 8 concert) was started. The person who started the discussion mentioned wealthier African nations, like South Africa and Rhodesia, were also receiving aid, while countries like Zimbabwe, which is a war-torn place, didn’t receive as much attention.
Wait, back up a sec.
I had to double-check this, but I already knew I was right. Rhodesia is Zimbabwe. It has been since 1980.
Maybe the person was speaking in a historical context. They weren’t - the person used the present tense in all cases. Maybe they were confused. Nope - the person made a very clear distinction between two places which are actually the same place. It bugged me to end when I read this, to such an extent that I had to share with my office partner*. He looked puzzled, and said pretty much the same thing - they were the same place.
What irritated me the most? There were several responses to the initial message, asking for statistics** and debating the finer points of foreign aid. But not one person called the original poster on the mistake.
Gah!
* Oh yeah - I haven’t mentioned this have I? I share my office with one of the new hires now. It’s working out quite well - we get along famously.
** Including one request for current stats on Zimbabwe and Rhodesia.
So that’s why you e-mailed me out of the blue the other day at work to ask about Zimbabwe and Rhodesia!!! Haha, the blur is all starting to make a bit of sense now…
I emailed you about it? I don’t remember doing that, but it sounds like something I might have done…
coulda been on MSN - anyway, I know it came up. It must have been you - how many people in one week could possibly have Rhodesia/Zimbabwe issues???
You should post a reply to that person! Seriously! Call her(?) on it! Or would that seem spiteful? And counterproductive? (because speaking generally, countries in Africa require aid, so why split hairs?) Or are the people tetchy, and might jump on you for it? I guess I just get irked when people get all righteous about something but don’t know really what they’re talking about. It could be that I’m just bitchy, though.
Well, it was way back in July, and the whole discussion has moved on, so it would be sort of pointless. But I could always send her a private message I guess. It wasn’t really a nasty “they don’t need aid” tone, but it was such an obvious mistake!