Maybe everybody could do something to change things, but it certainly isn't obvious WHAT to do. Therefore I can't blame people, if they don't know any better.
This sounds to me as patronizing. I refuse to think that Cameroonians "don't know any better".
I was not really speaking for Cameroon anyway. My main target was India, where you'll see the most demeaning, wretched kind of poverties. I am responsible for it, and if I choose not to do anything about it, then it's my deliberate choice. That's all I am saying.
> for example not everybody has the skills to become elected as president to be able to change the laws
We are not all born with the tools required for the things we need done. We acquire them over time.
Waiting for a messiah to materialize is what I'd call the Kalki-complex. Kalkis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalki) are myths. If there's to be change, it must come from us. And that sense of responsibility is what would inspire each of us to strive to be mini-Kalkis, and with any luck, some of us might even become major-Kalkis.
What could you do about it? Granted, you could somehow dedicate your life to trying to end it. But even then, you'd need a starting point. Suppose you are extremely poor, how to you start? If you have to spend 20 hours/day to find food, you don't have time to practice becoming a good speaker to rouse the masses.
I don't mean it as patronizing, quite the opposite. I think it is patronizing to say it is the people's own fault for not doing anything about it.
If you were a Cameronian, what would you do? If you chose to work against poverty in India, what would you do?
I wouldn't know what to do as a Cameronian. As the article says, if you try to start a business to improve economics and infrastructure, thieves will take it apart. If you go into politics to try to change the situation, I suppose you will be murdered or something like that. If you start a revolution, there will be lots of bloodshed. I don't see an easy solution.
:-)
See, my version of your question is: What would Gandhi (or Nehru, Bose, Azad, Bhagat, Savarkar, et. al.) do?
I don't have an answer to that right now, I am afraid.
Probably everybody could do fasting (although even that might require a certain amount of dediction). But to come of with the psychological strength and dedication would be another matter.
Maybe for everybody there is a path of possible actions that would lead him to become like Ghandhi. But that is what I was saying: it certainly isn't obvious what actions that would be. Therefore I think a certain amount of luck is involved.
If you don't have an answer to my question, then why do you disagree with me? How is the poverty in India your fault? I suppose you could at least decide to study and try to find an answer, but there is no guarantee that you would find one.