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Danobi2 t1_ivqml18 wrote

Reply to comment by moby__dick in Uganda will now be printing 3D human tissue in space by Gari_305

This is because the west is remarkably consistent in painting the worst image of Africa

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Sualtam t1_ivs5ell wrote

I mean Uganda made headlines by banning homosexuality and mob violence against gays.

It's not like they support that image consistently.

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TSLOZAK t1_ivsspom wrote

The US makes headlines outside by banning abortion rights and storming the Capitol to overturn election.

Turns out, the news likes to bring in the worst happenings around the world and shouldn't be your only source of how the world is.

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Avadthedemigod t1_ivxe21c wrote

I do got to point out that abortion rights were not banned nationwide, just no longer protected. I got no excuse for Jan. 6 though.

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Danobi2 t1_ivts4mw wrote

  1. Who reported those headlines but won’t report on any of their social or technological successes?

  2. As stated by another commenter, are you not aware of what the US was doing to black people, and women during its major technological advancements? Cmon

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Leo55 t1_ivs90rn wrote

Okay yes but I think we’re taking about technological sophistication not social mores

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_Z_E_R_O t1_ivsaycf wrote

The two go hand in hand. You can’t have a well-adjusted, spacefaring society which also stones gay men to death on a regular basis.

These things are not compatible.

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comradejiang t1_ivscli1 wrote

The US developed nuclear weapons in an era where black people could not marry white people. I agree that tech and society evolve together, just not always at the same rate.

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Leo55 t1_ivt6vx1 wrote

That’s bs.

The US is a prime example of a morally bankrupt society in many ways; lgbtq rights, women’s rights, worker’s rights, housing, medical care, racist policing, death penalty etc. and yet we still think of ourselves as the most advanced society on earth.

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PoleonFlarus t1_ivrz1yu wrote

Education needs to incorporate more exposure to African countries, in general. Too many have misinformed ideas about the level of development of countries in Africa, and treat them as a monolith.

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RestlessAmbivert t1_ivsbj1d wrote

To be fair there are still massive issues when it comes to things like infrastructure on the continent, literal pirates on both the sea and land, as well as massive corruption.

This would be a bit unexpected feat from any developing nation in most cases to be fair, no?

That said, I've been following tech development in Africa for a bit and it's pretty awesome to see how things are going.

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Danobi2 t1_ivtsloz wrote

The US is literally being ran into a climate crisis by corporations and your elections are again paid for? Corruption is not an African issue, it’s just reported as such.

I will say however infrastructure is an issue in many countries outside of major cities and they still function. Even countries like Portugal and Italy have major flaws outside of their major cities but again, it’s how the media tells it.

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cobaltred05 t1_ivtvsgd wrote

Oh. Both countries absolutely have their own problems. There’s no mistaking that. The problems are just different and each country’s inhabitants are more used to their own problems, so other country’s problems appear much worse.

Im just happy to be able to hear about major progress like this either way. Whether it’s a big jump or a bunch of smaller ones, it makes me happy to hear it. Like you said, the media certainly does hide and/or shows the wrong things more than it should. I wish that would stop.

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Danobi2 t1_ivug38y wrote

I agree with you, my responses are coming out defensive atm, but this great news and I wish there was more like it being reported on.

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cobaltred05 t1_ivuib7v wrote

No worries. What really matters is that the discussion happens and we come to a reasonable agreement or answer to what is being discussed. You have a good day and I hope things start looking up for you.

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RestlessAmbivert t1_ivu3f0u wrote

There are other posters who went into much, much more detailed discussion of the multitudinous problems there on the continent. There's really no point in debating reality. It's not just stereotypes that make this kind of action surprising. There are large scale barriers to consistent, sustained technological progress in Africa, that's a simple truth.

Semantics and nitpicking won't change that this kind of development is going to be a surprising one to most unless they were specifically following this program. The US is corrupt af, but would you be shocked in the least to hear it had a similar launch on the horizon? Were you surprised when you heard the UAE was testing weather-controlling drones?

It's an unexpected thing with a country with a relatively low GDP on a continent of countries with relatively low GDPs and other financial indicators pops up with a program like this.

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Danobi2 t1_ivufq2u wrote

I get what you’re saying. But you’re missing my point, the discourse around Africa is almost completely controlled by the west. It’s the underreporting on the scientific advancements, how west Africans dominate in studies in any environment, vast improvements in Rwandan infrastructure the massive strides to create an Eastern African superpower backed by actual gold.

We don’t even need to look as far as the disparity between the wests reporting on itself. Even Asia and South America which have a plethora of similar and unique but scalable problems that aren’t as reported as Africa’s.

The continent is moving forward in spite of the rest of the world and notably the west (F*** France especially) efforts to disparage its advancements and report on it as a cesspit of its own doing.

The biggest detriment to Africas development is interference. To be left alone in all regards it would not be the continent it is today. RIP Nkrumah, Sankara, Lumumba, Olumpyio, etc etc I could go all day.

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Thanos_Stomps t1_iw24kdp wrote

Lmao have you seen the Ugandan parliament in action? There are regular brawls.

African nations aren’t painted well but Uganda is a right mess at times and this is a very surprising sentence.

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[deleted] t1_ivstov8 wrote

[deleted]

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Danobi2 t1_ivttg43 wrote

Lmao Wakaliwood is hilarious, but should not be taken literally

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[deleted] t1_ivs3tl5 wrote

[removed]

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PM_me_Jazz t1_ivs65rd wrote

I get where you are coming from, but it's a bit tasteless to paint Africa as 'needy', when the western world is basically the original cause of their problems

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tubz87 t1_ivs8a54 wrote

Yeah but that's not the point here, is it? It's that people are rightfully surprised that an African country (Uganda in particular) is involved with a space program when many, if not most of their people aren't have some of their basic needs met.

Government spending is a zero-sum game; every penny spent on one thing is a penny that isn't being spent somewhere else.

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Vast-Classroom1967 t1_ivsg370 wrote

Many people in America don't have their basic needs met. There are millions of people that get seriously sick, but don't have insurance to go see a doctor. Over 500,000 homeless and some of us don't care enough, so we make their lives a living hell by creating obstacles where we won't allow a human being to rest. Should we not go to space because sewage is running through some people's back yards in America? Should we not advance in any way because our food and water supply is contaminated? Isn't our infrastructure crumbling? We have bridges falling on people but we don't care enough to repair them. We have plastics in our bodies. If the people in Africa are solving their issues, but not in the order you want, too bad.

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tubz87 t1_ivshcim wrote

The difference is that we have the money to deal with those things, but lack the political will.

Most of Africa flat-out doesn't have the money to be wasting on space programs.

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Vast-Classroom1967 t1_ivsi4g8 wrote

If you have the same results, the why does not matter to the people suffering.

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fiddler013 t1_ivslmh8 wrote

That just makes US look worse in comparison. Not better.

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Danobi2 t1_ivtstr7 wrote

Exactly what I’m saying, but people have eaten the bulletin board and are spewing every media narrative

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[deleted] t1_ivshgjr wrote

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Vast-Classroom1967 t1_ivshq91 wrote

Some of us have it good, some don't. If everyone is not good, we aren't there yet.

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Vast-Classroom1967 t1_ivshydu wrote

A shit hole that's building body parts. Are we building body parts? Nah, we undertreating patients here.

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Danobi2 t1_ivtt711 wrote

Lmao this does nothing but prove my point. You are not African or based in Africa to know this? You probably still believe Kony was active in 2012. Talk to some Ugandans man

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