The unlamented death of Robert Mugabe brings to mind the miracle of transformation that some tyrants have. He took a country that was one of the world’s great exporters of food and turned it into a land of starvation. It is a real talent, real but unfortunately not rare. Unlike what was mocked as “trickle down economics” as Mugabe transferred the wealth of a nation into his own pocket very few crumbs trickled down to the masses. This was real “voodoo economics”.
It might be a good time to assign his name the value of a verb. He mugaged Zimbabwe. Maybe we could start something like the Academy Awards and award a pot metal Mugabe to the year’s most destructive person. We could even offer posthumous awards to people like Hugo Chavez for his mugabing of Venezuela. We could give honorable mentions to people like Barak Obama who tried hard but couldn’t quite pull it off.
I think Mugabe is a word from an obscure African language which means, “Kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.”
If you want some nominations for future awards you might look to the Democratic candidates for president.
homo unius libri
Sure enough.
ReplyDeleteI am almost tempted to watch their "debates" to see if they can Mugambe each other.
DeleteTempted but not giving in...
Grace and peace
Brutally honest but true.
ReplyDeleteSadly honesty seems to usually be brutal these days. Just think what the flame of truth would do to a snowflake.
DeleteGrace and peace