Thursday, October 08, 2009

Great Questions 3

Why has there never been a famine in a country that is a democracy with a relatively free press?
(P.J. O'Rourke, All the Trouble in the World)

5 comments:

Mike Peatman said...

I thought somebody ought to leave you a comment on these very good questions.

I think the best answer to this one is: don't speak too soon.

Caroline Too said...

wise advise, Mike

an alternative answer, and one mr O'Rourke wouldn't like is

that the democracy came along some time after the democratic countries had succeeded in raping the other countries, installin undemocratic colonial estates in control!

just an (almost true) thought

Anonymous said...

Irish Potatoe Famine? - 1845 when Ireland was under British rule and its Parliament. It lasted six years causing million deaths and a million refugees.

Anonymous said...

but it was a dodgy kind of democracy with no Catholic representation...

Ali said...

I wondered the same anon but decided the democracy bit might be a bit iffy.

Word verification = viderpo. Bringing out the juvenile in me early on a Sunday