I heard an interesting "fact" a while back. I wonder if it would stand up to scrutiny. SO, I thought I would ask the smartest bunch of people I know:
"There has never been a famine in a country with a free press."
Anybody out there have enough background in history, and an interest in speculating on this.
The issue is not whether a country has had crops ruined due to bad weather, or locusts attack the crops, or whatever. THat can happen regardless of the state of political freedom. However, in a country with political freedom, the government somehow provides enough food at these times. In a country without, the people starve, and nothing is really done about it.
Things like the Oklahoma dust bowl come to mind.....DId masses of people go starving? Or was there just a big disruption while farmers lost their homes, and the government and charities somehow kept them going.
Was there a free press in Ireland of the 1840's?
What were the ten greatest famines of the last two hundred years, and did they have free press in those countries at the time?
(I know, I could look this all up somewhere, but I thought I could get somebody else to do my work for me off the top of their brain.)
Alex
"There has never been a famine in a country with a free press."
Anybody out there have enough background in history, and an interest in speculating on this.
The issue is not whether a country has had crops ruined due to bad weather, or locusts attack the crops, or whatever. THat can happen regardless of the state of political freedom. However, in a country with political freedom, the government somehow provides enough food at these times. In a country without, the people starve, and nothing is really done about it.
Things like the Oklahoma dust bowl come to mind.....DId masses of people go starving? Or was there just a big disruption while farmers lost their homes, and the government and charities somehow kept them going.
Was there a free press in Ireland of the 1840's?
What were the ten greatest famines of the last two hundred years, and did they have free press in those countries at the time?
(I know, I could look this all up somewhere, but I thought I could get somebody else to do my work for me off the top of their brain.)
Alex
