Response to Stupart's "7 Worst International Aid Ideas"

Response to Stupart's "7 Worst International Aid Ideas"

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This article seems to be geared towards the goal of eliciting strong reactions from the public - the general audience toward which it is aimed. You can tell this by its simplistic formatting, easy to read language, and understandable references. So by no means is this a scholarly article; however, that doesn't mean that it is necessary to subject this information to close scrutiny. Reading this article, one cannot help forming negative opinions of the individuals that Stupart throws under the bus - in necessity, you could argue, considering the apparent absolute naivety and ignorance of those mentioned - among many others. Stupart brings in a bit of a shock factor, turning the audience against certain stereotypes or cliches of humanitarian aid. Educating the readers into not supporting these certain actions and their relative political, economic, and social consequences has a positive effect of making the general population more aware and willing to support the more "legitimate" and effective organizations, but more importantly, making them think before they throw money at what initially would seem like "A Great Idea!". The idea that ties in this article to the previous two articles is the last of the Worst International Aid Ideas: Using USAID as a  foreign policy tool. To the policymakers, this may be a brilliant idea to easily get what the US wants, with little to no effort. In reality, what needs to happen is effective foreign aid with no strings attached - except perhaps emphasis on proper use and whatnot. But to do that, they cannot endorse any of the other six "bad ideas" (or similar) that this article addresses.

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