h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hey Orm - great piece. I've avoided saying anything here myself, for fear of misinterpretation, or upsetting anyone affected in these events. But you seem to have hit the nail on the head, expressing most of my conflicting thoughts in a sensitive manner.

Now - The Hunger Site. I'm at work, and only have access to certain sites, so I can't really judge, but from over here it sounds a bit like the branding of charity - assuming the 'sponsors' are commercial interests. We both know that the massive problems in the third world are at least partly down to the capitalist system in the west, so to help them by clicking on banners seems like hypocrisy, and a token effort by corporate interests at best. What's your opinion?

(if the 'sponsors' aren't commercial after all, it doesn't matter. I'll be able to have a look myself in about an hour )

Sure, The Hunger Site offers good PR for whoever happens to be the sponsors on any given day, and most of them are commercial organisations, but I think that the good the site does far outweighs any such concerns.

As far as I know the site itself is non-profit making, and I don't mind seeing a few sponsor logos there given the good the site does. You never see McDonalds, Nestle, Microsoft or the like there - the sponsors usually seem to be small companies or charities. I've never bought anything from any of the sponsors, and I'd imagine most visitors to the site don't follow the ads either.

On balance, the site surely does far more good than harm - and if that graphic of the map with the countries darkening doesn't make people think, I don't know what will.

Dear Ormy
Articulate as always - every conflicting aspect of the tragedy covered in a far more consise manner than any single piece of writing I've seen so far. Keep up the GREAT work. Thanks.
The Nitpicker

Thank you, Nitpicker!

I will certainly try to continue, as long as the Moderators allow me to! This article was hidden for several hours earlier today, until I noticed and complained! (See the 'Post-moderation et al' thread for details! )

Regarding "revenge" attacks for the US bombings. I thought you might be interested to know about something that happened here in Hamilton, Ontario. The other day a Hindu temple was burned down in what the police believe to be arson motivated by you-know-what. As the Hamilton Spectator noted, attcking Hindus in an attempt to get Muslims probably indicates the perpetrators (and I quote) "aren't studying rocket science".

That's just horrifying.

I've been reading about attacks on Sikhs too. It seems that anyone who looks vaguely Eastern is at risk of a redneck attack in America at the moment. I'll have to return to that theme in next week's column.

America meaning 'the continent of North America', of course.

Latest news is that the police are pretty certain it's arson and have made some arrests. This kind of thing seems to be taken very seriously in Canada, which always prided itself on being a "cultural mosaic" (as opposed to the US "melting pot") and a new hotline is being set up specifically to report "hate crimes" such as this in the area.

I suppose I should have mentioned before that no-one was hurt, but in purely monetary terms the damage is estimated at 600`000 Canadian dollars (over quarter of a million pounds), but many of the books and furnishings destroyed are irreplaceable.