Hyper-Insensitivity
On a recent visit to the US, my family and friends were not only happy to see me, they also got a kick out of seeing my 50 billion dollar notes. There were some dropped jaws at the site of all those zeroes. And laughs with stories I told about how confusing it can be to pay for things and receive change. Importantly these reactions were combined with inquiries and concern surrounding an economy which requires 100s of billions to buy a loaf a bread. What I find unsettling are the places where the concern seems absent. Where interest in Zimbabwean Dollars has inflated into hyper-insensitivity. This got me thinking about the dark side of the internet.
Let’s start with eBay. I thought maybe the sale of Zimbabwean Dollars on eBay was an urban myth. Not the case. I found an economist/blogger who identified three on-going auctions with prices ranging from US$49.72 to US$71. He also reproduced an interesting graphic from The Economist showing that 100 billion is the 4th highest-denomination banknote in history. The highest is the 1946 Hungarian 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 Pengo (one quintillion I think). Other sites reported 100 billion notes going for AU$87 and US$152.50. I see the benefit of eBay as a way for people to unload their junk onto someone else and make a little money. Nothing wrong with that. But this, I think is too much. Selling Zimbabwean Dollars on eBay for profit is not right. Particularly if seller and buyer have no knowledge of the situation in Zimbabwe.
In addition to this insensitive free-for-all on eBay, I shake my head in confusion and anger over the places sales are being discussed/advertised. One site is called Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things. What world do the creators of that website live in if they think hyperinflation in Zimbabwe is a wonderful thing? And next, the comments people make. On a site called ask.metafilter.com there is a post where the person is seeking Zimbabwean Dollars with the reason given: I wanna pose for pictures on my myspace page with my billions of Zimbabwe dollars on display, just stacks and stacks of it… maybe even make a little youtube movie where I flash my Zimbabwe dollars in my hands and yell, I’m rich, bitch!
I wish I knew the dockworkers instrumental in stopping the Chinese weapons from being unloaded in South Africa. If I did, they might have some advice as to how to shut down the sale of Zimbabwean Dollars on eBay. Perhaps it’s not neatly parallel or fair to compare the sale of weapons to a dictatorship with a few people making money on eBay. However, there are similarities in the underlying end results. In both cases, a set of people are operating (consciously or unconsciously) with seemingly no concern around the difficult and unjust realities for a much larger set of people.
Tuesday, August 5th 2008 at 2:14 pm
As Matt Jones says, the web can be autistic at times, and this is one occasion where the collision of different people’s interests appears insensitive.
I think the idea that Boing-Boing believes that hyper-inflation is a “wonderful thing” is a huge red herring. Most websites and blogs outlive and outgrow their strapline. Because the editors find something fascinating or interesting, and therefore post it to the site, it doesn’t mean that they endorse the problem itself.