Four hundred years of oppression? Get over it.

Stephanie Nolen goes on a tear in the Globe and Mail today that is so lacking in self-awareness that it blows the mind. She, like virtually every other Canadian reporter anywhere near Africa, is focussed on Zimbabwe's election. Recent sham elections in Rwanda, Uganda, the Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Malawi have been ignored by the Globe and most other papers, but this election in Zimbabwe is under the microscope. Mugabe needs to go, explains this white North American reporter, because he keeps blaming white people for Africa's problems: "In his constant railing about colonialism... he keeps the country and the continent looking backward. Of course, many of Africa's problems can still be traced directly to colonialism, but today, most people would like simply to look forward."

You're not going to see a defense of Mugabe from this corner. All I'm saying is the white North American telling Africans to "get over" colonialism is like telling someone who just got shot to stop harping about the bullet wound.