REASON.COM Sees Joseph "Hurricane" Benson as a Legit Operator, Racially Profiled by Do-Gooders

And FairTradeRecycling.net makes another plea to BBC's Raphael Rowe...



Justice delayed is justice denied.

But it provides hope that this reviewer, Editor @brianmdoherty, focused on one of the crucial lessons from Adam Minter's book, Secondhand.  Affluent people should not be writing rules for what less affluent people are allowed to reuse and repair.  If they do so insist, don't kid yourself, Richie, that you do so for Africa's environment. "Project Eden" was not just a cringeworthy named project, it was total collateral damage to the reputations of Africa's best and brightest.



I'll stop and defer regular readers to Reason.com. But here's a private message to the reporters who - with the best of all intentions - participated in setting up Joe Benson like a bowling pin.

Next time BBC sends Raphael Rowe to Africa, @areporter should interview the Tech Sector, and not Michael "Fishing as a Boy" Anane. Of all people, Raphael Rowe should have known the collateral damage done by mistaking "This African Guy" for "That African Guy".

"Prison damages people" Yep, Joe Benson can attest.


Rowe recently wrote (inews, December 2019) about the damage that false accusations do to reputations, and how serving in prison "damages people". Too late to restore Joe "Hurricane" Benson's life, but we invite Rowe back to Ghana, to meet with the talented men and women in the Tech Sector. We invite him to interview BBC's retired Dr. Graham Mytton, who wrote books on the subject of Mass Communication in Africa from 1960s to 2000s.  A little #datajournalism, using World Bank figures on how many TVs per household were in African cities in 2002 (18 years is my estimated average prolonged use of TVs).

Supecting that Rowe has blocked me on Twitter - at least I never get a response when I try to reach out to him. I think he's in a terrific position to pull off a Mike Daisy reversal, go back and ask why reporters accepted Greenpeace and Basel Action Network false (ridiculous) claims that 80% of the electronics Africans like Joe Benson buy are not inspected for reuse, but cleared through Ghana and Nigeria customs and dumped straight at Agbogbloshie.

It could be worthy of a Pulitzer if Raphael Rowe, from the perspective of a falsely accused black man, were to do his own inventory, and write about how even the best of reporters must check their bias confirmation... Not holding my breath, but it would be a great article if Rowe were to re-visit Agbogbloshie, "Project Eden", and the prosecution of Joe Benson, in the hindsight of peer reviewed research and BAN.org and Greenpeace retractions. Humility in reporting is a winning recipe.

John Stossel at Reason participated in a similarr rush to judgement on "e-waste exports" (and is a writer at Reason.com). The race is on.

Who knows, @areporter could become the messenger for the #RightToRepair movement.

THIS GUY IS NOT THAT GUY.

Burning tires are not used TVs. Fair Trade Recycling is not dumping on the poor. We are defending them.

THIS GUY...

IS NOT THAT GUY

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