Dumping millions of gallons of clean water on the ground in an effort to raise awareness of ALS may or may not be terribly effective, but it’s not a sign of America’s wastefulness or silliness, or its callousness toward places like Africa where clean water is scarce. Rather, it’s of sign of the triumph of the west over simple things like providing itself with clean water, and the abject failure of Africans to do those simple things for themselves. The reason so many Africans can’t get silly and dump gallons of clean water over their heads has nothing to do with America, and everything to do with themselves. At some point, in the interest of being good stewards of our own charitable giving as well as moving Africa from dependence on western assistance to self-sufficiency in something as basic as clean water, we need to question the wisdom of continuing to do some things for people who should have long since been doing them for themselves.