Typical.

Rwanda and its neighbor to the south are frequently described as mirror countries.  Ruled jointly by Belgium during colonialism, the countries have similar cultures, demographics, political histories, almost identical topographies, and similar struggles during the 1990's.  Two of the few stark differences between the countries are the amount of aid money given to each country, and their economic recovery following civil unrest.  I can't find the numbers (post in the comments if you know), but Rwanda get's LOTS more money than Burundi in international aid.  It's been argued that one of the major reason for this disparity is due to worldwide guilt over the genocide.  Although Burundi has had major civil strife over the last 20 years, they haven't seen the same numbers killed in the same swift, organized way as in Rwanda.

I came across a reference to this difference in the two countries in the unlikeliest of places today - the comments section on a blog post on Gweneth Paltrow and her new campaign for the Coach bag empire.  The website - jezebel.com - is sort of known for being full of Gweneth haters.  I won't really expound on why she's so ragged-on except to say that in addition to having that "shit don't stink" air about her, she also launched a "lifestyle" website named Goop (which she says doesn't stand for anything) in which she frequently advises people to better their lives via completely ridiculous, unattainable-for-mortals, expensive shit.

Anyway, in the comments section of this post, a BRILLIANT reference to the Rwanda-Burundi funding disparity came up:

So the author of the post (Jenna Sauers) asks where people read "Gwyneth hate" into what she wrote in the original post.  The commenter below her (Ari Schwartz) comes to her defense by saying that even if Gwyneth gave all her cash money to Rwandan chilldren, people would still hate on her.  Pretty funny.  BUT IT GETS BETTER!  Further down the comment thread is this reply:

"And not a dime for Burundi.  Typical." 

ZING!  What a brilliant, inside-jokey, witty and educated comment.  It was a perfect moment of synergy of snarky commentary, fashion, celebrity, and East African politics.  I think it might have have been the best online comment, ever.  

Please don't judge me for being a nerd.