"Stop the Genocide in Sudan."
You've probably seen a lot of these shirts, especially if you're from Portland. What about "Stop the Genocide in Iraq." ? No? Now think about it... which country do you think we could actually make a difference in... In which one are WE the problem in the first place? Are we going to go in and "fix" Sudan? Just like we "fixed" the Philippine Islands, and we "fixed" Chile, and we are currently "fixing" Iraq?
Oh... right.
Think about it- there aren't any activist groups, anti-war groups, or Iraq-education groups at Lincoln. But there has been a major assembly on the genocide of Sudan, and tomorrow we're bringing in money to help Darfur. Now don't get me wrong- it's not that I don't care about Africa and the genocide of millions of innocent people; I think it's horrible. In fact it's currently the second largest slaughter taking place in the world.
And the first largest is happening at the hands of Americans.
So why do we put so much thought and care into "Helping Darfur" and yet nearly nothing into the war that our own country is involved in?
Because Darfur is the sexier issue.
It's much more appealing to think about feeding starving children and building shelters and saving women from rape- all stuff we can do from here at home with just a few dead presidents, but it's a pretty ugly thought that our government- our entire country could be doing evil RIGHT NOW and devastating an entire country for no good reason (except our own greed).
And part of this is the media. I mean, the last thing Big Corporations want you to do is make a stand against what the head honchos up in D.C. are doing everyday. So they redirect our care (and our hearts) to Sudan, where they know that we can't make a difference. Seriously- If we can't stop our own governmental crazies from killing innocent civilians, how are we going to stop another country's crazies from doing the same? OUR EFFORTS ARE MISGUIDED. If we focused instead, first on things that we actually could and should affect, and the people that the evil-doers are supposedly representing. Then maybe we could work on Saving Darfur.
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4 comments:
Ya know, it's funny, because something about those shirts always weirded me out. Something about the whole situation. And I think you put the finger on the head, hit your nail on it. Or whatever.
Excellent point.
ummm, i feel really uncomfortable when you say sexy about Darfur....REALLY uncomfortable.
But yeah, you make a good point.
I'm gonna make u a shirt that says,
"Darfur is the new Iraq! And Orange is the new Pink!"
Will you wear it? I WILL.
You're absolutely right. In addition, I think that the media sees Iraq as a stale story, hence the new need to find a "sexier" war on injustice across the globe.
intriguing indeed. You are of course quite right, the "sexier' issue wins. Though I don't know I might use the word more palatable. Starting all this 'action' against Iraq would already offset the third-or-so Americans that would dismiss it as anti-war propaganda and support the War. Similarly speaking, I would never say that the honchos in D.C. have control over the media, it is the gigantic mass that is the audience that controls the media. Well them and their subconscious. I would say there would be something adverse in response to rallies to support the needy in Iraq, or maybe just less support. I'm not sure just an inkling.
non-sequiter - wooo Marxism
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