The Biggest Disgrace of the 21st Century

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Several hundred thousand people have been massacred in the Darfur region of Sudan by government sanctioned militias in the last three or four years and over 2 million have become refugees. The rest of the world has been aware of this the whole time. This was an issue in the 2004 presidential debates.

 

Here we sit in 2007, and basically nothing has been done about it. It's a huge fucking disgrace, and every single one of us who has an ounce of decency within himself should be ashamed.

 

So go ahead. Blame Bush. Blame the UN. Blame Africans for being poor. Whatever. We could have done something to stop this if there was any sort of political constituency or movement behind it or if any leading politician had decided to take on a role of leadership. But there isn't, and they haven't, so we don't.

 

So it goes.

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five

[snuffbox 0]

It's now a talking point for those still waving the naive coward flag for the Iraq war.

 

"If we leave Iraq now it'll be worse than Darfur there!"

 

Of course, nothing gets done about Darfur. At all. And Iraq remains an awful situation.

[2GOLD 0]

I'm not even quite sure how Iraq relates to Darfur (not you snuff, the idiot politicians who used it). I really wish someone could do something but damn, that region is so hard to understand. Obviously this new government is just as bad as the old one and it seems a lot of those countries struggle because whomever gets into power just turns corrupt or is killed. Short of the UN, The US and all the countries of Africa working together one by one to build an entire stable government system for the region, I really don't know.

 

Something does need to be done though, I'm just literally clueless as to what. But fuck, anything is better than just sitting there and watching those governments go out and personally slaughter their citizens. Pumping money into the region won't work because the government there is corrupted beyond belief. So I guess, a peacekeeper force with more powers to protect citizens and make sure food/medical supplies do get to the citizens with full right to use hostile force against any government militia?

 

I honestly haven't a fucking idea what to do.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Ignore it and worry about what Brittney Spears is up to this week or who the father of Anna Nicoles baby is...you know..the really important issues for Americans these days.

 

Who cares about..Africa? Maybe if Oprah's school for girls was in Darfur or Angelina Jolie tried to adopt a refugee kid..

[Gary Floyd 0]

I totally agree with you smitty. The thing is, I personally feel that the government (not only in the US) hasn't done enough in Darfur, which still disgusts me.

[razazteca 0]

Fuck yeah, marvin...

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Flat out, Americans dont care about anything that happens in a foreign country unless either A)It directly affects them in some way (especially in their wallet) or B) they can get some publicity out of it for showing they care ("I Donated money to some nameless Tsunami/earthquake victims..look how great of a person I am!!")

 

Maybe if Darfur was near a huge Oil deposit or something...or the problem was easily corrected by just donating money to somewhere..

[Guest]

It is everyone's fault. You can't just go blaming it on one person.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Actually, I'm pretty sure it's not my fault at all that africans are slaughtering each other. How many times does this country have to hop into the middle of a local war rife with guerilla tactics before we figure out it's a bad fuckin' idea? As thin-stretched as the military is from the idiotic war we're in now, saying we're going to march into Darfur is idiotic. Why not any of the other African countries that are a complete wreck? Why us?

[Guest]

There are other things that can be done.

 

I don't want to march, that's even worse than marching into Iraq (as far as knowing about the area, because let's face it, nobody knows shit about that part of the world). But we don't have to be the world's police force, other countries can pick up the slack. As far as my everyone comment goes, I'm talking about the world's governments. And that's the case.

[DARRYLXWF 0]

The situation is not helped when NGO's like Amnesty spend more of their resources condemning Guantanamo Bay and the mistreatment of terrorist subjects, than concentrating on genocide in Africa.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

You know what? I don't want America to do anything in Darfur. You know why? Because no matter what we did there, we would end up getting blamed and hated even more. If we sent our troops in to take out the government or the Arab raiders, we'd be blamed for destabilizing the region. If we send our money, it's probably going to end up in the hands of warlords anyway, and the people would end up begging for more money.

 

Fuck Africa. Let them take care of themselves. There's an African Union, there's an EU, and there's a UN. This isn't about race. It's about America needing to take care of its own, and get our own shit in order first (Iraq, Afghanistan) before we worry about helping people on the other side of the world again, and spending money we don't have right now.

[Slayer 0]

Flat out, Americans dont care about anything that happens in a foreign country

No other country in the world is self-centered

 

None!

[snuffbox 0]

I always get a good laugh from those who still think (after the flop that has been nation building in Iraq) that the ONLY option in a place like Darfur is an invasion/conquest.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Flat out, Americans dont care about anything that happens in a foreign country

No other country in the world is as self-centered

 

None!

 

Fixed

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Flat out, Americans dont care about anything that happens in a foreign country

No other country in the world is as self-centered

 

None!

 

Fixed

 

Bullocks.

 

America is forced and expected to play both the hero and villain on the world stage, and I'm personally sick of it.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

What do you expect when you call your President the "Leader of the free world"? Your government had been butting into conflicts for decades, it's no wonder other countries think of them as Team America.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

What do you expect when you call your President the "Leader of the free world"? Your government had been butting into conflicts for decades, it's no wonder other countries think of them as Team America.

 

Maybe if other countries would bother to BUTT in once and a while while thousands of people die, the US wouldn't have to.

[Guest]

Fuck Africa. Let them take care of themselves.

Terrible.

[snuffbox 0]

"Im not racist, Im conservative!"

[Gary Floyd 0]

Fuck Africa. Let them take care of themselves.

JustInvaderinBy

 

I know conservatives who would be embarresed by you. Just shut the fuck up you racist blowhard. I may pick on C-Bacon alot, but he's actually not as bad as you are. You however, are the worst poster on CE. Yes, even worse than Jerk.

[Guest]

I know conservatives who would be embarresed by you.

*Raises hand*

 

At least in regards to that comment, because sometimes you say stuff that I agree with. Sorry. C-Bacon's a lot worse though.

[Gary Floyd 0]

I know conservatives who would be embarresed by you.

*Raises hand*

 

At least in regards to that comment, because sometimes you say stuff that I agree with. Sorry. C-Bacon's a lot worse though.

To be fair, he does say a few things I agree with in the Iraq War thread. He's still worse than Bacon though, simply for his not so thinly veiled racism. It's like reading a post on Free Republic.

[snuffbox 0]

It still annoys me when people like Invader or Glen Beck call themselves 'conservatives' when they rarely, if ever, seem to have a small-govt opinion. Hating certain types of people has absolutely nothing to do with conservatism & people like that just give the philosophy a terrible image.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Darfur has just simply become trendy like global warming. Lots of people love to have rallies and talk about it but nothing is really getting done.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Actually, I'm pretty sure it's not my fault at all that africans are slaughtering each other.

 

Having fun pounding those straw men?

 

Nobody said it was your fault.

[Guest]

Darfur has just simply become trendy like global warming. Lots of people love to have rallies and talk about it but nothing is really getting done.

Well, it's not like everyone can jump on the next flight to Khartoum. You go in, and they don't want to let you out. They attack humanitarian workers. That's really how it goes.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

The situation is not helped when NGO's like Amnesty spend more of their resources condemning Guantanamo Bay and the mistreatment of terrorist subjects, than concentrating on genocide in Africa.

 

Do you have evidence that Amnesty Intl. or other NGOs are using more of their resources on the abuses at Guantanamo than on Darfur, or is this just standard rightwing boilerplate?

 

Because I'm unconvinced that the fact that Amnesty International criticizes Guantanamo is somehow exacerbating the situation in Darfur.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

It still annoys me when people like Invader or Glen Beck call themselves 'conservatives' when they rarely, if ever, seem to have a small-govt opinion. Hating certain types of people has absolutely nothing to do with conservatism & people like that just give the philosophy a terrible image.

 

I don't hate Africans. I think that, given they have a huge continent with many countries, they should be able to take care of their own regional situation. Africa will never become a better place if it's constantly like a petulant child looking for a handout. Btw, I'm indirectly quoting current African leaders with that last sentence (sorry, I don't remember who exactly off hand, but it was someone speaking in reference to Darfur and environmental issues).

 

Seriously, guys, you need to do better than to call me a racist. I don't care what color their skin is. I just don't think this is one for Uncle Sam to jump in on when we have enough of our own problems right now (there's a small government opinion right there, snuffbox). Maybe Brother Europe could take a role, since Africa is basically their Mexico geographically.

[Guest]

Africa won't become a better place because nothing has ever been done by outsiders to help the government and citizens know how to operate as anything but a colony.

 

There's one nation made up predominantly of those of African decent that's working fine, and it's Nigeria. You know why.

 

OIL. It's not an African thing, it's a not knowing how to operate thing. Those that haven't been taught can't learn. It's just a fact, the colonial powers left that continent for dead. Cameroon is doing decent because they've kept close ties with France. None of the other countries cared enough to do so.