In my international conflict class we talked about peace keeping and so we watched some
Frontline videos about Darfur. After seeing the horrific crimes that took place, are still taking place over there, and the absolute failure of the UN to do anything substantial about it over many years, we (the class) started to talk about all of the politics involved in the situation. Some of my classmates gave an opinion similar to this:
The world's governments are only looking after themselves and their own interests. Not the interests of Darfur and the region.
What I failed to bring up during the class (as to not sound like a complete ass) was that we are all basically the same. While my classmates called the world governments hypocrites, I found those making those accusations to be the same. While governments "only" care about their economic and security interests, the average world citizen (and in this example, my classmates) does the same. They "only" care about paying bills and making sure they aren't in danger. So why get so mad at certain nations for not responding to the genocide in Darfur? Obviously we all know the answer. They have the means to actually do something about it.
That point is well made, but I don't find it very convincing in the long run. Sure, the US (to be the example) definitely has the military capabilities to stop the genocide in Darfur and the region, but this is not a perfect world. We (the US [or any other country]) will not send a massive foreign force into the region (at least as the situation feels right now). But I'm tired of arguing intervening or not for arguments sake, because that will go on forever. My argument is against the hypocrisy, or perhaps a better way to put it would be, the
political and moral opinion of the genocide in Darfur and what to do about it.
I saw a girl on campus wearing a shirt that said, "I helped stop the genocide in Darfur", the other day. I couldn't believe it. Here she is in college, thousands of miles away in Texas, and she has the nerve to wear something like that. I don't know what she did. She probably gave money. But seriously, if she
really cared about Darfur then she would be over there right now, in the thick of it all trying to save the lives of those in Darfur and the region first hand. Now, some of you might say something like, "Well LR, isn't that a bit much to ask of a college student? She has enough to worry about herself."
If some of you would say that, I'd agree...for the most part, but let me say this. You've got a college student worrying about paying rent, buying her books, and studying for tests. Hell, she might even have a job. Sounds tough, right? On the other hand you've got a woman in Darfur with three kids and a husband. They hardly have enough to eat as it is, they live a harder life everyday, harder than our college girl would even dream of having, and on top of these hardships, Islamic camel riders want to kill her husband, cut the penises off her male children, and gang rape her. So, who has more of a cause to be worried about there life? The college student or the family in Darfur? We know the answer. Shouldn't it be the moral duty of the college student to help out the family in Darfur all she can? Besides, how selfish would it be to give maybe...$20 to "Help save Darfur"...and then on the weekend get absolutely drunk, not giving a damn where that money went? I would think it would be pretty damn selfish.
Do I sound like an ass yet? No you know why I didn't say this in class. But to my overall point. No one cares about Darfur. Seriously, you've got able governments not intervening, multi-millionaires (actors especially) making speeches saying things like, "You guys can help. You can stop the genocide", and then they'll jump on their private jet back to LA to continue shooting their latest movie, and then you've got people like the college girl who gave some money for the cause. Supposedly there is global outrage but if there was such a thing in such a magnitude, the troubles in Darfur would have ended a long damn time ago. No one cares.
But what about me? Well, I bet some of you who have read this far into this little opinion I've written have figured it out.
I don't care about Darfur either. It sounds like an evil thing to say but if you get right down to the argument, it's the truth. Do I think that the thousands getting slaughtered and millions being forced to become refugees is a horrible thing? Yes, I most certainly do, but in the end I'd rather go watch the Dallas Cowboys win the Super Bowl than "help" the cause. I am guilty of being immoral and unkind to the world community. There, I've said it.
But guess what? You all are guilty too. As you sit there reading this opinion of mine, believing me to be an uncaring, insensitive, and altogether head case, you are being as equally inactive and indecisive in the crisis as I. I'm not bashing you. I'm just telling the truth. So no one cares about Darfur. We've all got more "important" things to worry about, right? Well, no, but at the end of the day our actions of going through our daily routine will give a resounding "yes". So don't get mad at governments for not acting on the situation, because they actually
do have more of an argument for not intervening. The US has a mess in Iraq and Afghanistan to fix (and it seems it is being done), Canadians want their fisheries clear of Americans, the French have a plethora of domestic issues to sort out, and I could go on. You all get the point.
When it comes to Darfur, no one cares. It's sad, but it is the truth.
Darfur: No One Cares
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Thanatos
