Connecticut and Darfur
December 21st, 2006 by Peter
Coming off Hartford’s Capitol Ave. exit a half hour ago my fellow commuters and I were greeted by protesters on all four sides of the road pleading for an end to the genocide in Darfur, a region in the African nation of Sudan. It’s a cause that people all across the political spectrum ought to be able to support. To learn more about the Connecticut Coalition to Save Darfur click here.
Very tragic. Why do we allow things like this? And – not that I think that we shouldn’t do anything (we should), but why do I get the feeling that unless the US does something about this, nobody will?
Besides high class night clubs covering Paris Hilton & Britney Spears, where is the press?
Thank you for reminding us of this extremely tragic situation.
I wouldn’t get too cocky, though. The press may be absent, but where have you been for the past two years? Obsessing about gay marriage? Droning on about media “bias”? You’ve been busy trying to impose conservative religious and political values (thinly disguised as pro-“family” politics) on a state that really isn’t all that interested in them. The moral high ground you do not have.
And if you think the media has neglected its responsibility, what about our “pro-life” conservative, religious government?
Genghis,
I’m not sure if your comments are directed at me or FIC. If me, you presume an awful lot. If FIC, which happens to stand for “Family Institute of Connecticut,” I would gather from their name that they’ve been dealing with “Family” issues in “Connecticut” for the past two years. Still, this doesn’t mean they are disconnected from other concerns that aren’t directly relevant to their cause, which is likely the purpose of the post.
Genghis Conn, your 2 + 2 = 24816 logic is astounding. If you disagree that it is important to defend the rights of the unborn, or to fight to protect marriage so that children can have both a mother and a father, or to insist that our newspapers not fight against those values . . . If you do not care about those things, then do not call us uncaring!
Thanks for taking what should have been a positive encouragement to action for all, and turning it into something divisive.
I, by the way, have been screaming for several years about U.S. inaction in Darfur. Unfortunately, the reaction I get most often from people who share your views is that “We are not the world’s policeman” and “It would cost too much” and “It’s Africa’s problem.”
Sorry, Steve, I somehow conflated the post and the response. Apologies.
My criticism of FIC stands, however.
Yeah, I’m not sure who Genghis is addressing either. If it’s a reference to this blog (“two years” being about its lifespan so far) it is true that I’ve never mentioned Darfur before. I’ve also had little or nothing to say about the Iraq War, John Rowland, the death penalty, immigration, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a myriad of other issues that we are occasionally asked about and that occupy a lot of space in other corners of the blogosphere. That’s because our focus is on family issues in Connecticut.
Pro-family/pro-lifers will find in Genghis’ comment the echo of a familiar criticism frequently lobbed at them: “Why focus on abortion or same-sex ‘marriage’ when you should be feeding the poor, aiding the homeless, etc?” But the Catholics and Evangelicals who make up the bulk of our membership are doing many of these things. If Love Makes a Family is running soup kitchens and homeless shelters, I haven’t heard about it. Seems to be they’re the ones who are about “single issue” politics. It’s also no coincidence that those asking us to turn our attention from abortion and same-sex “marriage” are usually the same folks who actively support those things. I’m sure they would like us to get out of their way. Here’s my counter-suggestion to them: stop supporting the legal destruction of the unborn and the redefinition of marriage and after we restore legal protection to the unborn and pass a federal marriage amendment we pro-lifers will be happy to turn more of our energy to other causes. Any takers on the Left? I didn’t think so.
Genghis’ misuse of the word “impose” is another familiar red herring. But it is our opponents trying to impose something new and we are the ones playing defense. Frequent depictions of the “religious right” as the agressors in the culture wars are false in the extreme. What we’re truly “guilty” of–in the eyes of the Left, anyway–is pushing back instead of just rolling over and saying “hey, whatever radical new thing you’ve cooked up is fine with us; we won’t resist.”