Fuck Darfur

Yes, you read it right. I'm officially stating my opinion on this particular cause célèbre. While we're at it, fuck Iraq and Rwanda.

Before you make the argument that I don't know about the atrocities being committed in these places, I'll point out I've read plenty on it, and know all about them. Hell, I've seen photographic evidence of a lot of it. I make no claim that what's going on is blown out of proportion.

But you know what I will claim? New Orleans fell off the map. Parts of Los Angeles are still more dangerous than most of Baghdad. And Dallas has more without food and shelter than Darfur and Rwanda combined. Yet we ignore all of this and show our benevolence by sporting a "Save Darfur" tshirt and slapping a "Freedom for All" sticker on our Hummer, with 1% of every one sold going to a relief fund. Oh shit, aren't we the humanitarian.

More and more, people forget (or ignore) the amazingly poor conditions all around us. We have a broken welfare program, abominable healthcare, and an education system that's a model for correctional facilities everywhere.

Face it kids - this here toy is broken.

But we're way too uncomfortable seeing that. We continue to give to the professional panhandlers. Our kids get shiny new Beemers for their 16th birthdays, and faster and faster, what little work ethic, morals, and backbone we had, disintegrates in a puff of smoke the color of MTV's latest logo.

We focus on the rest of the world because Darfur, Rwanda, et al are detached. They're thousands of miles away, and don't actually affect us. It's like watching a horror movie at the theater. If it gets too scary, you can just get up and walk out. Now go drive through some of the rougher parts of urban America. It may be miles away now, but eventually it'll crawl right up to your doorstep. We don't like this because we can't walk away from it.

We don't mind ignoring how so many people stole Katrina relief money and used it to buy Louis Vuitton purses, plasma TVs, and various other luxury items. I don't recall hearing much about the hurricane relief trailers turned into meth labs.

No one points out that the drug war's only success is the complete lack of free space in our prisons due to the thousands of users we've stuffed in there solely for possession charges.


We have this still-new country on the verge of collapse. The rest of the world sees us Americans as uncultured bastards, and for good reason. I'm sick of being looked down on for what I didn't choose to be. If we can't take care of our own, then what right do we have to take care of others?