Darfur Rally 4/30/06

[kbernardp]

Here's one thing we do really well in America.

 

We get huge attendance at things called rallies. At these rallies we stand around like it's some kind of BBQ at the park, pay no attention to the speakers, or we dance around with our big "stop the genocide" signs because it's so cool to be activists.

 

I attended the rally in DC yesterday and frankly it was infuriating. The atmosphere of the Mall yesterday was pretty much the same as the Capital beltway at 8 o'clock on a weekday morning. People were laying around in the way like they owned the 15 square foot patch of grass that their blanket covered. Nobody listend to a single thing the speakers said. Nobody shut up to pay attention to the real significance of the cause, and because of this I couldn't hear a thing that was said.

 

I'm not talking about a local rabbi speaking at this event, either. I'm talking about Rwandan genocide survivor Paul Rusesabagina and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. These two men spoke to a crowd of indifferent families eating sandwiches and talking amongst themselves just waiting for their chance to see George Clooney speak.

 

I'm disappointed in you, attendees of Washington DC's save Darfur rally. The message was important, and it could have been clear... It's too bad you treated it like buying a book and a t-shirt was enough.

[Doormat]

I'll tell you why they're there: sandwiches. Free food. But nobody gives a fuck. We hide behind our ipods and computers and the media helps censor those things that they deem "damaging" to us. That way, we hardly ever get to know about the atrocities that happened in our generations. Funny, the textbooks don't say much either. I lost whatever faith I had in us humans a long time ago.

[Matt]

How are we censored from all that, there's a movie about Paul Rusesabagina extraordinary story called "Hotel Rwanda"...