If you want to skip the rambling, click here to jump to the list of 5 things you can do to help.
Consider a conversation between an evangelical Christian [EC] and a non-Christian [NC]. It’s hypothetical but I have heard many conversations follow the same route, including in public debates:
NC: So if someone rejects Jesus, they are going to hell. What about the people who have never heard of Jesus — isn’t it grossly unjust that they be condemned through no fault of their own?
EC: Everyone is judged according to their capacity. If they have never heard of Jesus, it will not be held against them. Rather, they’ll be judged by (say) their commitment to natural law and morality.
NC: Right — and yet you support going to countries where people have never heard of Jesus and evangelising there?
EC: Of course!
NC:…Well don’t you see? By telling them about Jesus aren’t you then condemning a lot more of them to hell than otherwise would have been condemned since they will no longer be judged just on morality will now ALSO have to accept your message?
The Christian might answer that the message of the gospel is so powerful that everyone needs to hear it even if they are damned because of hearing it.
Now I think when talking about eternal torture being caused by non-belief in the divinity of a person, this is abominable. But I’ve realised some things are so important to let people know about, even if it damns them they need the information.
The conflict in the Eastern Congo is one such example. I recently introduced the topic leaving the causes of action aside. However, for a bit more clarification on how YOUR electronic purchases are helping fuel the deadliest and most brutal conflict since WWII, see this video summary:
[Video won't display in an email so here's a link]
The problem with this is a classic diffusion of responsibility. Individually, none of our phones contain more than the smallest particles of the titanium, tin and tantalum that was mined in the Congo (often with slave labour) for the profit of the most brutal gangs in the world. However together, 100% of the power to stop the rapes, murders and mutilations lie with us – the electronics consumer.
After researching the Enough Project and their sister site Raise Hope For Congo, I can see five things we all must do immediately. The last 2 points are probably the most important and will only take 2 mins of your time.
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Now, I respect all readers enough not to resort to the carrot of describing the positive nature of taking action. I will however use the stick and say this: for the Congo I agree with the evangelical Christian from the start of this post. If you somehow believe taking the 5 steps above is wrong or counterproductive then I understand. Otherwise, those who have read up to this point and do not do anything truly are damned.
I think most of us wonder why there isn’t more of an outcry during genocides. If only during the Armenian genocide (that made it to the back pages of newspapers) there was more of an outcry, tens of thousands could have been saved. Oh well, next time…If only during the Holodomor…oh well, next time. If only during the Holocaust…oh well, next time. If only during Cambodia…oh well, next time. If only in Rwanda…oh well, next time.
This is the next time. As it has been for the last 4135 days. But I’m starting to despair. I think we just don’t care. We may condemn German civilians at the time of WWII because not enough of them helped hide Jews, Roma, gays and lesbians etc from Nazis. But we won’t change our spending habits, or even send an email to a company for the chance to save tens of thousands in a conflict that’s already killed almost as much as the Holocaust. We’re distressed when tales of such woe grace our TV screens on the news but that’s only because we have no alternative at that moment other than paying attention. When the TV is off, the rationalisations begin (that we’re not ultimately responsible).
Ultimately I think 99% of us don’t really give a shit if 5 million more die and the same amount are raped and tortured. They’re just jpeg files on our screens…ooh, shiny new gadgets! And so, damned we are.
3 comments ↓
Anybody who knows about the conflict cannot help but care. The sad fact is that is is criminally under-reported.
There is more tin, tantalum and tungsten in your car or your house than in your phone, but we should know their provenance and avoid those sourced in conflict areas. The conflict in the Congo did not begin over minerals, and it wont end because we boycott them. But a boycott just might save some lives.
The mining problem in the Congo gets attention because of the chain of evidence leads directly to iPods. Therefore, you are partly to blame when you carelessly lost your iPhone. This is easier to relate to than the actual cause of the conflict (whatever it is). To really shift the hearts of minds of the world, we need more than a dose of consumer guilt. I wish it wasn’t so. How many people really understand this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kivu_conflict
Hi Aaron, thanks for commenting — I didn’t know how much of the 3Ts are in non-electronics goods, the other thing I didn’t have space to mention is that for electronics consumer goods are probably not the majority and industry uses, agriculture, medicine, power grid, planes etc use more than the consumer. In any case, this means that our responsibility is not for buying electronics but for not doing more to stop the conflict.
So I don’t think consumer guilt is the right word to use and would agree it’s not enough — it’s more of the guilt of a consumer who does not do more.
Also unfortunately it’s not hearts and minds we need to shifts — nobody I know is pro-genocide and the issue is uncontrovercial theoretically, it’s affecting change that’s key. And the passing of the US bill is pivotal — if it does not then we are all doubly damned.
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