Comments on: Does Anybody Actually Give A Shit About A Conflict With A Death Toll Approaching The Holocaust’s Happening As We Speak? http://anadder.com/does-anybody-actually-give-a-shit Tue, 22 May 2012 02:41:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Friday Links (26-Feb-10) -- a Nadder! http://anadder.com/does-anybody-actually-give-a-shit/comment-page-1#comment-32735 Friday Links (26-Feb-10) -- a Nadder! Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:54:28 +0000 http://anadder.com/?p=2715#comment-32735 [...] I told you so: Congo death toll rivals the Holocaust [...] [...] I told you so: Congo death toll rivals the Holocaust [...]

]]> By: michael http://anadder.com/does-anybody-actually-give-a-shit/comment-page-1#comment-30924 michael Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:13:43 +0000 http://anadder.com/?p=2715#comment-30924 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. 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.

]]> By: Aaron Stanton http://anadder.com/does-anybody-actually-give-a-shit/comment-page-1#comment-30887 Aaron Stanton Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:44:29 +0000 http://anadder.com/?p=2715#comment-30887 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 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

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