This month I want to look at atrocities/genocides. During WW2, the New York Times ran Holocaust stories daily, usually on back pages. Same for the Armenian genocide. I think we’ve made some progress. Through independent media, blogs and even mainstream coverage, people are probably more aware of atrocities than then. Still, not enough:
Most have heard of Darfur. Less know about Africa’s World War (the conflict in the DR Congo) even though it’s killed 5-10 times more than Darfur. Even less know about Northern Uganda and the LRA, an atrocity right in the between the other two. This one specifically targets children.
The Lord’s Resistance Army has been for fighting for 20 years to establish a Christian 10-Commandmends-based theocracy in Northern Uganda. It’s a cult with only 200 core members. Most fighting is done by kidnapped children. In 2 decades, the LRA’s nabbed over 20,000 kids. Thousands of children walk from their villages each nightfall (sometimes over 20 km) to sleep in larger towns where they’re more safe: in the villages the LRA will come for you every night.
Now here’s where it gets hairy: to induct children into war, they’re made to kill, rape and/or eat their family (or each other) under pain of death. In one story, guards pretended to be asleep so as to catch a girl escaping. They told the others they needed to bite her face to death. If a guard sees any child without the victim’s skin in their mouth, that child would die. Pushed into evil so early, the kids are completely damaged. Those who escape (or are released) have obvious troubles adjusting to society. Of course the LRA also dabbles in Canonical Guerilla Tactics: raiding villages, killing/maiming civillians and raping/selling girls into sexual slavery.
All ideologies get used by monsters like LRA-head Kony (picture above). But I see no great irony in the LRA being Christian. I do think it probably contributes something to the lack of media coverage (a similar Muslim group would be covered much more). Some other possible reasons for lack of coverage:
- willful ignorance by us — we can’t take in too many bad news so we may have heard about this but not remembered
- it’s not as dramatic as other conflicts, there’s not as much daily action — news media needs visuals
- it’s been going on for 2 decades already — “old news”
- there’s the obvious question of racism but I think more important is the idea of Africa being seen as “a lost cause, so why report?”
- the media (rightly or wrongly) treat the viewer with nothing but contempt, assuming he/she will never be able to follow more than three things at a time
The first and easist thing for us to do is overcome our willful ignorance — go and find out what’s really going on worldwide. The opinions of everyday folk like us can achieve something
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Terrifying.
“Genocide month” – how cheerful
A big problem is that people feel powerless. It’s the old ‘How could my actions alone make any difference?’ dilemma. Unless you actually go and vividly witness what goes on, it’s difficult to connect. With the internet, it’s now much easier to find out what screwed up things go on in the world but from thought to action is still a big leap. Something like GetUp seems like an effective way to empower individuals.
Any practical suggestions?
Even if you are a witness I don’t think it empowers you to do much more (although you might be motivated to speak out).
Don’t really have an immediate solution — maybe coverage is what’s most important — maybe emailing a few media outlets asking for coverage (and letting a few friends know)?
I’ll have to think about it (maybe starting an online community focused on informing others and having a say in what’s covered)
Why don’t you blog about Paris Hilton or something else shiny and important, this is, like, so depressing.
And there you have it. The media is chasing customers rather than reporting.
There is a great couple of lines by The Jam, Going Underground:
1. early in the song
And the public gets what the public wants
2. later on
And the public wants what the public gets
Our outrages are all fake outrages, going from 36% tax to 39% tax is evil. With a $9trillion deficit? We get so many fluff stories and filler on TV that we care more about who did what on dancing With The Stars than how many children died of preventable diseases, malnutrition and dehydration today.
Sad, but infinitely predictable. We are stupid creatures, easily distracted with the attention span of a gnat.
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