Why doesn't anyone volunteer to fight in Darfur?

[Az]

Throughout the 20th century, many times, regions of strife attracted thousands of noble idealists who were not afraid to pick up arms and fight in wars in distant countries. These days, the tragedy that keeps unraveling in Darfur doesn't seem to attract such people, although the plead of the people there is worldwide?

Why is this the case?

[Whoha]

probably because of what happened to all those noble idealists.

[Wiglaf]

It would reveal the hypocricy of the left, that is for sure. OH NO BEING IN IRAQ IS WRONG SURE SADDAM WAS EVIL BUT HE IS SOVEREIGN! OH BUT DARFUR IS DIFFERENT! THEY'RE BLACK! AND DON CHEADLE MADE A MOVIE ABOUT IT AND IT WAS ALMOST AS GOOD AS OCEANS 11!

The leftists would piss themselves as I pointed this out, and they would run home only to discover I had slept with their wives as part of my victory lap over their incompetence.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
It would reveal the hypocricy of the left, that is for sure. OH NO BEING IN IRAQ IS WRONG SURE SADDAM WAS EVIL BUT HE IS SOVEREIGN! OH BUT DARFUR IS DIFFERENT! THEY'RE BLACK! AND DON CHEADLE MADE A MOVIE ABOUT IT AND IT WAS ALMOST AS GOOD AS OCEANS 11!

QFT. Damned if you do and damned if you don't

[Wiglaf]

Between a rock and a hard place

[LordShiva]

A win-win situation... for teh lefties

[Wiglaf]

Their road to success is always under construction :FROWN:

[LordShiva]

It's like playing Russian roulette with an automatic

[Wiglaf]

Red sky in the morning, sailor's warning; red sky at night, sailor's delight; unless you are a LIBERAL

[LordShiva]

Any way you slice it, it still won't come up good

[Pekka]

You mean individuals? I'm sure there's few in there, but if you're a volunteer or a mercenary, why would you go to Darfur? Basically you have to be black or have a clear employer or troop if you're white. Plus you have to feel for the cause enough to go in and just sort of ... there's not really any places where you can check in and say I'm joining. So that's a problem for individuals.

That, plus there's helluva lot better places to fight in Africa than Darfur. You can find any cause or any ideal to fight for around the world, Darfur isn't just attractive enough for individuals, it doesn't make much sense, even if you're for the sort of humanity of it, because you can do that **** elsewhere as well and probably have a better chance at getting something done. It's simply the worst call.

Larger entities? Who knows. Maybe it's about money. Costs a lot, no returns. Lots of misery already, you can always choose. Commit to that ****hole and you'll be there for a long time, it's high risk and low yield. HUmanity is all about picking yer spots these days. Too bad.

[BeBMan]

I think conflicts like Darfur are much more difficult to judge then say, the Spanish Civil War, often you don't have clear good/bad, but multiple sides involved in ****. Sure, there's the idea of protecting the civilians, but if you feel you don't have a trustworthy side that can run the country better than the current guys you'd either need intl efforts to rebuilt such a country (which could still go wrong if foreign presence is not accepted) or watch how the country/idea you fought for gets lost again.

Of course then there's the whole laziness, ignorance, fear etc line of reasons....

[Spiffor]

Re: Why doesn't anyone volunteer to fight in Darfur?

Originally posted by Az
Why is this the case?

From what I gather, the situation is now mostly stable in Darfur, and is extremely far from the ongoing genocide it was a few years ago.

The Darfuri are now facing a humanitarian crisis, and there are plenty of NGOs there, with idealists of all stripes trying to make a difference.
There's also an international peacekeeping force mostly manned by the African Union IIRC.

We recently had a scandal over here, about a NGO that wanted to "save Darfuri orphans from GENOCIDE!!1", and having French families adopt them. However, once there, seeing the lack of active killing, and the lack of available orphans, they tried to send non-orphans to France. A bit less idealism would have helped them to contribute seriously to the Darfur situation, which is in need of actual help, not of feelgood white man's burden.

[Az]

The civilians getting killed have people representing them. They're the ones to side with, IMO.

[Az]

which is in need of actual help, not of feelgood white man's burden.

What "white man's burden" has to do with it? Were the volunteers in Spain's Civil war excercising a bit of "white man's burden" as well?

Btw, the mighty UN backed AU peace force is getting picked off, one by one. Just a matter of time till they bail, and then, it'll start over again.