this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
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[–] wampus@lemmy.ca 13 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

How willing have you been to go and put your life on the line to stop these atrocities? If you're not willing to, why should others?

If none of the individuals in a democratic country are eager to go die to prevent the atrocities, then why would you think a democratic country would take action to force individuals to go die to try and prevent a genocide?

And in this particular case, international trade with Sudan is at like 3% of their GDP -- they don't really trade with anyone, so its not like democratic countries can be all "smarten up, or else no more [x]!"

The UN at one point in the past had a decent peace keeping force function, that'd go and assist such regions. But the UN has basically been kneecapped by both authoritarian non-democratic countries having veto powers, and by the USA overtly defunding all its programs as of late.

And the US is now participating eagerly in war crimes / crimes against humanity -- they're the 'supposed' leader of the democratic west, but they actively encourage genocides like in Israel. The people of the USA voted for it. They're 'democratically' in favour of encouraging genocides. Your opinion in the broader democratic environment, if you're American, is in the minority. And part of living in a democracy is accepting the will of the majority, which happens to be in favour of genocides.

[–] jjpamsterdam@feddit.org 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I was in Afghanistan, first serving with the Dutch armed forces and later working for a company that built clinics and schools. After that I worked in eastern Africa for a rural electrification programme. While parts of these efforts may have been fruitless in hindsight, I still stand by these choices.

What have you done? I feel like I was (and am) willing to work towards putting an end to atrocities, at least within my limited influence. I am willing. Therefore I expect a similar level of caring for the lives of others from others.

[–] wampus@lemmy.ca 1 points 43 minutes ago

Congrats. It seems the rhetorical device is lost on you, and you're not inclined to view the statement more broadly from the perspective of the majority. The rhetorical device isn't meant to be applied to a single individual case, but rather interpreted as a broad concept highlighting the situation of what people would envision for a 'regular' citizen. From that vantage, you'd be looking at a majority who simply try to make ends meet and who's focus is largely on treading water in a system increasingly aimed at crushing the agency/freedom of its people. Most can't afford to be altruistic, and there isn't enough revenue to support larger volumes of people working in organisations aimed at helping impoverished areas.

But further, to put your situation slightly differently: it sounds like you were provided with an opportunity to work for the armed forces and for a company that built clinics and schools, because others in dutch society produced what was needed to maintain dutch lifestyles, and the excess of their labour allowed you to pursue more altruistic goals. It's the same general concept as the rich being able to give to charities / social causes because they've fucked the poor and created social issues to become rich, but abstracted a bit to social values. And the practical reality that there are some people working in those countries towards worthwhile ends, isn't really material to the broader situation: just like the fact that some rich people are philanthropists, doesn't realistically change the amount of damage done by the wealthiest demographic collecting/hoarding the wealth that some of them trickle back via charity.

[–] rammer@sopuli.xyz 6 points 8 hours ago

But the UN has basically been kneecapped by both authoritarian non-democratic countries having veto powers, and by the USA overtly defunding all its programs as of late.

Lately the US has been an authoritarian non-democratic country.