alt Hacker NewsThe silence from the west on what's going on in Sudan is deafening. It's a completely fair question to ask why, when people are so vocal for Palestine? Why not Sudan?
Throwing out "whataboutism" every time someone dares ask a question like this is a fallacy in itself, intending to distract from the question of why genocide in places like Sudan are so thoroughly and utterly ignored and even buried.
Replies
woooooo • last Sunday at 3:31 AM
Because we dont fund or assist what's going on in Sudan? We have sanctions in place against the RSF rather than applauding their leaders in congress every year.
wslh • last Saturday at 7:03 PM
I agree with your first paragraph but I am following the principle of having the conversation around this specific HN topic on this post.
> It's a completely fair question to ask why, when people are so vocal for Palestine? Why not Sudan?
The simple truth is a lot of, if not most, such vocalised outrage in any country is nine parts vanity. Remember #StopKony? About as effective for the people being harmed as students at Columbia barricading themselves into a building.
I’m not sure I condemn moral vanity. It is a genuine intellectual exercise. But it’s one that doesn’t particularly benefit from repeat unless one seeks to become a student of atrocity, and one that has strong viral effects.
What about the minority who actually try to help those harmed, e.g. by fundraising for victims or volunteering? They’re far and few in between. Moreover, their efforts benefit from economies of scale.
As a result, in any community, the people actually being helpful will tend to pick their battles. And the people flipping out for fun will cluster around whatever is trendy to flip out about in public.