Some Days The Apathy Shown Certain Topics Shakes My Faith In DUers!

[DistressedAmerican]

This usually occurs when I post on or find someone else's post on a massive injustice in the world and I spend the next day or two kicking it since no one seems to be interested.

This morning I started a thread about ongoing enslavement of tens of thousands in Africa.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3601083

I have had exactly two responses. One that was appropriately outraged and another that basically expressed the notion that Africa is so screwed up that they would not know where to start fixing the problems.

I do not get it sometimes! Many of these problems come to my attention through Democratic Underground. How can liberal DUers be so apathetic about such a massive injustice? I'm perplexed!
=====================================================================

Is there a topic you have posted on that needs more attention and has been largely ignored? What are folks here missing?

Please post on it here and I'll keep it kicked for a while!!!

Here's your chance to give it another shot.

[okieinpain]

1. ok, I posted on your africa topic... now find something good to

post like who paula's sleeping with, or did jon stewert step over the line monday. GOSH......

[DistressedAmerican]

5. Jon Stewart Can Do NO WRONG! He Called Tucker A Dick To His Face

on his own freaking show. He could come out hard for Bush at this point and I'd probably let it slide!

Seriously though, you do make a good point. Many here bitch about the MSM coverage and then turn around and post on the same pointless distractions.

I make it a policy to never post on MJ, Brittany, or American Idol (the lowest form of entertainment yet devised by man, yes lower than dwarf tossing AND bear baiting).

I will punish myself harshly later for noting them here.

[zanne]

2. I can only tell you how I feel about this.

Absolutely powerless. This problem is so huge, and we can't even affect change in our own country. The frustration level is very high now--so high that even something as monstrous as what's happening in Africa is too overwhelming to confront.

[DistressedAmerican]

3. That Seems To Be A Common Problem...

Sadly, failure to try is aa death sentence for many!

[DrDebug]

22. Africa still is a big problem, but is also far away

Unlike the rest of the world which is readily available at the touch of a button nowadays. The internet sadly has helped to further divide the world in the rich and poor nations.

[ibid]

4. Do Niger laws still allow "bonded labour"?

:-(

[undergroundpanther]

6. I posted

about corrupt behaviorists and psych testing for all and it was ignored
I posted about how paper is turned into gold by wall street's 'wizards' it was ignored.
I wrote about denial in this country and how it feels and it was ignored.

Alot of my posts sink like stones.But the issues I bring up are important,I try to connect things bring out the patterns so people can see how serious and entrenched this shit is.
Denial on DU about just how bad the situation here is and how horrid it is in Africa and the rest of the world..denial isn't just for right wingers,ya know.

Bring up a fluff topic,So and so was insulted,or child rearing(not fluff topics but easy ones) Sometimes you get a million short posts,or defenses run high and people are all over it.
But bring up something dire complex or really disturbing and it will sink like you never even posted it.And nobody thinks hmm ask a question and discuss it what could it mean to me? my life the lives of my loved ones.

No they just keep it impersonal and look away.

[undergroundpanther]

7. And what is happening over there applies here..

Right here in AMERICA wake UP people!!!



Towards Debtors' Prisons?

By SETH SANDRONSKY

Sacramento, California

The bankruptcy reform bill that President Bush just signed into law will do more than discipline those who live riotously on loans without paying them back in full. Think for a moment about new prisons to house the indebted. This trend will expand investment opportunities. Surely, Wall Street is salivating at the thought of housing incarcerated debtors. Bonds, some of them tax-exempt, will need to be issued to fund such construction projects, with many fees to be paid from the public purse. Some of this cash will get invested in Congress. Honest graft. Today, profits and punishment are the mother's milk of American politics.








http://www.counterpunch.org/sandronsky05032005.html

[chlamor]

34. thanx

[DistressedAmerican]

8. Those All Seem Like Good, Interesting, Viable Topics To Me!

I can't really figure out what will fly around here per se. A lot of times I'll post a throw away comment on something of little import and it will be a huge hit.

I just do not know. Some sort of group dyamic that I have yet to put my finger on.

[ibid]

28. corporate control and ethics determined by greed are the price of

corporate "personhood" in the US, rich money contributions as "free speech", and a media controlled by the right wing.

But India, Pakistan, Nepal, Niger, Sudan, Chad, Mali and Mauritania all have bonded labor, and forced marriage, wife-transfer, child marriage and the sale of children for labor have not ended, as well as Brazil's forcing labourers to clear Amazonian jungle at gunpoint, the EU gangs forcing women into the sex trade, and in the US we had a story 2 weeks ago about a Saudi lady in the Boston area having domestic service slaves. Indeed as the story below notes, the CIA has estimated the number of slaves in America at 50,000.


http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3737154

In 2003, Niger finally got around to amending its laws to make slave ownership punishable with up to 30 years in prison. (The practice was outlawed with Niger’s independence from France in 1960, but carried no penalty.) Facing jail, a chieftain in western Niger offered to free the 7,000 slaves held by him and his clansmen in a public ceremony, due to take place on Saturday March 5th. But in the week leading up to the event, Niger’s government came to fear that a massive release of slaves would draw unwelcome attention to slavery’s existence in the country. The government declared that slavery does not exist in Niger, the ceremony was cancelled and the slaves left as slaves. Far from avoiding a public embarrassment, Niger has multiplied its worldwide shame.

Niger is far from alone. Its class-based form of slavery exists in neighbouring Chad, Mali and Mauritania, too. In Mauritania, estimates SOS Esclaves, another anti-slavery campaigner, 40% of the population are slaves or ex-slaves, who suffer the same stigma and lack of rights as their brethren in Niger. In Sudan, too, slavery is widespread. Some 14,000 people were abducted and forced into slavery during the country’s two-decade-long civil war between the Arab-run government in Khartoum and blacks in the south. Most of these were women and children forced into domestic work and herding. Many children of abductees, fathered by the slaves’ masters, in turn become slaves. Around 12,000 Sudanese remain in bondage. And according to a recent UN report, abduction and slavery have been extended to Darfur in western Sudan, where a separate conflict rages.

Beyond chattel

Most people associate “slavery” with the transatlantic chattel slave trade that ended in the 19th century as the United States and later Brazil, the biggest recipients of black African slaves, abolished first the trade and then the practice of slavery itself. But slavery persisted, so much so that the UN made 2004 the snappily-titled International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition. December 2nd 2004 was designated the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, to commemorate the adoption of a 1949 convention against human trafficking. But that convention is still widely flouted.

The form of slavery that perhaps affects the greatest number of people is bonded labour, which is particularly rife in India, Pakistan and Nepal. Desperate workers are given a loan for as little as the cost of medication for a child, and are forced to work to repay the loan and “interest”. But no clear contract is offered—the unfortunate bonded labourer often winds up working years to repay such loans, and the bond is even often passed on to children after the original labourer’s death. Because of the apparently voluntary nature of the bondage, many do not see it as slavery. But the labourer is often so desperate for a loan, without other sources of credit, that there is little real choice involved. And once bonded, the threat of violence and the limitations on personal freedom involved make the practice in effect no different from chattel slavery.

Many other slavery-type practices remain widespread, despite having been forbidden by UN conventions. These include forced marriage, wife-transfer, child marriage and the sale of children for labour. In Brazil, forced labourers clear Amazonian jungle at gunpoint. In western Europe, prostitutes from the former Soviet block are forced to work without any choice of which or how many clients they sleep with, and with the threat or use of force curtailing their freedom. And in the United States, Free the Slaves, another anti-slavery group, found illegal forced labour in at least 90 cities, involving over 19,000 people. The CIA has estimated the number of slaves in America at 50,000. Chinese, Mexicans, Vietnamese and others work against their will in the sex trade, domestic service, farms and sweatshops.

[mmonk]

9. Good post

but it may be due that our democratic republic is near a major change into something unfamiliar and that can preoccupy people's thoughts.

[G_j]

10. here is one

probably about to hit the archives any minute.
I've posted this a number of times over the last year.
It always disappears in a wink.
It's not breaking news, but I think it is empowering in the face of all the hopelessness.

Peace Park:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3582849

[DistressedAmerican]

13. Good Post. I'm sorry I missed it before!

Kicked it for you and added some coments. Good work. Somethings just fall right on through the cracks! Glad to help you save it.

[G_j]

15. thanks

I checked out your thread also and commented.
I appreciate your effort here. Great idea!

[DistressedAmerican]

16. I Love This Shot From Your Post!

[G_j]

20. here is the other side of the billboard

it was a while ago, as only 789 American soldiers are listed.
There are many, many more attached to the bottom now.
There is also a memorial to the Iraqi dead.

Some Saturdays are workdays. It is a wonderful community project.

Big thanks especially to Veterans For Peace!

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Sorry, But My Capacity For Outrage Is Not Infinite

We have enough dirt on the floor right here to be outraged about. There's only so much outrage i can muster.
The Professor

[cally]

12. You can't assume the topic was ignored because no one posted

I read the topic and the others listed by Undergroundpanther. I just had nothing to add. I don't know much about Nigeria so I have nothing to add. I am well aware that slavery still exists and is a growing problem. Posting, that's awful, how horrendous, etc. seems pretty shallow. Maybe, I should kick these topics.

[DistressedAmerican]

14. That is what I do in that case. Kicking helps make sure more

folks see the topic and they are reinforcing to the poster who, is doing good work finding the material in the first place. A lot of folks put some time and thought into posts just to see them drop. It can be frustrating if it is something you care about.

I nominate less often than I should. I try to make it a policy to nominate threads I like when ever possible. Again, it helps get the word around and it is a way of showing your support.

[undergroundpanther]

17. Nothing to add is OK

Siometimes I have nothing to add but even when it's obvious I say a simple phrasde just because the topic deserves to say around... sometimes saying a sentance like oh shit that's bad or interesting ! or a kick gives it a chance to be read and generate interest a bit longer until a jon stewart thread or a lounge post like what color is my underwear drown it out.It enourages others.

I wonder if DU took the lounge posts off the latest page,and people had to work for fluff,like click to the lounge would that help [eople sort stuff out or not? would people just stay in the lounge and never get real?

[cally]

23. You can choose to take Lounge posts off the Latest Page

I do. I go to the Lounge and enjoy posts there but I prefer to keep these posts off my Latest Page. It also makes DU more work friendly.

Go to options and change your preferences.

I'll try to kick more.

[DrDebug]

18. The Real ID story

HR 418 - section 102 is the one I worry about.

It talks about giving the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to suspend all laws without the possiblity of judicial review in order to build border barriers.

Unfortunate wording I'm told that matches pretty much what Hitler used to build his concentration camps.

Maybe that's just a coincidence, and maybe the whole national driver's license and get in your life real cozy like pieces are worse, but all in all, it says the legislation is designed to keep imigrants out, but once that mission is accomplished, I just have to wonder if the Sec of Homeland Security would simply find another crises as a reason to keep his unassailable power in tact.

I mean if they just let the news cover the truth about what is going on in this country most imigrants would gladly go back to their country of origin. Why spend all that money on fences and updating our databases?

- TigressDEM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3594584

[anarchy1999]

19. Don't ever let your faith in "DU'ers" be shaken. We stand proud and tall.

There are just lots of new people here. It's an issue and I do believe it is being discussed in many directions. Thanks DistressedAmerican, for speaking out.


We feel your pain.

[DistressedAmerican]

21. It Is Temporary. Then I get a reply like yours...

Usually fixes my pretty fast! :pals:

[anarchy1999]

24. "Fixes My" or "Fixes Me"? Love ya.

n/t

[Beam Me Up]

25. People read stories and do not reply or nominate.

I don't always have anything to say regarding an important story but if it seems important to me, I do nominate it. If it seems to need kicking, I'll do that too.

Once again I will point out to all that do not know, there are some stories that are BANNED from General Discussion. Even general information about the 9/11 truth movement, for example (not discussing any particular 'conspiracy theory' but providing information regarding, say, Sibel Edmonds' case and David Griffin's work), is most always locked and shuttled off to the 9/11 forum. This happens regardless of how many nominations for greatest it may have received. Moreover, when locked and moved, the thread looses all its 'greatest' nominations and is thus removed from the Greatest page as well. Worse, the option to nominate is removed. Last Saturday this happened to a thread with over 30 nominations.

I emailed admin regarding this issue but to date have received no reply or explanation. There are many threads posted in GD (religious discussion, for example) that might more properly have been posted in their respective forums but they are not locked and moved. I, for one, would like an explanation for this. Absent the now defunct "ask the admin" forum, I risk having my post removed, possibly even tombstoning, for even bringing up this subject.

[DistressedAmerican]

26. That Does Not Seem Right.

I'm with you. Seems a shame to kill a well nominated thread like that. Maybe there are logistical reasons we do not understand?

[Beam Me Up]

27. I'm sure the admin have their reasons but I have no idea

what they are. Apparently this issue is SO SENSITIVE they have chosen a form of 'soft' censorship (issue is here but you have to dig to find it). I'd like to know why. The 9/11 Truth Movement is becoming a growing locus of organization in opposition to the * cabal--why would these stories be kept from GD? Again, I'm not talking about the arguments that erupt regarding one 'theory' vs. another but general information abou the Movement itself.

[G_j]

29. I hear ya

that really hurt!

[Al-CIAda]

37. It is a most curoius and troubling situation'. The truth and search thereo

therof is chopped off at the knees.

[politicat]

30. In the same position sometimes when it comes to space and science.

I really believe we have to get off this rock and get some "off site backup" going; unfortunately, most people are disillusioned about space and trust NASA not at all (well, neither do I, but that's another story.) Most space and science stories sink like a stone.

[politicat]

31. In the same position sometimes when it comes to space and science.

I really believe we have to get off this rock and get some "off site backup" going; unfortunately, most people are disillusioned about space and trust NASA not at all (well, neither do I, but that's another story.) Most space and science stories sink like a stone.

[entanglement]

38. Link me to some of your science stories and I'll reply

even if I don't have much of a clue about what's going on ;)

[UTUSN]

32. Maybe I Missed the Memo When GD Ceased Being for Politics

Add to the list below, a spate of "news of the weird" topics---5 yr olds getting busted or otherwise mangled (what's the "discussion" supposed to be about?).

And I would add, back in the CONDIT era, that his case was NOT GD-appropriate, having no socio-political dimensions, just a crime topic in which the principal happened to be a congressman. Change the name to "PETERSON" or "Michael JACKSON".

That said, I will add that a certain amount and kind of fluff has its place in GD:

* Political cartoons.

* Gossip (true) and other heads-up type of scuttlebutt about POLITICAL characters.



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3593691&mesg_id=3593691
O.K., no way I can presume to be a board nanny. It just appeared to be clearer back when, when GD was for POLITICAL topics. It got blurred when GD-Elections passed beyond the ELECTION cycle.

We could go back years to ferret out appropriateness for GD when CONDIT was a topic, but in the past few months it has appeared to be more blurred as to whether the following were GD:

* SCHIAVO. (Yes)

* Michael JACKSON, Scott PETERSON. (Never)

* Pope-a-thon. (Sometimes)

* Personal topics (Illness/death/solicitation). (No)

* Vanity topics (Let-me-suck-the-oxygen). (No)

* Runaway bride. (Never-EVER, please-shoot-me-NOW)


With the obliteration of the ATA forum, yes, Moderators have been voted confidence, fine, but a current crop of Moderators might have a different consensus from another group. For sure, some “Alerts” have carried more credence with some crops of Moderators than others.

So, might there be a “Personals” forum, where illness-death-solicitation-and-VANITY could run rampant? (Plus proposing “Forum” suggestions.)

[DistressedAmerican]

33. Glad You Protect Political Cartoons!

[UTUSN]

35. Ha!-----Protect? I Can't Protect, Can Only Spew Opinions! n/t

[DistressedAmerican]

36. Maybe Don't Mind Would Have Been A Better Choice Of Wording.

[entanglement]

39. I strongly recommend a 'tabloid' section,

you could fit in lots of the runawaybride-starvingwoman-pedopopstar stories there

[DistressedAmerican]

40. There Is An Idea i Really Like. I Hate To Start Acting Like Folks Should

not post on their interests. I just don't want to be bothered with Michael or Brittany!

[DrDebug]

41. Kick. Due to apathy it fell to page 5 n/t

:kick:

[DistressedAmerican]

42. Sad That. Thanks!