Why Genocide Matters - NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, NYTimes

[applegrove]

Why Genocide Matters
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: September 10, 2006
The New York Times

When I spoke at Cornell University recently, a woman asked why I always harp on Darfur.

It’s a fair question. The number of people killed in Darfur so far is modest in global terms: estimates range from 200,000 to more than 500,000.

In contrast, four million people have died since 1998 as a result of the fighting in Congo, the most lethal conflict since World War II. And malaria annually kills one million to three million people — meaning that three years’ deaths in Darfur are within the margin of error of the annual global toll from malaria.

So, yes, you can make an argument that Darfur is simply one of many tragedies and that it would be more cost-effective to save lives by tackling diarrhea, measles and malaria.

But I don’t buy that argument at all. We have a moral compass within us, and its needle is moved not only by human suffering but also by human evil. That’s what makes genocide special — not just the number of deaths but the government policy behind them. And that in turn is why stopping genocide should be an even higher priority than saving lives from AIDS or malaria

....SNIP"

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/opinion/10kristof.html

[Kagemusha]

1. Er, not that there's any good reason not to tackle measles and malaria.

Just mentioning...

[applegrove]

2. There are campaigns out there to tackle both.