Not that I think it makes any difference, but I would think if anything his experiences would soften his "mental toughness". What's happening in Darfur is life and death. Compared to that, getting past the first round of the playoffs looks even more frivolous than it already did.
First, I applaud McGrady for doing this. From a basketball fan perspective I hope he realizes that he is privileged to play a game for a living and is inspired to give all he has on the court because of that. Off the court, I hope he is able to let the pressure of the game go and focus on things outside of basketball. Please practice the free throws, however, Tracy.
wow....obviously you don't know anything. US supported Jundullah, a Islamic terrorist group in order to counter Iran, and you don't think US did that for its own interest?
ummm...the genocide of indigenous people in the US was as blatant as blatant gets. That's not to say that we should condemn the US, or any country. Isreal, Palestine, the US, China--No nation's record is clean. This is a basketball forum. What T-mac is doing is good. Lets leave it at that, and take the debates to the politics to the hangout, please.
There's no genocide going on in the Sudan. It's a civil war and most people have died due to disease and starvation. The Governement of Khartoum on more than one ocassion has agreed to a 3rd party sponsored peace deal but the Darfur Rebels have rejected these peace deals. I wish celebrities like Kobe, TMac, and Angelina Jolie wouldn't take up these causes without fully educating themselves. Louisana Rocket needs to acquire a better understanding of US history and its foreign policy. The US has been overthrowing democracies for a very long time and propping brutal regimes that have killed a lot more people than Omar al-Bashir's regime can ever dream of.
They along with my Australian government ignored what was happeneing in East Timor. They knew the East Timor people were going to be attacked by Indonesia and they let it happen, because with Indonesia in control of East Timor's resources would have and did equal economic gain.
no genocide going on in darfur? is this a joke? i suppose the janjaweed killing helpless men, women, and children of other ethnic groups is considered a civil war; i guess the holocaust was just a war between nazis and jews? how you don't consider this brutality a genocide is beyond me. the people are dying of disease and starvation BECAUSE the janjaweed are burning/stealing all of the aid supplies given by other countries. so not only is this mass murder, but its torture through starvation and rape i'm one of the founders of the only STAND chapter in houston/cypress, so i'm not all that ignorant about whats going on. please get educated on this before you misinform some other posters on what's REALLY happening http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZJtM3NeQJY i'm second to speak
I don't even know where to start. Atrocities are committed in every civil war. Nothing special or unique regarding the case in Sudan. Starvation and disease are by products of most ethnic conflicts and civil wars in Africa (See Congo DRC). Please don't compare this to the Nazi or Jewish Holocaust, because that meets the definition of the term genocide or holocaust due to its highly systematic nature. You conveniently ignored the part of my post about the peace deal. I'll repeat it again. The international community and the government in Khartoum on more than one occasion have agreed to peace deals, but they have been rejected by the rebeles. And in some cases, the rebeles have gone on the offensive. This is what happens when we throw around terms like genocide and holocaust. Not only do they cheapen the value of those words, but they also embolden people like the rebels who refused to agree to peace on multiple occasions. Look at the peace deal signed with the Chrisitans in the South...It's worked out quite well. Also, if you're so quick to call what's going on in the Sudan "genocide," what about what's happening in the neighboring Congo? 10 times as many people have died there due to the same reasons, what would you call that? A "holocaust"? Why isn't there a SaveCongo.com campaign out there? I think Darfur has become a trendy or fashionable cause for some due to the involvement of celebrities, which explains why so many people get excited when talking about Sudan, but they don't even know about what's happened in the Congo in the past decade or so.
Do you even know why they are fighting? This conflict is based on tribal and ethnic differences. When one group of people decide to mass murder another, that is genocide. Rwandan genocide? So the reason why the Nazis killing Jews was a genocide was because it was a “highly systematic” way of doing it? On the other hand, Omar al-Bashir’s way of doing it isn’t quite as orderly, so even with all the deaths he has caused, it isn’t genocide because he isn’t doing it in an orderly fashion? Hitler openly admitted his hatred for Jews. If you hadn’t figured out, al-Bashir is trying desperately to hide this whole thing. I agree that the SLM and JEM did the wrong thing by continuing to attack, but I guess the actions of some rebel militias effectively negate all those innocent lives lost by al-Bashir's regime, making Darfur more of a war, than a genocide I don't know why celebrities aren't campaigning for the DR Congo, obviously, I'm not a celebrity. I would call the situation in the Congo a genocide; it even started because of 1994 Rwanda.. Also, I'm with the CRS. We've fundraised, lobbied, and donated aid to the Congo, so I know what's going on. And please, don’t insult me, or anyone else striving to end this brutality by saying I joined this campaign to be “trendy”. I was there in ’03 when Bush called this whole thing genocide, and I'll be here until it ends.
This is my last post on the subject here in the GARM. Get it through your head, it's not a "genocide", it's a civil war. There's no specific ethnic, racial, or religious target, which means there's nothing systematic about it. It doesn't meet any definition of the term. Yes, there's a clear difference between rounding up innocent people and sticking them into death camps which happened in Germany, and fighting against rebel groups (who have attacked and killed peacekeepers) and have people displaced, die of disease and starvation as a result. Again, in civil wars, atrocities happen on both sides. The government has more resources at their disposal and the rebels blend in with civilian populations, thus, it's asymmetric warfare. Let me repeat myself yet again: This could've stopped a long time ago on more than one ocassion if the rebels had agreed to internationally brokered peace deals that were accepted by everybody in the world, but the rebels continued to fight - even killing African Union peacekeepers. Also, please get your facts straight the civil war in the Congo had nothing to do with the Rwandan Genocide. It began in the late 1990s when Mobuto was overthrown. Lol @ using George W. Bush. So just because he called it genocide, it makes it so. How come the UN, Amnesty International, the African Union etc... have not called it a genocide? I guess you can continue feeling good about yourself, wearing your savedarfur.com t-shirt, and thinking that you're helping, but you're severly misinformed and naive. It's people like you who have emboldened these rebels to continue with violence. So in reality, what you're doing is counterproductive and hurting the people of Sudan. Also, people like you are always running around with their hair on fire about Darfur, while conveniently ignore atrocities in other places.
It's easy to identify the guy Tmac by his big bottom. No government is prefered by its citizens.But we shouldn't show our unsatisfaction towards our government right here on the clutch forum.
I sensed that way earlier than you. You could basically tell what this LouisianaRocket is going to say when you see the topic of those threads which are related to China without actually reading the thread. It's obvious that this person registered this screen name for a purpose.
Yes, there was a peace deal, and it was accepted by the rebels. One small problem... it was a trojan horse and it got the former rebel leader Garang, who was now part of a "coalition" govt. murdered. So you cant blame the rebels if they aren't buying into any more phony peace deals. Do you need a dictionary on what genocide is? It doesnt have to look like what you watched on discovery channel. Attempting to wipeout a group of people based on race is genocide, wether it janjaweed on horseback or SS. Civil war or no civil war, there is no way to justify raping and killing everything from pregnant women to little kids. To suggest this is business as usual is daft (sorry, had to say it) Wow... all those pictures, the stories from the refugees all trendy...maybe even made up. You are a genius
An Amnesty International blog on the meaning of "genocide" an its application to Darfur: http://blogs.amnestyusa.org/portal/entriesForTag?tagId=1k39ikn1dfndn Here's the last few paragraphs: [rquoter] ... Now the word genocide is being applied to Darfur, although Amnesty refuses to call the slaughter in Sudan by that name. It's easy to break down the conflict into black and white, Arab and African, but in fact the killing is far more indiscriminate. People are being attacked, murdered, and raped regardless of their ethnic group or nation. I don't honestly know if the situation in Iraq could be called a genocide. Perhaps a better word would be disaster. There's so much violence it's hard to know who's targeting who, and why. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on Middle Eastern politics, and I'm not even going to begin to pass judgment on what constitutes a genocide. But it shouldn't matter what it's called, in Iraq, in Darfur, or anywhere. The important part is that people are dying, and we can't just stand by and watch. [/rquoter] I agree with the last sentiment. Whether this meets the textbook definition of genocide or not, crimes against humanity on a huge scale are being committed and we shouldn't just ignore it. Somehow, it seems wrong to lump in one group everyone who is trying to help the victims of these crimes, and presume that they are simply being naive and self-serving without care for what's really happening.
I certainly don't, but I wouldn't say I'm satisfied with my level of knowledge either. That's what it sounded like T-Mac was saying, but given the context I'm sure I was mistaken.
OK guys enough about the politics, bring it back to politics forum. Talk about TMac's influence on Darfur or anything related but to discuss who killed who and why you gotta use politics forum. Post a thread and bash each other. It's easy to talk about politics from your chair with a cup of cofee and speedy Internet but what's really happening you have to educate yourself years and years. What happened in Darfur, Sudan, Bosnia, Cechenia, Afghanistan or Iraq you have to go deeper than the surface and use politics forum for your opinions.
