On Kristof, O'Reilly, Genocide and The HuffPo

Taking on free speech at this point in time is clearly a risky proposition, so I will merely mention that some of the comments posted today on HuffPo with regard to the Nicholas Kristof/Bill O'Reilly story in the New York Times took my breath away, but more than that they saddened me.

One of the only bright lights in the on-going battle to bring peace and safety to the victims of genocide in Darfur, has been the curious bedfellows this crisis has made. Senators Brownback and Biden have worked across party lines, liberal Jews have worked with right-wing Christian groups to get much achieved in terms of advocacy and that is exactly the way it should be. Genocide works its evil beyond lines of party, class, faith, race, social status, wealth, nationality, age and color. That is why it is the greatest crime against humanity. No-one is guaranteed to be spared from it, and never will be, until the whole world takes action to recognize this evil when it occurs.

Any partisanship with regard to genocide is a mistake for all of us. This I have learned from speaking to the victims of not just the Darfurian genocide, but also to the victims of several others that have occurred in my lifetime.

Traveling overseas to bear witness to genocide and suffering is really a minor inconvenience for any Westerner, even one with a hectic work schedule! Having the first class travel option is a delightfully irrelevant but perfectly comfortable way to deal with the incongruities of a complex world. I did buy my own tickets when I visited victims of genocide, but I don't think Bill O'Reilly or Oprah Winfrey or, God willing, President Bush, should feel the least compunction about accepting any such offer - who could possibly cry cronyism in the same breath as genocide prevention??

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