Another story of Syria

[dexeron.livejournal.com]

Jon Stewart returned last night, and the talk of the day was, of course, Syria (and he, of course, tried to inject a little humor into the situation.) However, the interview segment with which he closed out the show was anything but humorous, bringing in Andrew Harper, the head of the United Nations Refugee Agency in Jordan. This is the important story, in my opinion: the story of millions of people displaced from their homes, many of them women and children. It's also the story of nations such as Jordan who are doing what they can to provide a safe haven for some of these people, and the incredible work being done by the UN, an organization that is so often derided by folks here in the U.S., but which does certain things very well; this is one of them.

Any discussion of our response to the situation in Syria should involve the discussion of how we can help these people. While we're talking about what message we should send to the Assad regime, or whether or not we should act militarily, and in which way, here is an obvious human crisis where we could all put our money where our mouths are. I'd prefer to see this story given the lion's share of airtime on our cable news stations, over constant redundant talking heads debating back and forth on questions of chemical weapons and factions and military responses and political calculus.

Here's the interview, in two parts:

If the embedding doesn't work for some reason, here are direct links:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-september-3-2013/exclusive---andrew-harper-extended-interview-pt--1

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-september-3-2013/exclusive---andrew-harper-extended-interview-pt--2

Comments

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Oh?

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Oh man, lutz.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

that's Elizabethan Jesus thanking Dad, right?

[telemann.livejournal.com]

I bet he stank to high heaven: a SEVERE case of crotch rot. And he was so glad to get a good scrubbing in that water.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

I'm sure if you thought a little bit about it you'd see how that doesn't address the issue in any way.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Being an ignorant furrinner, I have to ask. How does it not address the issue?

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

The Pilgrims weren't in the same kind of situation nor were they running to another country as refugees.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

But how? How were they no tin the same kind of situation?

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

There wasn't a civil war going on where they had to flee the fighting, nor were they involved in an active resistance against the government. And they left to go to an uninhabited land where they would need to be taking care of themselves, rather than being refugees expecting someone else to help them out.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

They were fleeing to a new place from an oppressive government. And saying the land was uninhabited betrays a very disturbing lack of knowledge on the history of your own continent.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

They were fleeing to a new place from an oppressive government

Which is not what's happening in Syria.

And saying the land was uninhabited betrays a very disturbing lack of knowledge on the history of your own continent.

As far as they were concerned, it was unused/uninhabited by another country. They were not emigrating to an already established system.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

> Which is not what's happening in Syria.

That's some alternative reality right there.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

If you thought about it more, you'd see how it really does.