two words too many

just Darfur?
Originally uploaded by Auswomble

A small group of youths were gathered by the Harbour in Sydney today. The group were, according to their t-shirts, "Youth Against Genocide in Darfur." Sounds like a noble cause. But read it again. Youth against genocide in Darfur. Am I alone in thinking there is no need to be against a specific genocide? Does that slogan hide the sinister implication that they are not against other genocides? I understand that being against one thing does not mean you are for or not against another. But I see no justification for being against a single genocide. Genocide bad, period.

Maybe I'd have been less sensitive to the t-shirt had the first wearer I spotted not been wearing a yarmulke. Now I know that Jewish does not equal Israeli and I suspect the Intifadah is more ethnic cleansing than genocidal. But I did find it strange. This from the group's Facebook page that I will not link to.

We believe that as co-existing human beings, we cannot stand idly by as the situation in Darfur deteriorates.

Replace the word Darfur with Palestine. The mastermind behind YAGID is Jewish and yagid is a Hebrew word meaning "he will tell." Not sure who he is and what he'll tell. Maybe its me and I'll tell them to be less specific with their genocide of choice.

Here is an interesting article on the situation in Palestine. I freely admit I know nowhere near enough about to be able to make definite, objective statements about. So I'll say that in my opinion it is right fucked up and Israelis need to sort their shit out because bombing the fuck out of civilain areas, stealing land and violating international law - even if you ignore that law - makes you look like tossers. None of which excuses Palestinians from lobbing bombs about. Anyway, back to Sydney.

Also strange was the behavior of said t-shirt wearer. When I first saw him he was "lurking" in a gents toilet at Sydney's Circular Key. Not a George Michel lurk, rather he seemed to be waiting - but not for a seat. He waited until the very far end of the piss-trough became available - I slotted in half way along, there was plenty of space. He faced into the corner lest anyone should glimpse his pecker. Again, odd. Maybe a religious thing? I feel a pang of pity for people who display such odd behaviour. For the record, I've always been a person who'll take the first available spot at the troughs; I'm there to take a slash and frankly the less time I spend in public lavs the better. If you want to have a sneaky peak at my cock then knock yourself out - but expect a firm "FUCK OFF" should I catch you perving.