When people fast for a cause. I just don’t get that. I mean, I suppose I can see that people who do it think they’re making some kind of grand statement, but I don’t think it really DOES anything for the particular cause they’re trying to support. It just seems like there are far more productive things one might do.
Case in point. Mia Farrow just completed a 12 day fast to draw attention to the plight of people of Darfur. On the 12th day, she said, ”I have been instructed by my doctor to stop my fast immediately due to health concerns – including possible seizures. I am fortunate. The women, children, and men I am fasting for do not have that option.”
So, I guess I just fail to see how Mia Farrow not eating and putting her own health at risk was remotely helpful to Darfur. Unless you’re particularly fond of Mia Farrow, her lack of food for 12 days doesn’t really inspire a person to DO something for Darfur. A powerful commercial might have had more of an effect. But a fast? That seems more like a cry for attention for Mia Farrow than it does for Darfur.
Couldn’t she just have adopted another kid from there? At least that would have actually directly contributed to the cause.
After Mia ended her fast, I guess Richard Branson said he would “take over the fast” for the next 3 days. Gawd. That’s not a symbolic gesture of support for Darfur – that’s a standard hollywood diet.
Hah that is pretty ridiculous, especially when I don’t think it was even that well advertised. It did work for Gandhi for a short while, he fasted to try to promote nonviolence around him, and his supporters didn’t want to see him die so they stopped fighting so he would eat again. I don’t understand whos Mia is trying to prove this to though?
MAYBE she could have donated a bunch of food and water. That would have been helpful.
Did she send over 12 days worth of food since she wasn’t eating it?
That is a great point OJS and BB. Then it would have directly supported the cause if she would’ve sent over food she wasn’t eating.
I’m not sure what a fast is supposed to do either. It isn’t inspiring to anyone. I actually have nothing to write in this post other than rewording everything that has been said already, so good job guys.
She CAN’T send them food and water. The Sudanese government has expelled all international aid workers. In part, it was the frustration with her powerlessness to help that led to the hunger strike. While I’m not sure a hunger strike is the best way to help, it certainly has brought the media to listen to her point of view. And the more famous people she brings along, the more attention it will get. Can you imagine how the press would wet its collective pants if Brad and Ang decided to fast? Or even, sadly, Paris Hilton?
ps. “That’s not a symbolic gesture of support for Darfur – that’s a standard hollywood diet.” Hilarious.
Rosie too – The problem is that no one even heard she was doing the fast, so who would jump on the bandwagon? A fast isn’t going to do a damn thing for those suffering people. I don’t care who is doing it. I don’t have a solution to the problem that doesn’t involve sending in the troops to help those people out, but a fast certainly isn’t going to help draw attention.
and yet here we are talking about it…
Ghandi’s fast stopped a war that lead to the freedom of 350 million freaking people, I would say that qualifies as “working for a short while” and, like Bobby Sands who fasted to protest British occupation of Northern Ireland, , he was brought back from the brink of death to achieve his goal, where Sands actually died…yo go strong or don’t go all if you want my respect.
punky, i agree with you. no one knew she was doing this, so how does it help? it’s like when yoko ono did her ‘strip for peace’.
what a joke. it’s just these nimrods trying to keep their name
in the headlines. worthless.
i believe by fasting for starving people is a slap in the face. in america we have such an abundance of food that going on a hunger strike mocks the very people you are trying to help. sure its a nobel effort but when you fast here you have the oppurtunity to end it at anytime. youre basically saying haha i can eat but i choose not to.
Gees, Jessy, you really think she’s laughing at the starving (“saying haha I can eat but choose not to”)? El pato, yes, OF COURSE it’s only for the publicity. You know all.
Oh, incidentally, “nimrod” does not mean “dimwit” or “idiot” at all. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod.
A fast is a very serious thing. I do agree however that hers probably has had no effect at all. Still, IMO, it’s not really a mockworthy thing, even if futile (not that the Mockarena mocked it, she just queried it).
I fall more in with Jordon’s opinion.
No, no, no — I’m sorry but you all need to learn about Darfur, and you need to read more carefully.
Mia Farrow said that she was fasting to bring attention to the things happening in Darfur — not to somehow keep them from being less hungry, which isn’t the root problem at all in Darfur, anyway …
The people of Darfur have been enslaved and killed for years by some Sudanese. At its most basic level, it’s a genocide against the Christians in Darfur. It may be due to tribal differences, but most people with the knowledge of the culture in the Sudan, of which Darfur is a region, agree that the people are really of the same ethnicity, with the main difference between the different sides in the civil war being religious. The non-Christians (mainly Muslim) have been kidnapping, raping, and enslaving the Christians for years, yet hardly anyone had heard anything about it until just a few years ago. I had heard about it from Catholic missionaries and from a Nigerian priest I know — and it had been astonishing (and frightening) how much the world’s media has ignored the plight of those poor people.
Mia may have made a clumsy attempt at drawing attention, but at least she is actually doing SOMETHING, which is more than I can say for the self-important faux intellectuals (besides Ashley, I mean) that take up pet causes because they’re politically expedient.
Sorry to get on a soap box. I’ll step off now.
Benoit from Ottawa, i never said i know all.
)
my apologies for using the term, ‘nimrod’.
i should have used the term, ‘nitwit’.
Yes, Hatchetwoman, you’re right. She is trying to bring attention to the horrors of the region…but the quote she released calls her hunger strike “a personal expression of outrage at a world that is somehow able to stand by and watch innocent men, women and children needlessly die of starvation, thirst and disease.”
Rosie, you’re right — I didn’t read what she said beyond the “bring attention to” part, and I should have read more carefully.
yea HATCHETWOMAN!! i was dragging my soap box over…but then I saw you got it covered. thanks
im with you. at least shes using her name to draw attention to an otherwise over-looked situation. more people should be doing this….but I agree with mock…make a comericial or someting!