Word: thinks
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Dates: during 2010-2019
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When I got the column, I thought that I was going to be changing people's minds over breakfast. It didn't work out that way. If I write about a topic that's already on people's minds, those who start out agreeing with me think I'm brilliant and those who start out disagreeing with me think I just don't get it. The real power of the column is to make people spill their coffee, to put a new issue in front of them. I carry a huge spotlight and try to train it on a topic...
...general, one of the advantages I have going into a place like Congo or Sudan is that I'm treated as a Martian. People are willing to tell a Martian difficult things, especially embarrassing things like rape that they would not tell a local person. In that sense, I think it probably helps. I'm always amazed and pleasantly surprised by how forthcoming people...
...both. I want President Obama and Secretary Clinton to read it, but I also think that at the end of the day, leaders don't tend to truly lead on issues where our values are concerned; they respond to public pressure and public demand. If one could raise the salience of Congo, for example, on the national agenda, then that impels leaders to lead...
...think that happened with your writing about Darfur...
...would have loved it if there had been more of a reaction and more pressure put on Sudan. But I also think there are hundreds of thousands of people who are alive in Darfur who wouldn't be if it hadn't been for that public movement. It raised the costs to Sudan so that the Sudanese military or the Janjaweed couldn't attack some of the refugee camps. And it led the UN to feed some of these people and avert starvation. It didn't work nearly as well as it could have, but it was vastly better than...