End of an Era

This will be my last blog, as weird as that may sound. This blog has been a blessing and a curse over the year. Many times I reveled in putting my thoughts on events out there, and frankly other times I just wanted to be done with it all. But I made it through and I feel accomplished. I hope that the few people (less than ten for sure) that read this think I'm not too terrible a writer after all is said and done. I think I was able to improve myself over the year though, and I remember a few posts, such as my numerous Occupy posts, where my voice mixed in to create a balance between opinion and reporting that I really enjoyed. Being able to find articles and report on what happened is one this, but adding your opinion to the mix along with the non-bias of reporting and the opinions already out there is another thing entirely. Its a fascinating thing to do and Knowing that there's a chance that someone could read it is a sort of thrill. (Although no one ever did) Overall, despite it's tediousness at time, I enjoyed the blogs and hope I was able to grow as a writer because of them.

Break #10

Warning: Vulgar Language

Now that you've been warned, I'd like you to meet the typical video that I enjoy on YouTube. This ladies and gentlemen, is the summit of YouTube evolution, the apex of achievement. Not only does it have music, but that music is good. And not only does it have effects, but the effects are trippy. AND not only does it have a kick-ass guy, but that guy is a Tupac impersonator. Enough said people, I expect 50 viewings each by Monday.

Greece - Why they're such a wreck

Recently Greece has gotten itself into a bit of a pickle. With it's economic crisis not getting better, Greece is facing mounting pressure from the Eurozone, especially Germany, to take control of it's economy, as well as it's political environment. As these pressures mount from the outside, they also increase from the inside as well.
But there's much more to it. There is a big difference between how Greece is being discussed as compared to the other members of the EU. Of course some of it is due to Greece needing the biggest chunk, but the main reason is the causes for their issues.
Ireland had a housing bubble and an over-leveraged banking sector that blew up during the 2008 financial crisis. Before that, they had an exemplary budget policy, with low debt and surpluses, and their economy is strong and structurally healthy. They're in a temporary tight spot, but they do whatever they can to get out of it and it's really just a matter of time.
Portugal does have structural problems and some that resemble Greece's, but on a much smaller scale. They had overlooked the necessity to increase competitiveness when low wages and an educated work force alone didn't cut it anymore after the Eastern Expansion, and Poland, the Czech Republic and so on were eating their cake. They need to reform, but they're working on it and they'll get there eventually with a little help.
          Both needed some bailouts, they've got them; they're working on it, no problem. The notorious anti-EU crowd aside, no one is complaining about those bailouts, and there even is a relatively broad support for giving them a stimulus.
          Italy has had a high debt since forever. They were permitted into the Eurozone because of a clause that said entering with high debt levels was OK if a country was seen as working on reducing them, which they had been until they took a break from reforms after they had been let in, and, well, they were still on that break when the crisis hit.
          But they're working on it now and are going through structural reforms. They have a very strong industrial base in the North, and there's really no reason why their (Northern) economy wouldn't be just as strong as its Austrian neighbors. Give 'em a bit of time to enact reforms, and if markets stay calm they'll have some very impressive growth coming their way. If markets act up, however, there's a problem. Italy is the third largest economy in the Eurozone. There is very little room for error here.
          Spain had similar surpluses and low debt as Ireland, and a giant housing bubble as well. They were over-reliant on construction, which due to said housing bubble lead to wages increasing above of what their productivity would have normally permitted far too quickly, and they have nothing to replace it with.
          They've started out on very low debt levels, but their deficit is huge, their unemployment is scarily high and causes those deficits, and there are no credible plans that could fix it. Not because they don't try, they do, but because there simply doesn't seem to be an obvious solution.
They're the fourth largest economy in the Eurozone and sustaining them for the long term would be extremely expensive. That's a problem, a big one, but at least they're doing what they can and haven't needed any bailouts (yet).

          Now, Greece is a very special case. They combine an enormous debt and deficits with too low productivity. They do have qualified workers, but what little economy there is to work with is uncompetitive and tied up in red tape. They didn't have a housing bubble or a similar trigger, they got there over a long time in a slow motion train wreck, and it was allowed to escalate to this point because the fact that it was happening had been veiled by their corrupt bureaucracy -- which is seen as them having undermined the common currency. They lack the governance that is necessary to even begin to clean up this mess, and their electorate is about to vote a party into power that outright states that they don't have to because the Eurozone simply can't afford to let them descend into chaos. That there is some truth to that in case of a country that is responsible for a mere 2% of GDP is a big part of the problem.
            This all happened right after tax payers had to bail out banks that had made risky bets for high profits, and they don't distinguish between speculation and supposedly secure government bonds that hardly beat inflation -- Greek bonds yielded only very little more than German ones when banks bought them.
   Greeks see what they had to endure and compare their situation to how things were before the crisis. People in the core focus on what hasn't been done, and it's difficult to explain to them why they have to pay while some rich Greeks don't. In the case of Germany, that they had to go through unpopular reforms that Greeks reject fuels self-righteousness, and people pay way more attention to burning German flags and Nazi cartoons than to people cueing up in breadlines.

If you want to see more news about current Greek affairs, check out some of these links, there some interesting debate over some newly elected members of parliament which align themselves with a neo-Nazi party.

• http://rt.com/news/greece-new-government-fails-300/

• http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/05/201251513332434853.html

• http://ansamed.ansa.it/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2012/05/11/Greece-than-half-police-officers-voted-Neonazi-party_6854190.html

• http://www.theworld.org/2012/05/metal-bassist-elected-greek/

• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9265930/Merkel-tells-Greece-to-back-cuts-or-face-euro-exit.html

Extra Break

Since I've reached the word count already this week, here's an extra break just because.

Break # 9

Heres the video I found this week. It's pretty trippy, which reflects my interests I guess. I just sat at stared at this for the entire thing, spacing out and focusing back in. Its entrancing. Shawn Knol shot these shots a few years ago of bubbles. Yeah, thats pretty much all you need to know. Enjoy

A Message to the Occupy Protestors...

I recently stumbled upon this well written and intriguing letter to the Occupy Wall Street movement from a former Tea Party member. It sheds light on how portrayal can ruin a social movement and how the media and government can work in tandem in order to achieve the misrepresentation and eventual demise of a movement. Here is the letter verbatim:

"I don't expect you to believe me. I want you to read this, take it with a grain of salt, and do the research yourself. You may not believe me, but I want your movement to succeed. From a former tea partier to you, young new rebels, there's some advice to prevent what happened to our now broken movement from happening to you. I don't agree with everything your movement does, but I sympathize with your cause and agree on our common enemy. You guys are very intelligent and I trust that you will take this in the spirit it is intended.
I wish I could believe this Occupy Wall Street was still about (r)Evolution, but so far, all I am seeing is a painful rehash of how the corporate-funded government turned the pre-Presidential election tea party movement into the joke it is now. We were anarchists and ultra-libertarians, but above all we were peaceful. So, the media tried painting us as racists. But when that didn't work they tried to goad us into violence. When that failed, they killed our movement with money and false kindness from the theocratic arm of the Republican party. That killed our popular support.
I am sharing these observations, so you guys know what's going on and can prevent the media from succeeding in painting you as violent slacker hippies rebelling without a cause, or from having the movement be hijacked by a bunch of corporatists seeking to twist the movement's original intentions. If you think this can't happen, it happened to the Independence Party and the tea party movement. Don't let it happen to your movement as well.
Here's how they turned our movement into a bunch of pro-corporate Republican Party rebranding astroturf, and this is how I predict they are turning your movement into a bunch of pro-corporate Democratic party rebranding astroturf. I believe many of these things are already happening, so take note.
1- The media will initially and purposely avoid covering your dissenting movement to cause confusion about what your movement is about within mainstream audiences. It might feel like this is to enrage you and make you appear unreasonable. Perhaps you will feel even invisible.
2- While the obsfuscation is happening, stooges will infiltrate and give superficial support, focus and financial backing to the targetted movement. In the tea party movement's case, it was the religious Republicans and Koch Brothers. In this case, it's many unions that cozy up to the Democratic Party (the organizations as quasi-human entities, not the members themselves) and Ultra Rich liberals who pretend to care, but frankly do not serve liberators and freedom seekers but rather the interests of some union leaders and the Democratic Party. Democrat, Republican, these parties are all part of the same corporate ruling system. Case in point: [1] http://www.debates.org/
3-The media will cover the movement only after this infiltration succeeds. Once the infiltration is completed the MSM will manufacture public media antipathy towards the movement by using selective focus on the movement's most repulsive elements or infiltrators on the corporate Conservative media side, while the corporate Liberal media will create a more sympathetic tragic hero image -- this is the flip side of the tea party, but same media manipulation tactics. I go into greater detail on this tactic: [2] http://vaslittlecrow.com/blog/2011/09/08/how-the-media-and-ideological-groups-manipulate-your-beliefs/
4- Someone in the Democratic Party will feign sympathy for the movement and falsely "non-partisan" entities provide tons of funding and unwanted organization, just as was done with the tea party movement by Republicans. Once people assume that the pro-corporate government operatives are their friends, they will hijack the movement and the threat of your movement will be neutralized.
If this new Occupy Wall Street movement is to survive, here's what needs to be done.
1- Loudly denounce violence and disavow the violent rabblerousers of the movement. They do not help the cause.
2- Be image conscious. Present your best face and call out those who act like fools within the movement. People are more likely to pay attention to you in your Sunday dress and bringing homemade food, than when you are drinking a bottle of Snapple and chomping on Big Macs while you are looking like a slacker rich hipster/unwashed hippie stereotype.
3- Accept that you've already been infiltrated by the corporate-funded government, and work hard to say, and state what your movement is and is not about. "No, this isn't about unions or liberals, conservatives or bored spoiled brats. This is about 99% of our population being exploited and manipulated for the sake of profit." "No we will not resort to violence." "Yes, all we want is for for the end of government collusion with corporate entities that are illegitimately recognized as people." And, so forth...
4- Don't forget who you are as the illusions are thrown at you. Corporatists are masters of illusions. That's the most powerful weapon they have. That's how they sell products you don't need and convince you to justify accepting atrocities for the sake of products Don't fall for it. Otherwise, your cause will be lost. Be wary of large donations from special interest groups or non-profit corporations that were not involved this movement from the inception. Special interests groups are not your allies. Non-profit corporations are still corporations, and unfortunately, too many of them care more about donations than doing the right thing. Killing a movement with kindness is easy.
5- Remain independent and focused. If you can, pick a face to represent your movement. Rosa Parks wasn't just a random lady in a bus. [3] http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/systems/agentsheets/New-Vista/bus-boycott/ -- She was chosen. You too can use the power of illusion against those who oppose you.
6- On the web, you can prevent a lot of hijacking simply by checking the small print, or going to the about pages of a group or individual. Non-profits and political action groups are legally obligated to disclose a lot of things, and you need to be aware of this. If the information is nowhere to be found, do a whois page. Image searches can also be helpful. Examine who is posing with whom. Company owner? Where is that company located? Did they have a convention/charity event?
7- If you hear people who you know are part of the machine saying stuff like, "Progressives need to be more like the tea party," don't accept it on face value. Always follow the money, study past statements and groups they claim to be part of. If such people are suddenly telling you to emulate organizations that they once consistently denounced as evil or racist, without any rhyme or reason, they are lying to you.
I wish your movement better luck than we had with the tea party movement before it got hijacked by the theocrats and corporatists. We used to be non-partisan too. We were the older version of you. But, I believe that as the media apparatchik and infiltrators start to twist your cause, you will understand the frustration us early adopter tea partiers felt and that we were not your enemy after all. A fascist oligarchy on the verge of winning is our common enemy. This should be your focus. Don't be dazzled by the illusion as we were. For the sake of our future, know who you are.
Thank you for reading. I would love to read your ideas on the subject. Correct me where I am wrong. Explain what is going right. This is ultimately your fight."

Controversy over 9/11 Trials

9/11

The date forever burned into the American consciousness. The day the homeland was attacked by an outside threat. The day that changed America forever. After the attack America was insecure, worried, scared. Soon we gathered together and in our frightened state of mind we passed the Patriot Act, increasing military and government power, which in some peoples opinion, went beyond the bounds of a democratic society. Wiretapping was often used and was suspected of being used in secret and without warrants, which was now within the limits of law enforcement. Enhanced security was put into place in almost every important site in the US. Airports became high-security places, with the TSA assuming control of affairs. Things went into lockdown. And the American people believed it was for the best, for our safety. We went to war against an enemy that had no concrete form, an enemy across the sea and surrounded by sympathetic people. We were the invaders. After awhile our status as saviors wore off and we became plain invaders, enforcing our rules onto a population that held within it a small minority of enemy soldiers. We could not win this war. But we were in it for closure, to feel like we got back at them for what they did to us. And now, with the military tribunal finally convening on the 9/11 conspirators, we may have closure. Maybe.

Since the 5 conspirators have been detained in Guantanamo Bay, there has been frequent worries about the legality of their imprisonment and allegations of torture have been brought up, such 'enhanced interrogation' techniques including waterboarding, or a simulation of drowning. Our brutal treatment of these men has given us next to nothing except a guarantee of hatred among them and their peers. This was shown earlier when the military tribunal met this week. As the court started the men accused refused to recognize the authority of the court and their lawyers supported this accusation. The men disrupted the court frequently by bursting into prayer, stripping off their shirt to show scars allegedly inflicted by US soldiers, and verbal outburts.All this among worries that they will not recieve a fair trial. The men refused to answer any questions and their lawyers demanded to hear the qualifications of the prosecutors, demanded a reading of the 87-page charges list, and prolonged the hearing any way they could.

To anyone this would be frustrating, but in this case even more so. I personally worry that with these men's reputation and actions that many people with refuse to listen to reason with the trial and instead stick with their gut reaction. There is little doubt in my mind that these men are innocent, and there seems to be no remorse in them at all. However, it is not wise for people to stoop to a lower level by branding them in a certain way. By comparing their actions to their Muslim faith, their geopolitical region, or their cultures. If people view these men as representatives of their entire region and religion (which many people unfortunately do) then we as americans we create a stereotype of stereotyping Muslims and arabs as terrorists. However, I fear this has already happened. AS this trial continues, I wish to see the US strive to be above the antics of those accused, and continue to stand on the higher moral ground. Let us not sink to their level.




FACTS: Guantanamo military trial

• Five suspects in the 9/11 attacks are being tried by a military tribunal
• The five suspects are: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Waleed bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi
• Charges include 2,976 counts of murder, hijacking and conspiracy
• The prosecution is seeking the death penalty for all five men
• Defence lawyers criticised the process, saying the men were tortured while in US custody, and are questioning the legitimacy of the process

Libya In Turmoil

As Libya struggles to become the independent democratic state it so much wished to become when it revolted against Muammar Gaddafi last year, numerous issues are being brought up, with recent incidents highlighting them. It seems becoming a free and fair country is harder harder than it seems. Recently, former fighters that helped liberate Libya attacked a Libyan government building trying to get the money that they were promised from the interim government for helping oust Gaddafi and his followers. The attack left a guard dead and several injured, and shows the deeply rooted chaos that is prevalent in Libya right now. With so many people wanting to achieve their own personal goals in their newly freed country, issues and conflict are popping up left and right.

Libya's untamed militias protect the shaky state but terrorise those seen as enemies [GALLO/GETTY]

Corruption seems to be widespread as newly assumed government funds are disappearing as it is being decided what to do with it. It is also important to note that while the interim government is trying to determine what to do in basically every area, local militias are tasked with keeping order. And like they were during the revolution, they often take justice into their own hands in cases where they think there are enemies about. Enemies could include black Africans, who were often seen as mercenaries during the revolution and now distrusted through out the country.

Five months after the fall of Tripoli, the Libyan capital, the security situation is getting worse, not better. Militias operating outside the control of the interim government - the National Transitional Council (NTC) - remain heavily armed and they continue to detain, and sometimes even torture, hundreds of prisoners suspected of being loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the former Libyan leader. Revolutionary forces were involved in recent fatal clashes in Tripoli, Bani Walid and Gharyan - in the west, and Benghazi in the east. Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the international medical humanitarian organisation, has decided to suspend its operations in detention centres in Misrata after confirming that detainees are being tortured and denied urgent medical care. The UN says Libyan militias are holding thousands of people in secret detention centres, while the interim government struggles to assert its authority. It seems that the struggle for democracy is much harder than many Libyans have anticipated, but one that others have.

Break # 8

This weeks break is brought to you from my good ol' friend Reddit. This week I stumbled over this incredibly well put together stop-motion animation set to Delta Heavy's tune, Get By. As with most dubstep it starts off all nice and pretty, and you wonder to yourself what direction it might head in. Then all of the sudden your choices are thrown out the window into the path of a lawnmower as the bass drops and sets in. Same thing with this video basically. Wait until the end and you'll get a pleasant "Ooooh" moment.

A Blind Activist? Yes Indeed

Recently there has been some attention directed towards China, after a blind activist named Chan Guangcheng escaped from his home while under house arrest to expose his abuse under the guards. What makes this feat even more amazing despite the fact that he is blind and that this is China that we're talking about, is that he had to get past 90 guards in order to do so. Jailed for four years for posting information on corruption and manipulation in his community, Chen was under house arrest as parole. Having been thwarted before in attempted to escape and weary from continuous beating from his captors, Chen finally scaled a wall surrounding his compound and sprinted to safety with the help of fellow activists who had kept in communication with Chen. It has also been reported that three of the dissidents that aided Chen in his escape have now disappeared, likely abducted by police. With Chen now rumored to be at the US embassy in Beijing, China has a mess on its hands. With annual talked between the US and China coming up, strain has been put on US-Chinese relations, adding to the humiliation China suffered from the case of Bo Xilai, the center of a cascading scandal that cost him his seat in the Politburo and exposed a level of mistrust among top officials in the one-party state.Will this lead to serious talks over China's reputation of corruption, manipulation, cover-ups and silencing of dissidents? The US will have to take a stance now, and whether that stance be one of accusation, support, or neutrality has yet to be seen.

Essay Part 4

Part 4:

Today companies hold more power with the Internet than they ever have before. They have the power to decide what to do with privacy and whether or not to comply with governments when it comes to regulation of the Internet. The Internet ushered in a new era of free speech, information, and privacy, but it has also helped the opposite side of the spectrum by allowing governments to censor information flowing through it as well as by keeping tabs on their citizens. While this comes in varying levels of intensities, it is seen in all governments, be they democratic or not. Companies also play an integral part in the control of the Internet, as they have power over their users and consumers, being able to decide what to enforce and how to take sides on issues. Recently, with the heated debate over rights involving the Internet, free speech, and privacy, more and more companies recognize the need for a free, neutral Internet, or net neutrality as some put it. Rebecca Mackinnon offers solutions to many of these problems by proposing regulation of the Internet by governments and companies’ hand-in-hand, in order to establish fair systems and ensure rights are being protected. Without this crucial cooperation, companies won’t be able to be held accountable by the networked through the government and the government won’t be able to enforce any legislation without the support of companies. Whether or not this will happen is another issue. Time will tell whether or not control of the Internet will be decided by the consent of the networked.

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave feedback and comments! 

Essay Part 3

 Part 3:

As you can see here, Yahoo! was prodded by Chinese officials to hand over the information regarding the owner of the email address in question. In this case they did, breaking the trust they had with Shi Tao and basically handing him over to receive a prison sentence. There are deeper problems with this though. First off, we need to start with how companies operate in China. Basically, in order to operate a business on the Internet in China, you have to first get a license. This license binds you to Chinese law regarding the Internet, which means you have to comply with censorship laws. This leads to companies enforcing Chinese censorship laws and requests from the government to hand over information, or else risk the revocation of their business license. If this seems corrupt, it’s because it is. Both sides can be said to partake in the corrupt nature of this deal, as the companies know what they are getting into. This leads us to our second problem, the problem with companies themselves. Since there is little legislation that dictates consumer-corporate interaction on the Internet, companies are often left to make their own policies regarding these types of situations. In these cases their rules stay inflexible, which can lead to what some call human rights breaches. By revealing Shi Tao’s identity, Yahoo! breached his right of privacy and free speech.  Despite the fact that it was acceptable within its own code of conduct and China’s laws, it was in violation of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, specifically articles 17 and 19. In this case Yahoo! acted according to it Chinese law in order to keep its license, however many call Yahoo! out for not taking into consideration the human rights aspect.

Corporations always have their own set of rules, a code for them to follow in order to do efficient business and keep things running smoothly. Such is the case with Facebook and other sites. With Facebook, creating an account under a fake name is against their policy. This policy makes sense in order to uphold an enjoyable atmosphere and create a stable business enterprise. No one wants to go onto Facebook and see twelve different accounts saying they are the same person. However, Facebook doesn’t take into account different situations where revealing ones identity may be the difference between life and death. Take for example the revolutionaries in Egypt. Many banded together on Facebook via pseudonyms, in order to protect themselves from Mubarak’s regime and the consequences they would face if caught. However, since most of their pages on Facebook are created by someone with a pseudonym character, Facebook removed them. This created uproar in the activist community, as many felt vulnerable and deceived. There are other instances where people have been inadvertently affected by new privacy settings that come with a new release of a product as well. When Google Plus changed its policy regarding privacy, it made it so people could see other peoples contacts, information, real names, everything. It was either this way or leave. This took many activists by surprise and they had to scramble to leave before their identities were revealed and they themselves prosecuted by their government.

Essay Part 2

Part 2:

Censorship of the Internet has become an increasingly troublesome problem, with regimes in Syria, Libya, Egypt and China all exacting control over their citizens on the web. Recent examples of attempted censorship and control in more democratic countries include PIPA and SOPA of the US.  These acts would allow for the removal of websites via request and for the censorship of information by websites in order to maintain legality. International effort from the European Union as well as western countries such as the US to ratify ACTA also posed a serious threat to internet freedom (ACTA being a stronger version of SOPA/PIPA). These bills were criticized by human rights organization for not having safeguards in place to prevent abuse of power in taking down copyright infringing cases. Due to the language of the SOPA bill, many feared that it would allow free speech to be censored and lead to overzealous regulation of the Internet. Also brought up was the fact that the main supporters were large corporations which would propose such a bill to increase their own profits at the expense of what many people consider basic rights. Corporations such as Coca-Cola, Visa, Viacom, Capitol Records Nashville, Time Warner, and the MPAA were/are all supporters of the bill, along with dozens more. (House Judiciary Committee, 2011), A key example of this being the idea of innocent until proven guilty, which would be overlooked in these bills as requests of site takedowns would be honored first and it would be up to the site to provide evidence, not the requester. The MPAA and other Hollywood entertainment companies such as Time Warner lobbied for the passing of the bills and spent millions in pushing them through congress. This type of corporate interference is unfortunately all too common in the digital age, as corporations try to maximize profit by cutting theirs losses—often from the Internet.

Besides trying to censor the Internet through legislation, corporations also infringe on our perceived moral rights through their own ways as well. There are many incidents where corporations such as Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and other social media companies endanger the rights and sometimes lives of people in restrictive countries. For example, MacKinnon details the case of Shi Tao, a reporter who is now serving a 10-year prison sentence for sending an email containing military procedures. However, the charges of “divulging state secrets abroad” were not reasonable, as the military procedures and policies were available on the state military’s website and Shi Tao received them from a non-secretive presentation. However, this did not stop the Chinese government from silencing his less-than-praising voice on the issues. But the rights violations on behalf of the Chinese government are not the only ones here. According to Human Rights Watch, an international NGO focused on the research on and advocacy for human rights,

In its case against Shi Tao, the prosecution charged that he improperly took notes on the memorandum as it was being discussed at an editorial meeting at the newspaper and then hours later sent an outline of its contents by email to be published in an overseas web forum under a pseudonym. Evidence presented during the trial included account verification information provided by Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd., which linked the IP address used to send the email from Shi Tao's personal Yahoo! email account to a computer located in the Contemporary Business News office.

(Human Rights Watch, August 2006)

Essay Part 1

Lately in AP Lang we've had to write an essay on a book while both reviewing it as well as an overall topic it covers. For mine I've read Rebecca MacKinnon's Consent of the Networked which touches on the impact of the Internet as well as privacy concerns and regulatory concerns and their implications. Thanks for reading and feel free to leave feedback and comments! Here's the first part:

Control of the Internet in the Modern Age

Parker Bennett

Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom

By Rebecca MacKinnon

Basic Books, 320 pp., $26.99

January 25, 2011: Hossam el-Hamalawy joins thousands of others to take to the streets in Egypt as their “Day of Rage” begins. Organizing protests through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, activists are able to put together highly visible and effective demonstrations that elicit a response from the police. Soon protests are happening nation-wide as Egypt experiences a modern revolution, attracting international attention. On the third day of protests, Internet and phone services are cut off in the Cairo area, severely disrupting communication between activists. This is only part of the Egyptian government’s control over the citizens. Late Friday night, Hossam el-Hamalawy along with numerous other protestors storm the offices of the SSI in Nasr City. He visits the cell where he had been imprisoned for anti-government sentiments and beaten, later writing on his Twitter feed that he could not stop crying. Also discovered in the compound are thousands of documents and files on citizens, with text message transcripts, Internet postings, photos, dossiers, and other privacy-infringing records of Egyptian citizens. As the regime built around Hosni Mubarak (the dictatorial president of Egypt at the time) crumbles in the following weeks, more and more evidence comes to light of the extent of which the Egyptian government kept surveillance on its citizens, as well as the extent of how far it went to control their access to freedom: The Internet.

The Internet has become the most important innovation of the modern age, connecting billions of users across the world, encouraging cooperation between people on a global scale and allowing for the sharing of ideas, photos, information, videos, and more. Even though it can create an open and free society, it can also help those who wish to force control on people, or monitor them. This dual use of the Internet is discussed in length in Rebecca MacKinnon’s book, The Consent of the Networked. As well as discussing the role of the Internet in repressive governments and its role in fighting for freedom, MacKinnon focuses on threats to the Internet, which include authoritarian regimes, but also corporations and legislature which can interfere with free speech and privacy rights.  These areas of focus are the key points Mackinnon uses in her book to prove her point that action needs to be taken in regards to the Internet and freedom of speech/privacy concerns. As she says in the beginning of the book,

It is time to stop debating whether the Internet is an effective tool for political expression, and to move on to the much more urgent question of how digital technology can be structured, governed, and used to maximize the good it can do in the world, and minimize the evil….

The reality is that the corporations and governments that build, operate, and govern cyberspace are not being held sufficiently accountable for their exercise of power over the lives and identities of people who use digital networks. They are sovereigns operating without the consent of the networked. (MacKinnon, pp. 34 )

Break #7

I figure its about time to start advertising my favorite artists. Specifically, those who are still up-and-coming. Someone like Madeon. A 17-year-old from Nantes, France, Madeon has broken into the electropop/house scene with his excellent remixes. Starting out with his remix of The Island by Pendalum, he quickly rose to internet fame through his other remixes of Deadmau5's Raise Your Weapon and Pop Culture, a mashup of 39 different songs. Pop Culture definitely went viral immediately after posting, racking up more than 6 million hits in a few days. Now at over 10 million, Pop Culture is definitely one of his coolest songs to date. Having played on BBC Radio 1 and now about to perform live at Coachella, Lollapalooza, and the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Madeon has begun his live performance debut. Keep an eye on him, because he just might be going somewhere.

Also, Nathan Barnatt, one of my favorite YouTube celebrities, has done a couple of dance videos to his songs. Check them out!

CISPA- Yet another Kill-Bill

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act now has more than 105 co-sponsors, and some fear the bill could go further than SOPA and PIPA in threatening online privacy. SOPA and PIPA were finally discarded earlier this year after resounding online protest changed the debate, but the same doesn’t yet appear to be the case with CISPA.
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, H.R. 3523 “would let companies spy on users and share private information with the federal government and other companies with near-total immunity from civil and criminal liability. It effectively creates a ‘cybersecurity’ exemption to all existing laws.”
The bill could sneak through Congress quickly once it’s back in session, so be sure to track its progress.
 Once again the Internet is just another frontier that governments and corporations --  sometimes both intermingled in a corrupt haze-- just can't ignore. They have to control this thing thet keeps biting their hand. So of course they put out these stupid, irresponsible, ignorant bills to try to do exactly that: control something that threatens them.

So in order to stall CISPA we can start by contacting our reps in congress.

• EFF Action: Don’t Let Congress Use "Cybersecurity" Fears to Erode Digital Rights

As always its best to contact them by phone, you can find your rep details here:

• http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

Other coverage:

• Forget SOPA, You Should Be Worried About This Cybersecurity Bill
• Draconian ‘Privacy Invasion Bill’ Continues to Gain Support
• Even worse than SOPA: New CISPA cybersecurity bill will censor the Web
• SOPA changes name to CISPA

---

Also, help reviewing the text of bill itself would be good.

Break #6

Yet again the lovely break post comes around. This time our break video highlights a unique KFC in Egypt, which is run entirely by deaf employees. They communicate to each other via sign language and customers point to what they want on a menu on the counter. I personally think this is an incredible achievement, especially in providing equal opportunity employment for those with disabilities. But I also think its really rad at the same time. One must wonder though, how does the drive thru work?

The Wheels of Justice

Recently, some peace has been had by the Family of Trayvon Martin as state prosecutors have announced they will be charging George Zimmerman with second-degree murder, the highest offense that could be charged. This comes after the ill-received announcement that no grand jury was to be used in deciding whether or not to charge Zimmerman with anything. Now that those fears have been put to rest, the Martin family can breath a short sigh of relief. Recently arrested and being held at the Seminole County jail, he is currently waiting for court proceeding and bail to begin. The Miami Herald has a good step by step of what happens next legally:

"• George Zimmerman faces a charge of second-degree murder with a firearm, a first-degree felony punishable by a minimum of 25 years in prison and up to life behind bars. The charge is a non-bondable offense, which means Zimmerman does not have the immediate right to post bail.
•  He will be booked into a Seminole County jail and should appear Thursday in court for a first hearing and arraignment.
•  Zimmerman will certainly plead not guilty and his defense attorney has said he will ask that his client be allowed to post bond and be released from custody.
•  Within 15 days, prosecutors must start providing Zimmerman’s defense attorney with “discovery,” the first witness statements, police reports and photos that will be used as evidence against him. Most of the evidence will be released to the public and media, although the substance of any of his confessions can be withheld before trial.
•  Once all the evidence has been provided to Zimmerman’s defense team, his lawyer can file a motion for immunity under Florida’s Stand Your Ground self-defense law. A judge must hold an evidentiary hearing and decide by a “preponderance of the evidence” whether Zimmerman was acting in self-defense.
•  If a judge denies his motion for immunity, a date will be set for a trial in front of a jury. Zimmerman’s defense attorney could also ask for a “change of venue,” meaning he could be tried in a different county in Florida if a judge deems pretrial publicity has been so overwhelming that it is impossible for the defendant to get a fair trial."

The trial of George Zimmerman will no doubt be one of high profile, as people across the country have voiced their support for the Martin family and against Zimmerman through protests, walk-outs, and marches. Much like in the Casey Anthony case a while back, it seems that in this case George Zimmerman has already been tried by the media. The majority opinion on the case is that this is a travesty of justice and that he's obviously guilty. Not that I'm saying he is innocent, the evidence does seem to indicate he acted with menace, but I'm saying that America as a whole needs to recognize that there's already been too much of a decision on the case already and that we need to wait for the courts of law to figure it out. 

" George Zimmerman, accused of murdering unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, was once an anonymous loan officer in a Florida suburb. He is now a reviled symbol of racial profiling, vigilante justice and everything broken about race relations in America.

Whether or not Zimmerman deserves that onus, a pending trial may be a vehicle for the nation to sort publicly through some of these issues. But on a personal level, Zimmerman has been the focus of so much media coverage and extraordinary public vitriol that legal experts say an impartial jury may be difficult to find to weigh his claim of self-defense for the shooting.
"We have to worry about his ability to get a fair trial," said Gabriel J. Chin, a law professor at the University of California, Davis. "There is a risk that he's convicted based on media impressions and popular sentiments rather than evidence."

Zimmerman can seek a bail hearing under Florida law, but his notoriety has diminished his chances for release, at least in the immediate future. On Thursday, Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman's defense attorney, said he would wait at least a few weeks before seeking bail, in an attempt to "calm this case down."
Zimmerman's arrest and incarceration on Wednesday marked the beginning of a new chapter in a case that has raised questions about much more than the murky circumstances around the killing of an unarmed teenager. For many, the case has come to represent all of the injustices faced not just by blacks in Sanford but by minority communities across the country, where issues of racial profiling, 'stop and frisk' searches and police brutality remain hot button issues.

Without mass rallies and media attention, the shooting would have very likely gone unremarked on the local crime blotter. Instead, Martin's case has become a cause, a national phenomenon with competing interests often drawn along racial lines. Meanwhile, the case could prove pivotal in the fight to repeal Florida's controversial Stand Your Ground laws.
In the process, Zimmerman's life has been threatened, and lawyers and national media have dragged the skeletons of Zimmerman's violent past out into the light. Posters made from a 2005 mugshot of Zimmerman -- looking chubby and bleary-eyed in a jail-issued orange jumpsuit -- have been hoisted at rallies and protests.

Everyone from the president of the United States to former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson have weighed in on the case, with Tyson saying of Zimmerman in an interview Thursday with Yahoo Sports that "it's a disgrace that man hasn't been shot yet." "

With the notoriety that has come from press coverage, there is no doubt in my mind that at the very least he will be convicted of some crime, and when he is the whole nation will know about it. 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/11/2743345/after-zimmermans-arrest-what-happens.html#moreb#storylink=cpy

Invisible Children: The Musical!

 Today is truly an odd day to say the least. For it has come to my attention that the infamous in some circles, famous in others charity group known as Invisible Children has a musical section of it's awareness campaign. And oh boy does it rock! (Are you detecting a hint of sarcasm there? You should be) In fact, they go beyond just music, they dive headfirst into the realm of musicals! And boy what great musicals they are! For example: this excellent example of charity money at work. You can really tell how much effort they put into it through the choreography, special effects (lasers!), suspension wires, costumes, dancers, singing, music, everything! When I saw the shirt with the poor little African kid on it, I just wanted to get up and go! To my bathroom. To vomit. Because this video is a disgrace to humanity. Dear god, this video sucked 7 minutes of my soul and they sent it flying into the void, never to be seen again. It's that bad. The mom, the jazzercise class, the kids, the acting, the singing, the Michael Jackson high-pitched screaming ripoff. Its all there. And it all sucks. Bad. This is what their money was going to back in 2006. Not feeding the little kid on the shirt, but paying to go out to Africa, paying to take a picture of a sad little African boy, paying to fly back to the US, paying to make a shirt with said photo, and paying for the musical that has the shirt in it. What a charity, ladies and gentlemen. I must say, that's exactly what I want when I donate my money to help African kids, crappy Glee-ripoffs.

 I think Charlie Brooker had a pretty good monologue on all this nonsense and whatnot, so I'll show that to you here:



Yes, those videos he references are real. And yes, they are as idiotic, mind numbing, and creepy as they seem. I think charities have just become one of those creepy things in life for me now, like morose old people and balloons floating by in the breeze. Oddly creepy and in no way should they ever be touched. And Invisible Children definitely falls under that category, as its misleading, simplistic messages lead young, idealistic minds astray from actual work being done in Africa. It has been said by Julie Owono that:

"The strength of these types of campaigns is that one can spread messages to millions of viewers at the speed of light. But its great weakness is that their messages tend to be reductive.
The Invisible Children campaign has fallen into this trap. The viral campaign portrays Ugandans - often referred to merely as "Africans" - needing to be saved by young Americans, whose overflowing humanity will carry the burden of a history they are not responsible for. It's understandable. Indeed, it seems easier to picture needy "Africans" than proactive ones - and surely sells more.
But times have changed, and this type of simplified and misleading message will now more than ever face the reactions of young and connected Ugandans, Kenyans, Congolese, Cameroonians, Ivorians, et cetera, who also see the Internet as a tool to spread their story. The Invisible Children team probably did not think that it would get such responses to a video that, while well-intentioned, had a stench of old-school paternalism."

Many bloggers, journalists, speakers, etc have come out against this campaign and how its sketchy in finance and purpose. In fact, despite the opinion pieces, the Prime Minister of Uganda has even come out to express his distaste with the campaign itself, although he does like the attention it's bringing to the plight of his people. He states "I extend the invitation not just to the 20 celebrities, but to you all - come and see Uganda for yourself - you will find a very different place to that portrayed by Invisible Children." Whoa. Are you saying that even Uganda doesn't agree with Invisible Children and their message in KONY2012? Who would've thought that? Oh, I don't know, anyone who looked into this thoroughly.

And then there's the whole naked breakdown debacle. Whats up with that? He breaks down because of all the attention hes getting. Both good and bad mind you,I particularly enjoyed an analysis I found on it, which related it to a breaking of his superman complex. But update on that, his wife reports that the doctors say he has had a brief reactive psychosis, which may take months to recover from properly. It's basically a mental breakdown from all the stress. His wife has also announced that they will be focusing on recovering, and to keep the focus on the cause and not on Russel himself. We'll see how that turns out though...

 

Trayvon Martin: A Martyr

As with most things I blog about, you have probably heard about it by now. But no worries, this is something that should stay at the forefront of your mind, and it deserves to stay there. Recently, on Feb. 26th, a young man was shot and killed in a gated Florida community as he walked home after buying snacks from a local convenience store. He was walking home, talking to his girlfriend on the phone when George Zimmerman, a local neighborhood watch member, starts tailing him. Zimmerman goes on to call 911 and report Martin as being a "suspicious person" and tells the 911 operator that, "This guy looks like he's up to no good, or he's on drugs or something, he's just staring, looking at all the houses. Now he's coming toward me. He's got his hand in his waistband. Something's wrong with him." Turns out that nothing was wrong with Trayvon that night. The hand in his waistband? He was holding the bag of Skittles and iced tea he just purchased in place. Why would he look suspicious then? Was it the hoodie he had up to block the light drizzle that night? Or was it the fact that he was a black teen out alone at night? That has become the hot question of the last few weeks as thousands across the US question what really happened that night and rallying for justice against Trayvon's killer. Demonstrations have quickly spread across the US, reflecting the nations outrage over what seems like such a blatant abuse of justice. Calls for the Police Chief to resign have been echoed loud and clear and millions have taken to the streets, Facebook, and twitter to express their utter outrage and shock at the events taking place. The issue has spread from being an internet phenomenon to a mass media phenomenon, with senators now taking part in protests, as well as celebrities, athletes, and other top officials. Hopefully justice will be serves, as the FBI has launched an investigation into the happenings that night as well as the state and local police. However, justice may be long in coming.

Break #5

Sit right there and take a break as you listen to the soothing melodies of a harmonica in Carnegie Hall. Yes, you heard me right, a harmonica. Just listen for a few minutes and tell me you're not impressed. Don't worry, I can take it.

Quick Post

I've been a little busy to root out any awesome break videos or more in depth stories, but I did recently read this article about one man's experiences trying to escape a North Korean prison camp. A very... I don't even know how to describe it, but it's definitely worth reading.

Mental Breakdown???

So Kony 2012 has stirred up a bit of a controversy recently, with the backlash from intellectuals, academics, Ugandans, and others being aimed at the organization Invisible Children, its founders, and it's supporters. Apparently that may have become too much for Jason Russell, founder of Invisible Children. On Thursday he snapped, walking around naked in traffic and generally acting not right in the head. Initially thought to have been arrested fro public masturbation and indecency charges, it has now come to light that he was placed into medical care in order to determine whether he was a threat to society or not. Its also suspected that he may have been under the influence of something, although that was disputed in Invisible Children's official response:

"Jason Russell was unfortunately hospitalized yesterday suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition. He is now receiving medical care and is focused on getting better. The past two weeks have taken a severe emotional toll on all of us, Jason especially, and that toll manifested itself in an unfortunate incident yesterday. Jason’s passion and his work have done so much to help so many, and we are devastated to see him dealing with this personal health issue. We will always love and support Jason, and we ask that you give his entire family privacy during this difficult time."

Gather what you can from the video below and reflect on what this means...

 




Crazy stuff right? He obviously doesn't seem well, which is worrying to say the least. I feel bad for him, as I'm sure all this stress has gotten to him and it's never good seeing someone like this and this vulnerable. However, as pointed our by a commenter on the Daily What's post, he may have snapped due to a type of "superman complex".

"Did he not think that putting a video out there with the INTENTION of it going viral would maybe get some critics out of the millions that they hoped would watch it? Anyway, I find most of the criticisms of the video (white-man-burden, missionary, America-centric, overly simplified and emotionally manipulative) extremely valid.
He's clearly got some sort of Superman Complex; him realizing that he's fallible after ten years of, justifiably, having the moral high ground among people and to suddenly be inundated with accurate criticisms would make such a person have a mental breakdown.
Oh, and the fact that he'd quite clearly in the closet. Psychological problems abound

-Esther Hamilton

 Whatever it may have been, I hope he gets whatever treatment he may require and gets better. He obviously needs to do some sorting out in his personal life, as it looks like he let out some repressed emotions or something. Believe me, I'm no expert. However, it will be interesting to see how this affects the organization. Should this affect it? What do you think?

White Man's Burden Indeed

With  all the recent hubbub around Kony 2012 and the like there's been a truly amazing display of networking and human interaction surrounding it. As of right now the video has amassed 82,515,732 views. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the meaning of the word 'viral'. Having been spread around the world in such a short time, the Ugandan people have been the center of attention for millions of people now. But they are a bit overwhelmed by this recent attention given to their plight. While some of the more technological and politically inclined Ugandans knew about the Kony 2012 campaign when it first came out, most Ugandans had no idea what it was besides knowing it was a video that was raising awareness of their situation. And that overjoyed them. Just picture living through war, famine, the constant threat of gunmen kidnapping you, disease, all these unchecked horrors. And then a video rapidly circulates around the world and now people are lining up to help you and your country. It has to be a thrilling feeling, a feeling of maybe getting somewhere, getting closer to a better future, a better tomorrow. 

So they thought this Kony campaign was aiming for that, to help them get back on their feet and highlight their suffering. Yet very little of Ugandans have seen the video in question, leading to a recent drive by Victor Ochen, a victim of the Lord’s Resistance Army and a founder of the nonprofit African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET),to show them what it was all about. He and his team set up makeshift outdoor theaters so that local communities could witness the video that has sparked so much conversation on the subject of Kony and the LRA. Reports from the AYINET say that over 35,000 showed up to the northern Ugandan town of Lira to witness the screenings, and even more listened as it was broadcast over local FM stations.

Al Jazeera reporter Malcolm Webb, who was on hand to gauge people’s reactions, filed the following account:

"People I spoke to anticipated seeing a video that showed the world the terrible atrocities that they had suffered during the conflict, and the ongoing struggles they still face trying to rebuild their lives after two lost decades.
The audience was at first puzzled to see the narrative lead by an American man – Jason Russell – and his young son.
Towards the end of the film, the mood turned more to anger at what many people saw as a foreign, inaccurate account that belittled and commercialized their suffering, as the film promotes Kony bracelets and other fundraising merchandise, with the aim of making Kony infamous."

As you can see, reactions to the video were a mix between confusion and anger as they saw a white man and his son talk about an issue that happened over 5 years ago, and then trivialize it through what they saw as a cheap marketing campaign aiming to smear the facts in order to get a better profit. Imagine that, the people it claims to support and help find it insulting and belittling? What a surprise, never would have seen that coming with the whole 'White Man's Burden' and everything going on there. The fact that they started to throw rocks at the screening just goes to show how insensitive and hurtful they found it. Salt on a fresh wound, insult to injury, however you like to put it, that's what it is. In fact, a woman Webb spoke to later compared IC’s approach of selling products with Kony’s image to “selling Osama Bin Laden paraphernalia post 9/11,” which she felt would be offensive to many Americans, irrespective of how “well-intentioned” the fundraising campaign was. How true is that! The portrayal of this campaign as almost like a political campaign is stretching the limits of political correctness and shows a lack of compassion when dealing with these people and the trauma they have gone through. I think the woman hit it spot on, if this was Osama bin Laden stuff post-9/11, people would riot in the streets, and the organization would be forcibly removed from the country. I mean, why would you portray it in that way? I don't get why you have to make it cooler to get more people to buy the stuff. It comes down to a point where the more people you get on your campaign, the less of a charity it is and instead becomes another fad for these people. As the ease of assimilation into a movement increases, the meaningfulness of the movement decreases. And the meaningfulness of the Kony 2012 movement was set low for a reason: To get a larger audience and support network, plain and simple. This isn't for Ugandans, this is for success.

KONY 2012- The White Man's War

KONY 2012 poster featuring Joseph Kony, Osama bin-Laden and Adolf Hitler.


If you've been on the internet at all in the past couple of days, you may have seen this poster. It's the KONY 2012 poster, recently made popular by the group Invisible Children's recent documentary that has gone viral on the internet since it's posting on Monday. Here's the video in question, a whopping 30 minutes long and chock full of... well, "information". Take a half an hour to sit down and watch this video, everyone else has and it's vital that you become informed on this subject. Because it's vital to be informed before making decisions.

Watched it? Good. Now let’s see. First reaction? Good, bad? You're probably thinking something along the lines of "This Kony guy sounds like a real d*ck." or "Yeah! People are doing something to stop this guy!" But maybe you're also thinking some other thoughts. Some not-so-positive ones. For instance, there’s been a large faction of people that have been disillusioned by this video. Why, you may ask? They find the message, the goal, and the ways the group goes about things wrong, or even sickening. That’s right, sickening. Strong word there.

You see, while this viral fad has hit people's twitter, Facebook, and RSS feeds like some sort of H1N1/AIDS epidemic, people have looked into the reasons behind its popularity, as well as the campaign itself. And they've found some disappointing things. This is The Daily What, a favorite blog of mine. As you read through the post, you can tell that people have been harassing him with messages about this campaign. But things take a surprising turn when he seems to set the record straight.

Here is what I'm going to do. I'm going to list the main concerns people have with KONY 2012 and Invisible Children. Ready? Let’s go.

1. The charity Invisible Children is under scrutiny for it's less-than-transparent financial records. (Including iffy third-party verification of their audit)

2. Only 31% of their profits actually go to programs that directly help Ugandans in Africa. The rest of the 80-some percent they say they use towards helping actually goes to their "advocacy" and "awareness" campaigns. This includes traveling expenses, salaries, lobbying, and film production.

3. Their support of the Ugandan Army, which has been accused of atrocities ranging from drug trafficking and prostitution rings to employing child soldiers. Yes, let’s pin child soldier army #1 against child soldier regime #2.

4 .Killing Kony won't do much to stop what’s going on in the region. In fact, it might make it worse since it will leave a power vacuum just waiting to be filled by many others. The region is not stable and is populated by many shady governments and regimes. Killing one guy won't help that.

5. Kony isn't in Uganda. He hasn't been since 2006, maybe even earlier. People in Uganda are rebuilding and moving on. In fact Kony is suspected to be somewhere deep in the Congolese jungle with less than 300 forces left. Not the 30,000 that the video seemed to imply. (That’s the total over the past 30 years, not the present number)

6. This campaign supports a type of activism I like to call "armchair activism". Also coined as slackivism and clickivism, this give people a way to feel good about themselves through a charity without actually doing anything at all. Sharing a link or liking a status does nothing people. If it did, breast cancer would be a thing of the past by now.

7. This campaign also promoted the "White-Savior" Complex. That being the idea that the white man, or America, is required to step in to help those who can't do it on their own. I.E., Africa and Africans. While this is more of an underlying issue, it is also a prominent one and raises more questions about what a good charity actually is. And plus this complex is built on racism. Yeah, that too.

8. The Kony 2012 campaign is often misleading and stretches the truth to send the message they want. They also dress up the presentation in order to get a better response, regardless of the actual facts.

The Most Important Reason:

Ugandans don't want this type of support and they don't like it. In fact, they think it's misleading, which can definitely be said about the campaign. They would much rather see us giving them financial and educational aid so they themselves can rebuild rather than us coming in guns a-blazing to kill a guy that’s not there.

Ugandans are also angry because this campaign has taken focus away from their own charity agencys. There are charities and organizations ACTUALLY RUN BY UGANDANS that aim to help Uganda through aid and economic reconstruction, not military intervention. And the fact that Kony 2012 is so popular angers some of them. Says TMS Ruge, co-founder of Project Diaspora: “It is a slap in the face to so many of us who want to rise from the ashes of our tumultuous past and the noose of benevolent, paternalistic, aid-driven development memes.” This view is echoed by many in Uganda and is being ignored by those who have blindly clutched to this movement. It's stuff like this that makes third world countries hate 1st world countries. We always act all high and mighty and try to fix things according to our viewpoints or what we are led to believe, but the fact remains that we may be wrong. Or even if we are right, does that give us the right to go in and fix everything? If people don't want our help we should respect that. There are obviously exceptions to that rule but in this case I think it can apply. Not to say we shouldn't be involved, I'm just saying that if they don't want our help with what we're offering as help, we should listen to what they want. And what they want isn't what KONY 2012 and Invisible Children is offering.