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.

Documentaries: My Weakness

So today last night as I was doing nothing at all and being rather unproductive, I decided that it would be cool to do my AP US vocab. In doing this I got to the Democratic convention in Chicago, 1968. This led to me watching some footage of the riots that took place and the severe brutality of the police. And for whatever reason I stumbled upon some videos about the 1992 LA riots in the related videos section. I became quickly intrigued as I went from video to video, watching the events I had heard about in passing a couple times before. Soon I fell upon a documentary by CNN where they went through the Rodney King trials and beating, and revisited him and how hes doing now. I would definitely suggest watching this to get a chance to see the causes behind the riots and then to look for yourself at the hours of footage on YouTube about all the looting and violence. Definitely a shocking glimpse into human psyche.

On Copyrights and Piracy

Recently in class Dr. Ayers brought a documentary to our attention, entitled Good Copy, Bad Copy. It sounded interesting to me, so I decided to check it out. I found it interesting as well as informative, definitely worth the hour of your time. Speaking of documentaries, this was one of two which I randomly decided to watch this week. I think this decision was a good one and I think you should definitely consider doing the same this week.