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We live in a New World
13 years ago
We live in a world that with each passing day grows to be more connected. International boundaries no longer define friendships or the people and events that shape our days and move us to action. The majority of my friends today live abroad or at the very least some thousands of miles away from where I live. But I am able to partake in their lives, to know them and even love them and to me the world becomes a small and familiar place and all it's myriad of sorrows become mine. Several decades ago Germany or Spain or Uganda were countries on a map and places in my history books, but otherwise they were just a name, a place that had little impact on my life. In today's technological world, the everyman has a voice and where before these voices were scattered and disconnected from like voices, today they may join in unison and make themselves heard.
To become relevant, ideas need to become familiar and to become familiar they need to be spread. How lucky we are to be able to do so today with such ease, a click of the button and a few minutes of our time.
I encourage you to spare a few minutes of your time to watch this video, take a moment to tweet the vid or otherwise link it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
Even if you feel that there are issues that take precedence to this one, to know of this issue costs you nothing and to know it makes it relevant. Awareness itself is a powerful tool for change. Make someone else aware even if you don't think it will make a difference C=.
Beyond this, as a personal addendum, I believe we owe it to the world to better humanity. To hold ourselves to a continuing higher standard. To stop even one such atrocity may not stop them all but it does better us as a whole to say "we will not allow this". It will take many such steps to change the world, but with each small step we prove to ourselves we are better than we were before and that we are capable of change. Today we live in a world that listens and hears voices and cries of people we did not once understand, it is a changed and changing world and we are it's voices.
I have always wondered personally how we are to make people listen and care about the plights of animals and the natural places in the world when so much misery, apathy and hatred exist in our own human world. If we cannot care for a fellow of our own species, how can we truly do so for a species beyond our own? I think the answer is right there. We must do both because the plight and it's consequences are the same. In either case, we will lose, be it our dignity, beauty, or diversity. We must do both, because they are intricately interconnected and one cannot be separated from the other. We, as the custodians of this world (whether we chose this responsibility or not, whether it is fair to demand ourselves to be held to a higher standard or not) simply must meet the challenge at the risk of losing our humanity.
(PS: As a caveat emptor, do research your causes. It is easy to be stirred to action emotionally by a well made video or well written article. Even if the cause is legitimate, if you desire to be more proactive on whatever the issue, know what you support and read up on the causes/groups you give your time and money to. Some may mean well but do more damage than good, and some may do with the pretense of doing good. As easy as it is to spread word about good causes in today's e-world, it is just as easy to mistake opinions for facts and take them at face value. I am not saying this to detract from the necessity for awareness on the above issue. I only wish people to be more critical about whatever they read, wherever they read it. )
To become relevant, ideas need to become familiar and to become familiar they need to be spread. How lucky we are to be able to do so today with such ease, a click of the button and a few minutes of our time.
I encourage you to spare a few minutes of your time to watch this video, take a moment to tweet the vid or otherwise link it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
Even if you feel that there are issues that take precedence to this one, to know of this issue costs you nothing and to know it makes it relevant. Awareness itself is a powerful tool for change. Make someone else aware even if you don't think it will make a difference C=.
Beyond this, as a personal addendum, I believe we owe it to the world to better humanity. To hold ourselves to a continuing higher standard. To stop even one such atrocity may not stop them all but it does better us as a whole to say "we will not allow this". It will take many such steps to change the world, but with each small step we prove to ourselves we are better than we were before and that we are capable of change. Today we live in a world that listens and hears voices and cries of people we did not once understand, it is a changed and changing world and we are it's voices.
I have always wondered personally how we are to make people listen and care about the plights of animals and the natural places in the world when so much misery, apathy and hatred exist in our own human world. If we cannot care for a fellow of our own species, how can we truly do so for a species beyond our own? I think the answer is right there. We must do both because the plight and it's consequences are the same. In either case, we will lose, be it our dignity, beauty, or diversity. We must do both, because they are intricately interconnected and one cannot be separated from the other. We, as the custodians of this world (whether we chose this responsibility or not, whether it is fair to demand ourselves to be held to a higher standard or not) simply must meet the challenge at the risk of losing our humanity.
(PS: As a caveat emptor, do research your causes. It is easy to be stirred to action emotionally by a well made video or well written article. Even if the cause is legitimate, if you desire to be more proactive on whatever the issue, know what you support and read up on the causes/groups you give your time and money to. Some may mean well but do more damage than good, and some may do with the pretense of doing good. As easy as it is to spread word about good causes in today's e-world, it is just as easy to mistake opinions for facts and take them at face value. I am not saying this to detract from the necessity for awareness on the above issue. I only wish people to be more critical about whatever they read, wherever they read it. )
Please read this link: http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/
The video explains very clearly that Kony's on the run out of Uganda _and_ that interpol is looking for Kony. So this is some kind of secret?
The only other complaint I hear frequently about Invisible Children Inc. is based on a gross misinterpretation and/or lie, which is that only 32% of their charity donations go to programs which help Ugandans.
You said you did some research but I'm not getting the vibe that you looked at both sides.
You seem to be taking their side, and I feel some confrontational vibes from you, while I was merely pointing out an alternate view on things and the org behind that campaign.
Still, I've seen no convincing evidence that Invisible Children Inc. isn't exactly what it says it is.
I've heard a lot of people criticizing it for being what it doesn't say it is. That doesn't seem fair to me.
I've heard a lot of people criticizing it for having bad financials, which only look bad if you play pretend and ignore most of the financial statement. That doesn't seem fair either.
The truth is so plain to see and no one wants to look at it, and no one listens when I try to get them to stop spreading misinformation and lies.
I don't care about Invisible Children Inc. that much, it's just that I wanted to have more faith in the open-mindedness of human beings.
I mean, for example, there are pretty solid evidences that the Ugandan army,a s well as many African armies, are not much better in the way they treat civilians and such during operations than what the so-called 'rebels' do. NATO and UN agencies reports makes it hard, sometimes, to see who is the good guy and who is the bad guy in the civil wars that shook the African continent over the past 20 or 30 years. When both the regular army and the rebels are killing, looting, raping and so on, can you really support on of them?
About the being criticized for what they are not, well, it would seem that Kony isn't the danger that he once was anymore. That he ran into hiding somewhere in a neighboring country, seeking shelter and dropping off the radars.
For the financial thing, I would only say that refusing to open their accounts to the independent agency in charge of noting non-profit organizations does raises some red flags. If everything is clear, why hide it?
As for plain truth, I, personally, does not believe that there is something like plain truth in situations like this one. There were and still are many actors involved, each with their own agenda, intertwining together, which makes it very difficult to see what is really the truth, if there is such thing as plain truth. Same goes for misinformation and lies, actually. Youc an't have truth without lies, and the reports and arguments against Invisible Children didn't came out from nowhere. True, medias surely exaggerated some facts to make it a best-selling cover. Yet, there is no smoke without fire.
Open-mindedness requires the ability to not take sides, to see both sides of an argument, of a situation, or anything, and try to take everything into account to get an image of reality that is as precise and accurate than possible. I'm afraid that humanity, at the present moment, lacks the wisdom for such a thing, and everything is done to encourage this situation to continue this way.
To your first point: Invisible Children Inc. does not support the Ugandan army in its video or on its website and I've seen no evidence to suggest that they do. Their financials show money being used for programs in Uganda but none of those programs benefit the military or the government. You say: The Ugandan army is bad. I say: Yes, it is, but what's that got to do with Invisible Children?
To your second point: The video spends about 2 minutes detailing very plainly and very clearly that Kony has gone into hiding and has left Uganda to seek shelter. They even make a big map with an arrow animation to show where Kony has gone! They explain (in the english language no less!) exactly why he is still a danger, how he's done this before and returned to reap terror, and besides. He ran away into the jungle. Does that mean he isn't the world's most wanted criminal anymore and we should let him get away with it? Invisible Children doesn't think so.
To your third point: Their financials are plainly visible. You can pull up their tax statement and a summary of expenditures. You can't get any more transparent than that without publically publishing a PDF file of scanned receipts.
Finally, most of the criticisms stem from the fact that people think Invisible Children's mission is something they don't claim it is themselves. Their mission is this and only this: to raise awareness of Kony, thus making him an important social issue, thus pressuring the government to assist the situation and bring NOT peace to Uganda BUT justice to Joseph Kony. If that's what you support, that's what you donate toward. But if you don't support that mission, then don't just sit there and claim it's a scam because it's not giving all its donations to the victims. It's not a victim relief charity, it's an awareness campaign. Love it or hate it.
To my first point: I admit that it doesn't say anywhere, from what I've seen, that they work with the Ugandan army. Yet, they do seem to be pushing for a military solution, by having the US send intelligence and military advisors to help the local armies, Ugandan and neighbors, finally arrest Kony. So, it's a little bit of a mixed/conflicting message here, from my point of view.
To my second point: Actually, the map shows quite the contrary. There is a nice map animation between 15:01 and 15:05 in the movies that shows the LRA territory going from a small part of northern Uganda to a big pink blob over a large region covering South Sudan, Central African Republic and Democratic Republic Congo. And the commentary at that moment says: ".. as the LRA began to move into other countries..." That's not really what I call as 'going into hiding'.
I haven't seen another map in the video, just heard a short commentary about the fact that he is changing his tactics now that he knows that the US are after him, which will make him even more difficult to capture.
To my third point: I did took a quick look at the nice pdf available on their website. But, well, what tells me that these statements are really accurate? Everyone with a bit of computer knowledge can make good looking pdf, and create nice graphic charts with numbers. What raises a flag for me is that the evaluation agency rated them 2/4 because IC refused them access to their accounts so they could do an audit, according to what I've read.
Finally, I never claimed that this was a scam, just that it had to be taken with caution, like everything suddenly exploding virally online. Kony needs, indeed, to be brought before justice, but maybe the means that IC wants to use aren't the best ones, or perhaps Kony isn't the danger that it once was, and Uganda and affected neighboring need help to rebuild and restart their economy and normal civil life, rather than more foreign soldiers focusing on one man.
I was glad that we managed to have their conversation. I think we both raised good points, so, now it's up to everyone to forge their own opinions, anyway! ^^
And that's another factor: lies. Almost all of this controversy comes from the same small source. The Visible Children blog. The Daily What posted an article citing Visible Children and everyone else pointed to that article but the problem is that Visible Children actually _is_ spreading intentional misinformation. They've been called on it. In the last few days they've been active like crazy, redacting, correcting, responding to criticisms of their own coverage and deleting posts.
They're the source of this 32% nonsense. They stated that Invisible Children was taking donation money to make themselves rich and not helping Ugandans. ....to that I'm like, wtf? No, they're spending most of their donations on EXACTLY what they say they're going to spend it on. And this is somehow a scam?
I'm living in bizarro world.
You understand my frustration.
A perfectly legitimate criticism against Invisible Children Inc. is that you don't believe in their mission, you don't think they're going to accomplish what they want to accomplish. BUT, it is extremely irresponsible to call them a scam. To do that, you have to draw a lot of false lines of logic (or just believe false lines of logic that have been given to you) and that sort of stuff steams my buns.
I think the purpose of my entry was that I respect the idea of making issues visible and relevant to people that otherwise may have not at all been aware of it. Even via controversy generated by this video awareness has been raised and I should hope it will go towards inciting some positive change in the end.
But tehre is always two sides to a coin, and I wanted to also show the other side of it, show another view on this to your watchers and whomever reads this journal, so that people will be enticed to do more research and forge their own opinions afterwards, rather than by just the video.
We of the US, and many other Western cultures, have become fat, lazy, decadent, and pushy thinking that are way is the only and best way. It is merely the most comfortable, for us, and safest overall... but that safety and comfort is a cancer that slowly turns the high goals of progress into high handed bullying Nobility thinking all others mere peasantry.
And besides; there are 7 billion - billion - screaming humans demanding that their every whim be met, where there are 5 thousand tigers, 2 thousand leopards, 10 thousand elephants (rough examples, not wholly accurate, but you get the picture). I find it difficult to concern myself with the plight of mankind that I cannot reach nor assist could I reach them, where I can but put aside some land untouched to succor a passing wolf.
I do, however, sit amazed at what man does to its fellow man... for in all things extreme, only mankind can achieve.
But then, my take alone.
I personally would encourage programs that not only aim to preserve the remaining wild places of the world but also involve local communities in the efforts by offering education programs and alternatives to destructive practices..ie nurturing tourism in preserved areas.
Much of the native wildlife has suffered; from gorillas to orangutans to tigers to lions. They have as much right, if not more, to the space and resources. We use those resources to survive, they use them to exist and the right to exist supersedes mankind's desire to strip their entire environment bare.
I won't go into human nature and what we can and should do because can but we won't. There are seven billion of us, there are less than a million of them in their combined entire population. I think the planet could survive just fine with a few less of us.
Third world countries are as they are because of numerous factors; environment and education the most chief among them. We cannot solve the first, except to pack up and move, and as for the latter... ain't happening. It's been tried, is being tried, ad nauseum but because of the first factor they've got more to worry about than reading, writing, and arithmetic. We're trying to help them, but it is beyond our ability because they won't stop the habits that put them there in the first place.
Look at the third world countries in the greater Asian continent - you don't see wretched commercials about their situation on TV all day long. They may be destitute, but they live off the land far more successfully and are not at constant warfare over one being more pale than the other or having different color eyes or reading one word differently in their Faith texts. They get along, so they're poor but successful. They're featured on NatGeo for their resilience, not on prime-time under the aegis of endless 'charities' with their mitts out tendering 15% to the cause... so long as the needy bend knee.
And, at the rate we're going, we are going to be there before long. Our sole advantage is a better environment. The political elite are trying their damnedest to eliminate education wholesale.
The point that is often overlooked in these campaigns (ie. all campaigns like this, not just the KONY 2012) is that a lot of young, aspiring good-doers can fall into the trap of blindly supporting a cause without really investigating the ramifications of their actions, and whether or not it will actually create a lasting, sustainable impact.
I spent over a year studying how NGOs are run and also have done advocacy to the US legislature to cease association with groups that use child soldiers, so while I realize I am no expert I do have a tad bit more knowledge about these things than the average person my age.
My only suggestion is to use discretion before jumping onto the bandwagon. I am always suspicious when I see a cause become exceedingly popular with associated merchandise.
Bringing Kony's name to the public is an admirable cause, and one I can support. I just encourage people to look into the orgs and read both good and bad critiques.
What I do, however, applaud the video for is it's desire to change something. Yes it used emotions to sway the viewer's opinion but let's face it emotions are a powerful motivator for action. If we were to instead be introduced to this topic through a cool evenly balanced factual documentary, it is unlikely the video would have spread so far and have gotten so many people talking. Even the controversy it has generated can be viewed in positive light to the extent that it means the issue is mainstream and people are talking about it and paying attention to an issue that actually matters.
The e-culture has admirably instilled a much needed ability to be critical of sensationalized stories but I believe it has come with a bit of a double edged sword and in it's wake also introduced a dangerous sense of cynicism when it comes to any hot button topic. People, aware of the tactics used in a documentary or story to evince an emotional response instead opt to disregard any and all merit the movement may have had because of it's tactics or the possibility that the organization may in the end be proved fallible in some way. I do not argue that there are plenty of people that play on our emotions to profit on our gullibility. Being critical of what you hear is important, especially when spreading mis-information is so easy in the digital age, however I am reluctant to, on the other hand, simply write off a particular cause simply because there maaay be negative information that comes to light at a later date.
I have heard stories of young people flying to Africa to "make a difference" with incredibly little understanding of the culture and how to handle things. There are plenty of "charities" (not saying IC is one of them!) that use the aspirations of young activists to pad their wallets. One example of this I can think of is a medical program that brings students to developing regions and has them assist on healthcare work in a very hands-on way - irresponsible, given these people don't have any real medical training.
It's really important that the issues of areas around us are brought to light, since many people truly are unaware.
On another note, if the issue of child soldiers is something you want to learn more about, I can recommend the book "A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah regarding his own experiences as a child soldier in Sierra Leone (unless you have already read it :) )
Just my 2 cents.
We will gain strategic military ground there, their oil is as good as ours, and all the larger corporations profit. All the humanitarian ideals set to earn the support of the population will be completely undermined, and history reinforces this fact a hundred fold. Furthermore, our tax money is going to go to sending supplies, weapons, and possibly troops into Uganda, instead of helping out our economy. The 99% of us suffer, and Uganda will become yet another victim of military interventionism, just like Libya and possibly Syria next. More innocent people will die from yet another war, all because of people who are so easily bought and never stop to think.
Being an anti-interventionist, being one who's been disillusioned to mainstream media, that is my belief.
This journal should shed a little more light on the opposing side...
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3250077/
War a part of American Culture?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grvD.....ature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?featur.....;v=7DO73Ese25Y