I'm actually in favor of any viral internet movement popular among 13-17 yr old girls that aims to bring about US military action in a foreign country. There are precious few such movements, and we shouldn't tar this one simply because their budget isn't transparent or its founders pose with shady African armies and make faux gangster pouty faces for the camera. Bring on the troops!
I'm actually in favor of any viral internet movement popular among 13-17 yr old girls that aims to bring about US military action in a foreign country. There are precious few such movements, and we shouldn't tar this one simply because their budget isn't transparent or its founders pose with shady African armies and make faux gangster pouty faces for the camera. Bring on the troops!
Kony 2012 video screening met with anger in northern Uganda
It had been viewed more than 77m times around the world, but not by those who know the Joseph Kony best: his victims in northern Uganda.
That changed on Tuesday night when thousands flocked to watch Kony 2012, the video made by a US charity urging a grassroots campaign against the fugitive warlord that has gone viral.
The film was projected on to an ersatz cinema screen fashioned from a white sheet, held up by metal poles, in a town park. The reaction? Puzzlement, then anger, which boiled over into scuffles and stone-throwing that sent organisers fleeing for cover.
There was particular criticism of the Stop Kony campaign's use of merchandise, such as bracelets and T-shirts, which victims said they find offensive.
"People were very angry about the film," said Victor Ochen, director of a local charity, the African Youth Initiative Network (Ayinet), which arranged the screening. "They were all saying, 'This is not about us, it does not reflect our lives'."
Ochen said he had wanted to provide an opportunity for victims to see the film made by the charity Invisible Children, mindful that less than 2% of Ugandans have internet access.
The video, posted on YouTube on 5 March and narrated by one of Invisible Children's founders, Jason Russell, had drawn the support of celebrities including George Clooney and Angelina Jolie, but provoked criticism for oversimplifying the conflict and not making clear that Kony was driven out of Uganda several years ago.
Before sunset on Tuesday two metal rods were hammered into dry dirt and grass and a white sheet hoisted to create an open-air cinema in the mayor's gardens in the centre of Lira, 220 miles north of the capital, Kampala.
Word about the "premiere" spread on local radio, drawing a crowd on foot and bicycle that grew over several hours and was estimated at more than 35,000 by Ochen, though others put it at more like 5,000.
The expectant, excited spectators, many of whom cannot speak English, included victims who have been left scarred and maimed by Kony's atrocities.
But Ochen, whose own father and brother were abducted by Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), said on Wednesday: "Reacting to the film, there was a strong sense that the video was definitely not produced for an African audience, and that it was not sensitive enough to the victims.
"It was very hurtful for them and their families to see posters, bracelets and buttons, all looking like slick campaign ads of the person most responsible for their shattered lives. One young man who lost four brothers and one of his arms said afterwards: 'How can anybody expect me to wear a T-shirt with Kony's name on it?'"
He added: "For all the victims, the attempt to make Kony famous so as to prop up public support for his apprehension is laudable but the way this goal is pursued in the video is inappropriate and ignores their feelings.
"That fame is not what Kony deserves for causing so much suffering was one overwhelming reaction. People were asking: Why give such criminals celebrity status? Why not prioritise addressing the plight of the victims whose sufferings are visible?"
The screening ended amid jeers and scuffles, with some angry viewers throwing stones. Ayinet has decided to suspend planning screenings of Kony 2012 in other parts of northern Uganda indefinitely due to the hostile reaction.
Emmy Okello, a radio journalist in Lira, said: "I cannot understand the intention of this video. It is difficult to account to us if you are not including local people. What has angered people is that the video is about a white person, not about the victims. All of them came here hoping to see video that tells their story."
Okello Jifony, who was forced to fight under Kony for 18 months, told Reuters: "We expected serious action, Americans fighting Kony like in a real movie."
He added: "Why didn't they use the real victims in this film?"
On Wednesday there were calls in Uganda to ban the campaign's "Stop Kony" T-shirts from entering the country. One caller to a radio phone-in said: "The government must protect us victims not only from Kony but also from things that hurt us like these T-shirts.
"And as people of northern Uganda we will not accept anyone to cross Karuma (a bridge across the Nile that connects north to central Uganda) with that T-shirt."
Al-Jazeera reporter Malcolm Webb blogged: "One woman I spoke to made the comparison of selling Osama Bin Laden paraphernalia post 9/11 ??? likely to be highly offensive to many Americans, how ever well intentioned the campaign behind it."
Kony, a self-proclaimed mystic, is wanted by the international criminal court for crimes against humanity.
On Tuesday a Congolese general said Kony and other LRA leaders have been chased out of the Democratic Republic of Congo to the neighbouring Central African Republic and no longer pose a threat in his country.
General Jean Claude Kifwa, in charge of fighting the LRA in Congo, told journalists: "We have reduced the capacity of the LRA. For us it's no longer an issue of defence. It's a public order issue."
The comment follows a complaint by nearby Uganda that Congo was obstructing its US-backed hunt for Kony.
rofl @ "any attention is a good thing!..... even if it has ulterior motives, benefits the charity more than the people it allegedly is there to help, is using info that hasn't even been accurate in years, tries to oversimplify problems that are ridiculously complex and spends the whole time talking about the little white kid. "
DOR showing his ass in this thread. just because you fell for the slick video, doesn't mean you have to keep riding for it bro. repent.
What glorious times when out of mis-trust for your own common sense you use google to find out if a headline is news or satire just to find out that sometimes, if it sounds to good to be true, it might just be really, really good...
I'll drink to this all night long!
edit:
of course, TMZ already have it on video, it's short (no pun intended) but spicy:
DOR showing his ass in this thread. just because you fell for the slick video, doesn't mean you have to keep riding for it bro. repent.
I've been away for a bit. But after reading some of the news, I came back to read over this thread.
Here's the deal. My whole point was on how people were shit talking folks that truly want to help or make a difference (Be it this cause, or any other cause or issue for that matter). It seem like some people love to put people down for any reason what so ever. I still stand by the fact that the original video has it's merits strictly due to bringing awareness to issues that should be talked about. Maybe read my posts over again. I wasn't so much riding for the dude or the organization, as much as I was riding for people to bring something positive, instead of using negativity. Bring other positive alternatives, so that people who want to do something in this world have an alternative path to follow.
You're well within your right to call me out or whatever it is you're posting here. But I'm not repenting for anything. Nor should I. I would much rather see a thread posted on the strut talking/debating/etc once in a blue moon (Even if it's misguided) than just talk bullshit/nonsense.
But thanks for coming out and focusing on my ass...
I wasn't so much riding for the dude or the organization, as much as I was riding for people to bring something positive, instead of using negativity. Bring other positive alternatives, so that people who want to do something in this world have an alternative path to follow.
been sayin this to people all week.
lennon/mccartney could be harmonizing on some all you need is love and upon hearing it this place would nail those fuckers to a wall...
If your bar for "doing something positive" that should engender widespread support is producing a kickstarter-esque self-serving video that is widely derided by the very people its purportedly supposed to help, then I would say your bar is slow as to be flat on the ground.
Meanwhile, not a word about Trayvon Martin or Remarley Graham... Oh wait. Those are just kids in the US, nothing to out-exoticise your friends over.
I wasn't so much riding for the dude or the organization, as much as I was riding for people to bring something positive, instead of using negativity. Bring other positive alternatives, so that people who want to do something in this world have an alternative path to follow.
been sayin this to people all week.
lennon/mccartney could be harmonizing on some all you need is love and upon hearing it this place would nail those fuckers to a wall...
The assumption here is that any effort in a positive direction, no matter how ill-informed, self-serving and misguided is better than no effort at all.
I don't know how many thousands of examples there are in human history that contradict this, but I guess the answer is: not enough for people to have learned anything.
b/w
You do realize that your "positive alternative" in this case = sending money and arms to an extremely shady military, right?
I don't think that's what Lennon and McCartney were singing about.
I wasn't so much riding for the dude or the organization, as much as I was riding for people to bring something positive, instead of using negativity. Bring other positive alternatives, so that people who want to do something in this world have an alternative path to follow.
been sayin this to people all week.
lennon/mccartney could be harmonizing on some all you need is love and upon hearing it this place would nail those fuckers to a wall...
this wanker paid himself 90 grand a year out of his "charity" which funds itself by exploiting other people's misery.
and the fitting song for lennon/mccartney to harmonize here would be "why don't we do it in the road"
This is the most sickening thing I have seen in a long time. The fact that Zimmerman has still not even been arrested is so reminiscent of the horror stories of Jim Crow era lawlessness, I can't even comprehend it.
This is the most sickening thing I have seen in a long time. The fact that Zimmerman has still not even been arrested is so reminiscent of the horror stories of Jim Crow era lawlessness, I can't even comprehend it.
The 911 tapes make me entirely too angry to be able to discuss the issue without wanting somebody to "Zimmerman" Zimmerman. Fuck that piece of trash.
I'm getting at, that it's fine to criticize. My issue is with ridicule or making fun of people who have an honest wanting to help even if all it is, is to bring awareness. I thought sticky_dojah's early reply was a good example of bringing something positive to the discussion with the information on the Breakdance Project Uganda.
Look, I got one of those new ipads yesterday (It was a bonus from work). But there are plenty of issues that are way more news worthy or should be discussed than a new product IMO. The KONY video helps remind people that the world is still filled with scum and at the very least got people talking about something many people never knew happened.
A friend on my fb posted the Kony video a week back and then she was berated by a couple of guys calling her stupid and making fun of her. Then a friend of hers took the guys to task and gave my friend some info on a project she was working on with a school. She's now looking into ways she can get involved with that project.
It's my opinion that there are plenty of people out there who have completely honest yearning to do something outside their small part of the world that surrounds them. For a few the start of that can be just becoming aware of something. But nothing is gained by shit talking them and making them feel like they are somehow wrong for wanting to help others.
Is the video propaganda? Yes. We are all constantly blasted with propaganda in one form or another everyday. Did the video have some major problems with it? Yes, definitely.
But it got millions of people talking around the world. And I think that's a good thing. Will it bring Kony to account for the crimes committed? No idea. But I'm willing to bet that with all the exposure and debate it helps to get people involved with causes that are worthy.
This is the most sickening thing I have seen in a long time. The fact that Zimmerman has still not even been arrested is so reminiscent of the horror stories of Jim Crow era lawlessness, I can't even comprehend it.
The 911 tapes make me entirely too angry to be able to discuss the issue without wanting somebody to "Zimmerman" Zimmerman. Fuck that piece of trash.
I read the transcripts last night and haven't been able to bring myself to hear it. This needs to be it's own thread.
Is this directed at me? I can't tell since your quote is different than what I actually wrote.
If it was, I wrote "bring something positive" and I was getting at it would be helpful to offer people a positive alternative if you believe what's being debated is nothing more than bullshit. I only state that the merit to the video is the awareness it brings to one particular issue.
"engender widespread support is producing a kickstarter-esque self-serving video that is widely derided by the very people its purportedly supposed to help, then I would say your bar is slow as to be flat on the ground."
You do realize that your "positive alternative" in this case = sending money and arms to an extremely shady military, right?
That's not the type of "positive alternative" I was getting at. I mean more like sticky_dojah's post on the Breakdance project Uganda. Like, you come into the thread and say the KONY video is bullshit and then you offer someone who might have watched the KONY video and found out the the horrors that have gone on over there and genuinely want to help or at the very least, learn more from something with a more honest message.
And a "positive alternative" in that case doesn't necessarily mean arms and guns. I would support an international criminal court using means to hunt Kony down and arrest him and bring him to face the people and families he has committed crimes against.
Which makes me wonder. We have these wanted list of people that commit serious crimes against humanity. Why doesn't the UN have some special forces team to go in and hunt these people down and bring them to justice?
1. Make scam documentary
2. Exploit scam documentary
3. Profit
4. Run around town masturbating to celebrate becoming a millionaire overnight thanks to gullible Americans.
I've seen this many times and in the big cities of every single African country that I've visited: You sit in a shared cab, you walk down a busy street or you are strolling over a crowded market and out of a sudden a butt naked man appears, screaming, dancing, beating with his flat palms onto the tops of cars, onto the ground, blood shot eyes and acting like a total lunatic. When this happened for the first few times, I was stunned by how nobody around me would show any surprise or even concern, there was no reaction, nobody even seemed to be bothered by this naked maniac, nobody would even make any kind of remark or otherwise aknowledge the presence of buttnaked crazy dude . When I asked a Guinean friend about this, he explained that these all were people who got cursed by a powerful witch doctor and that he himself even knew somebody who this also had happened to. My friend said that most witch doctors are "fake" but that there would be "real" ones that could do this to people and that all you need is a photograph of the person you want to have cursed -a strand of hair, a piece of clothing etc will also do -but most commonly a photograph is being used. If the ceremony is successful, the victim goes stark raving mad from one second to the other, leave his house or village and never come back. I had conversations about this with many Africans from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, some of which had a "Western" education who will just smile at your disbelieve when they tell you that of course, these things are real and you can even find people with medical degrees who had gone to European universities who would never denounce the possibility that these things do exist.
Comments
For the win.
I got thru half a minute.
ARTICLE
DOR showing his ass in this thread. just because you fell for the slick video, doesn't mean you have to keep riding for it bro. repent.
edit:
oh my!
Invisible Children Founder and KONY 2012 Star Found Masturbating in Public
This deserves a bump, imo^^^
What glorious times when out of mis-trust for your own common sense you use google to find out if a headline is news or satire just to find out that sometimes, if it sounds to good to be true, it might just be really, really good...
I'll drink to this all night long!
edit:
of course, TMZ already have it on video, it's short (no pun intended) but spicy:
perhaps it's all a piece of post-modern, conceptual performance art
His public masturbation episode is the logical conclusion of this verbal splooge.
I've been away for a bit. But after reading some of the news, I came back to read over this thread.
Here's the deal. My whole point was on how people were shit talking folks that truly want to help or make a difference (Be it this cause, or any other cause or issue for that matter). It seem like some people love to put people down for any reason what so ever. I still stand by the fact that the original video has it's merits strictly due to bringing awareness to issues that should be talked about. Maybe read my posts over again. I wasn't so much riding for the dude or the organization, as much as I was riding for people to bring something positive, instead of using negativity. Bring other positive alternatives, so that people who want to do something in this world have an alternative path to follow.
You're well within your right to call me out or whatever it is you're posting here. But I'm not repenting for anything. Nor should I. I would much rather see a thread posted on the strut talking/debating/etc once in a blue moon (Even if it's misguided) than just talk bullshit/nonsense.
But thanks for coming out and focusing on my ass...
been sayin this to people all week.
lennon/mccartney could be harmonizing on some all you need is love and upon hearing it this place would nail those fuckers to a wall...
Meanwhile, not a word about Trayvon Martin or Remarley Graham... Oh wait. Those are just kids in the US, nothing to out-exoticise your friends over.
The assumption here is that any effort in a positive direction, no matter how ill-informed, self-serving and misguided is better than no effort at all.
I don't know how many thousands of examples there are in human history that contradict this, but I guess the answer is: not enough for people to have learned anything.
b/w
You do realize that your "positive alternative" in this case = sending money and arms to an extremely shady military, right?
I don't think that's what Lennon and McCartney were singing about.
this wanker paid himself 90 grand a year out of his "charity" which funds itself by exploiting other people's misery.
and the fitting song for lennon/mccartney to harmonize here would be "why don't we do it in the road"
This is the most sickening thing I have seen in a long time. The fact that Zimmerman has still not even been arrested is so reminiscent of the horror stories of Jim Crow era lawlessness, I can't even comprehend it.
The 911 tapes make me entirely too angry to be able to discuss the issue without wanting somebody to "Zimmerman" Zimmerman. Fuck that piece of trash.
Look, I got one of those new ipads yesterday (It was a bonus from work). But there are plenty of issues that are way more news worthy or should be discussed than a new product IMO. The KONY video helps remind people that the world is still filled with scum and at the very least got people talking about something many people never knew happened.
A friend on my fb posted the Kony video a week back and then she was berated by a couple of guys calling her stupid and making fun of her. Then a friend of hers took the guys to task and gave my friend some info on a project she was working on with a school. She's now looking into ways she can get involved with that project.
It's my opinion that there are plenty of people out there who have completely honest yearning to do something outside their small part of the world that surrounds them. For a few the start of that can be just becoming aware of something. But nothing is gained by shit talking them and making them feel like they are somehow wrong for wanting to help others.
Is the video propaganda? Yes. We are all constantly blasted with propaganda in one form or another everyday. Did the video have some major problems with it? Yes, definitely.
But it got millions of people talking around the world. And I think that's a good thing. Will it bring Kony to account for the crimes committed? No idea. But I'm willing to bet that with all the exposure and debate it helps to get people involved with causes that are worthy.
And that's all I was trying to get at.
I read the transcripts last night and haven't been able to bring myself to hear it. This needs to be it's own thread.
Is this directed at me? I can't tell since your quote is different than what I actually wrote.
If it was, I wrote "bring something positive" and I was getting at it would be helpful to offer people a positive alternative if you believe what's being debated is nothing more than bullshit. I only state that the merit to the video is the awareness it brings to one particular issue.
"engender widespread support is producing a kickstarter-esque self-serving video that is widely derided by the very people its purportedly supposed to help, then I would say your bar is slow as to be flat on the ground."
No.
That's not the type of "positive alternative" I was getting at. I mean more like sticky_dojah's post on the Breakdance project Uganda. Like, you come into the thread and say the KONY video is bullshit and then you offer someone who might have watched the KONY video and found out the the horrors that have gone on over there and genuinely want to help or at the very least, learn more from something with a more honest message.
And a "positive alternative" in that case doesn't necessarily mean arms and guns. I would support an international criminal court using means to hunt Kony down and arrest him and bring him to face the people and families he has committed crimes against.
Which makes me wonder. We have these wanted list of people that commit serious crimes against humanity. Why doesn't the UN have some special forces team to go in and hunt these people down and bring them to justice?
Close enough.
"I wanted to do Hollywood musicals like Moulin Rouge...it seemed pretty impossible to achieve that."
LOL!
b/w day tripper
one could argue that both invisible children and the beatles made efforts to stop war.
that's as simple as it needs to be.
1. Make scam documentary
2. Exploit scam documentary
3. Profit
4. Run around town masturbating to celebrate becoming a millionaire overnight thanks to gullible Americans.