Goatseboy

East Germany was not classless, moneyless, or stateless, dawg.

I would love to see Kony arrested or dead, don't really have a preference. That said, I have a few issues with this campaign.

I would bet the vast majority of youth who attempt to remain up to date on current events have come across some kind of literature on the L.R.A. and the issues of central Africa in the last five or six years, even if they don't remember it. Newspapers, magazines, blogs, online news sources, books, journal articles, etc. have been covering these conflicts for a while now, even if they aren't front page material. There are three differences I can see between the previous literature and filmography on the L.R.A. and this Kony 2012 campaign:

First is the 'what if this was happening in America to white kids' argument. I don't think I need to say much about this other than it's depressing that people still need to approach issues like this from a racial perspective to appreciate their severity. If you have a problem caring about a person because they're black and in Africa you ought to reevaluate your capacity for empathy.

Second, youth reliance on hot media as their medium of information necessitated a video with high production quality and a flashy narrative to spark any mainstream interest. It's increasingly difficult to capture the imaginations of young people, therefore it took a highly engaging, factually sparse video like this to rouse interest in Kony. Where would the mainstream Darfur movement have been without George Clooney or Brad Pitt? Kids can't read a newspaper anymore, it's got to be spoon fed to them before they can collect and retain information. This leaves them with very little understanding of the actual facts surrounding the situation. What's the political situation in Uganda, the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Chad, or the Central African Republic? Who is arming the L.R.A.? What are other countries in the region doing to fend off the rebels? None of this is covered in the video. Nobody seems to be asking.

Finally, and in my main problem with this video, is the shameless self promotion by the charity (company?) that made it. They actually tell you at the end that the best way to stop a war is to buy a box set filled with standardized posters and other goods designed and produced by the organization. You watch what you think is a 30 minute call to arms only to realize at the end that you were sitting through an infomercial. Now they're having a worldwide protest on April 20th where everyone is going to put up exactly the same posters all over the place. Rather than an organic movement we have a fabricated protest where everyone is expected to wear the same t-shirts and march like they're in an army. They've somehow managed to commercialize an African civil war and market it to white people. That's almost as depressing as the war itself.

Also one of their posters has Kony in the foreground in front of Osama and Hitler. lol

What is it with Anti-Flag's obsession with The Clash? They were never that good in the first place, and I can't honestly say that any of these covers are all that remarkable.

A-F's covers are pretty awful, but The Clash were great! Haven't you ever listened to London Calling? Near perfect album.

I don't gather your meaning. Those are the dudes from Op Ivy. Their shits are punker than you or I.

Horay! who says I need school to tell people how to fix computers.

posting here less

Apparently when I drink rum I become very straight and rapey...

All the club toilets I go in are normally covered in piss and vomit lol

my beautiful babies were born on the 5th! =] they're so tiny lol

Are you saying that

k will do

Goatseboy, on 28 July 2011 - 11:22 PM, said:

clowns will eat me

I'd kill myself, too, if I had to live in the UK.

Jobs are for people who plan on having a real life. No offense Floyd.

I plan on having a decent amount of income, a decent house, 5 or 6 kids, and some pets, therefore I will need a good career in my future.

Plus I think it will be fun, since no matter which I choose, I love both kids and animals.