Kony 2012

[theDreamer]

White and male privilege are things I understand.

As a white straight male in western society I have rights not granted to others due to their gender, skin tone, or sexual orientation. This doesn't mean that my opinion is invalid, but it does behoove me to remember that I am treated much better by my society than my friends might be (which is incredibly fucking awful).

[Season's Beatings]

White and male privilege are things I understand.

As a white straight male in western society I have rights not granted to others due to their gender, skin tone, or sexual orientation. This doesn't mean that my opinion is invalid, but it does behoove me to remember that I am treated much better by my society than my friends might be (which is incredibly fucking awful).

The only one I agree with there is sexuality. Name me one right I have that Chinese man doesn't. Unless you actually use a man in China as an example, there really isn't anything. And if you do use a man in China, that a problem of government. Not because somebody halfway round the world has a different melanin level. As for women, they only thing I can think of is not being able to serve on frontlines and certain police/fire service jobs.

Comparing countries like with the white man's burden thing doesn't work if all you focus on is the white man part. Different governments and levels of economy affect the differences between us and Uganda.

[The Jester]

He's talking about societal rights, not constitutional or legal ones. Being a straight white male means that what you say is taken more seriously than anyone else, given more weight, you never have to worry about your safety, you are almost guaranteed to earn more than any of your non-straight-white-male social group, the list goes on...

[theDreamer]

Subtler things.

You're the assumption of average for marketing, and media.

"Skin tone band aids" are made to blend with your flesh, not anyone else's (same as nude stockings, which aren't nude for a black person).

[Matt]

"rights" is the wrong word."privileges" is more accurate, which is where the sociological concept of privilege derives its name.

-m

[Season's Beatings]

He's talking about societal rights, not constitutional or legal ones. Being a straight white male means that what you say is taken more seriously than anyone else, given more weight, you never have to worry about your safety, you are almost guaranteed to earn more than any of your non-straight-white-male social group, the list goes on...

Blanket terms thrown around without definition or substantial proof? Check.

Next somebody is going to tell me that I'm blind to it because of my supposed status nevermind the fact nobody here knows who I am or what I am.

[Elomin Sha]

You're a dog, right?

[Metcarfre]

Oh joy, another one of you people.

If someone doesn't point the Robert Downey Jr. meme image, I am disappoint.

[Season's Beatings]

Oh joy, another one of you people.

If someone doesn't point the Robert Downey Jr. meme image, I am disappoint.

Another one of me? Please. Tell me who I am.

[The Jester]

I have it!

[Metcarfre]

Disappoint.

[Season's Beatings]

I legit lol'd.

[TheRocket]

Alright,

So. I watched it. I discussed it. I really tired atm so I might not make sense.

No question this guy needs to be founds and stopped. Invisible children seems to have a clear goal and have divised a plan to acheive it (thusfar just from watching the video- I'd have to do a bit more research).I like that. I like that it's not another Occupy...

One thing I didn't like was the extreme use of blanketing war with peace to seemingly fool young people. Yes, the ultimate goal is peace - but what is it going to take to get there?
I question if they really want the US military to JUST be advisors. Will that be enough? Or will there need to be hard military efforts from the west when Kony's army pushes back? What happens when you find him? Capture or kill? Everyone I see posting about this is crying out to kill this guy, but these were the same people who said it was a horrible thing to kill Osama...???? PAINT ME LE HIPSTER CONFUSED.

Also I a very wary of the extremely high end documentary and the HQ with the expensive plethora of vans/graphics.... I want to research and know where the money I would donate is really going to. I am just always leery of organizations that look shiny from the outside.

[Rikadyn]

Well, for one thing finding him, then killing him, will involve killing a lot of his child army.

[AlexanderDitto]

I don't get the statement regarding "White Man's Burden." in one of the blogs from above.

It implies wanting to stop war criminals is a bad thing, just because I'm not from Africa.

No, that's not what it implies at all. It's a reference to a famous poem by Kipling about Western Imperialism. It's not about wanting to stop war criminals. It's about how.

The key is the difference between wanting to work with the Ugandans to figure out what they need to build up their society and fix these problems themselves and wanting to swoop in with a team of special ops and take out some jungle maniac ourselves.

It's the difference between "help them help themselves," and "we know best."

Also, Rikadyn, let's dial it down with the conspiracy theory memes.

[theDreamer]

I guess.

I would like to point out that (at least some) members of Ugandan Government WANTED help.

Does that stop it from being a negative burden?

My friend with a broken back wants to move a box. Do I just tell him to lift from the knees, or do I just pick up the damn box to get it into his room?

[TheRocket]

I don't get the statement regarding "White Man's Burden." in one of the blogs from above.

It implies wanting to stop war criminals is a bad thing, just because I'm not from Africa.

No, that's not what it implies at all. It's a reference to a famous poem by Kipling about Western Imperialism. It's not about wanting to stop war criminals. It's about how.

The key is the difference between wanting to work with the Ugandans to figure out what they need to build up their society and fix these problems themselves and wanting to swoop in with a team of special ops and take out some jungle maniac ourselves.

It's the difference between "help them help themselves," and "we know best."

Also, Rikadyn, let's dial it down with the conspiracy theory memes.

I think that's why Invisible Children have been careful (at least in the video) to say "American Advisers". Anything else really would mean war and America: World Police that has already been so heavily criticized.

[Wraith]

I don’t get it. I mean, I get it, he’s an evil bastard that deserves to die. No question. But then, I have no trouble saying that as I think it’s fair to say that I have a rather outspoken record of supporting the military, military action, and in general doing what needs to be done to eliminate evil on this planet.

What I don’t get, is why there’s suddenly this huge movement to deal with this guy from the same people who typically call guys like me “small minded, hateful war-mongers.” You realize what it’d take to deal with this guy, right? We can’t just take a drive to his registered postal address, slap him in cuffs, read him is rights and then put him in prison. The guy’s a warlord. An international terrorist. To get to him, we’d have to through his men. And that would mean direct military action. And I love, love, love the fact that the same people who are constantly bitching that America is evil because “it sees itself as the world police” now say that we should fly to another part of the world and arrest him. You know, like the police do? And the people not calling for his arrest are saying we need to just kill him; which is funny, because a lot of those same people called us monsters for cheering the death of Binladden. What, so there IS a point at which desiring the death of a human being is warranted, but 3,000 human lives and two result wars weren’t quite enough?

Seriously, I’m starting to get the feeling that what this comes down to is that Occupy Wallstreet isn’t in the news anymore, so people are getting bored, and they need some new cause to latch onto, and so they chose this guy; but just like Occupy, they haven’t really put any thought into what the actually want. Do you guys really want military action taken? Because I get the feeling that if we do anything, you’re going to bitch about it. And if so, how about you rally for Canada take lead on this one? How about if someone else initiates the shit this time, so that we can be spared the “ugh, fucking world police, I’m moving to Canada” rants? Seriously, you guys know that the dude is already a wanted terrorist, right? We’ve sent a detachment of special forces to act as advisors already. So I’m a little lost: all these rallies, all these Youtube videos (I really gotta stop reading the comments under those; if you’re trying to send a message to people and you want to be taken seriously, stop abbreviating three letter words and run spell-check!), etc., what’s the actual goal here?

[TheRocket]

http://invisible.tumblr.com/ has put up an informative blog post about peoples concerns.

I'd have to say this seems like a group of big hearted, level headed individuals that know what they are doing.

[Vaughn]

I dont like it, because im a pessimistic asshole, but now Wil Wheaton gave me a legitimate reason not to like it.

http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/18920 ... -wanted-to

[Lorithad]

I dont like it, because im a pessimistic asshole, but now Wil Wheaton gave me a legitimate reason not to like it.

http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/18920 ... -wanted-to

While I was watching the kony 2012 video, I kept thinking "wow, these guys are really good at making videos. I wonder where most of their donations go?"

And now Wil Weaton has answered that question. What a nice guy.

[TheRocket]

I too had the same concerns. Especially when I saw HQ and the vans and the quality of the video.

I'm not into bandwagoning charities, but I actually think this is extremely well done activism - something our world is lacking (HAI EYM LUKIN @ YEW OCCUPY).

Please visit the link I posted as well to see some of the concerns being addressed. While I'm still researching everything myself, I think it's important to read both sides, don't you?

In the middle of reading a good blog post against IC. I will post it tomorrow. This is all very interesting to see modern day social media activism.

[Wolfenbarg]

I have no doubts that this man is a cold hearted bastard, I don't think that's going to be disputed by anyone. However, this call to the American government to bring him to justice can only really be accomplished through military action. If they did get their wish, it probably wouldn't be pretty. Remember Somalia? Do we really want a repeat of that when anti-war sentiment is at an all time high? The US government is also in total panic mode about Iran, and North Korea isn't really looking at a stable transition in government. On top of that, Iraq and Afghanistan could heat back up and require more troop deployments. The political landscape in terms of potential military action is totally nuts, this isn't something we're really in a position to deal with if it's going to come down to military action. Also, they do realize that someone who employs child soldiers will likely use them in combat operations, right? I can't think of a worse headline than "UN Soldiers Massacre Child Army."

Invisible Children is a pretty good charity though from everything I've seen. Their campaign to help those kids went through a lot of high schools back in 2006, including my own. It was pretty shocking to see those kids left in the aftermath of those attacks.

[Season's Beatings]

Finally a reason to like Wil Wheaton.

As for the occupy movement somebody referenced, they totally fucked up a park here. I mean thousands of dollars worth of damage. They weren't kicked out because they challenged the man. They were kicked out cause they shat where they ate.

Fight the powah.

[Elomin Sha]

You do realise that some of your single line comments make you out to be an arse, right?