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Kony 2012 - 4/20 Anyone?
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Post by
lilith
Just wondering if anyone is going to 'cover the night' in support of Kony 2012. Have you ordered an action kit? What do you think about it being on 4/20?
I particularly liked the video. I think the posters are fantastic. Not sure if I'll be able to make it out that night - but I'll donate and spread the word via fb.
For those who don't know..
http://www.invisiblechildren.com
Post by
324987
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107106
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204878
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Post by
chaosultimamage
I've seen a lot of mixed stuff about this - everything from praise to it being an outright scam. I'll do the same thing I do with most of these things - ignore it.
Post by
lilith
Debbie Downers! 30% may go to the direct initiatives but the big wigs aren't pocketing it all - they're each making under 100k. The American Cancer Society donates 15%. Another site reported Susan G Komen donating only 20% to research in 09. Sounds pretty typical.
...and lol @DoctorLore ;)
Post by
Magician22773
Debbie Downers! 30% may go to the direct initiatives but the big wigs aren't pocketing it all - they're each making under 100k. The American Cancer Society donates 15%. Another site reported Susan G Komen donating only 20% to research in 09. Sounds pretty typical.
...and lol @DoctorLore ;)
And this is exactly whay I do not donate to big, nationwide groups like those. Those groups, while they do provide a great service for thise that they support, are run in an extremely ineffiecient manner, and the top exec's make absurd amounts of money for a "non-profit" organization.
For me, my donations are going to local food banks, veteran organizations, and disaster relief agencies. Most of these have very little overhead, operate on mostly volunteer labor, and thise that are paid employees, are not making 100k a year.
Post by
xlanadenx
I haven't been paying attention to this but everyone and their grandmother seems to be pasting this in their statuses. Even so, I have to say I follow along the lines of Magician when it comes to such things. Throwing money at a problem never solves the problem. It's still going to be there.
Adding onto this, I found a
thread on reddit
that calls to discussion the history of Invisible Children. What stood out to me though is that the footage used in the video is as old as 2003 and the war has long since been over (2008?) While a statement had been released that they didn't want to lead people to believe the war was still going on, I'm sure it doesn't hurt that people are assuming it is.
If we donate, at the very best, someone will have a gallon of water to drink while we go home and stand in the shower for 30 minutes relaxing. At the very worst, the money sent from an organization will be intercepted and used to buy guns/ammo to mow down the very people you are trying to help. It's not a what-if. It has happened.
And I went ahead and read up on the action kit. Suffice to say, it wasn't what I thought it would be. From what I assumed, I thought it would be a kit you could buy and would be sent to help out a person.
The kit contains:
+ T-shirt
+ KONY bracelet
+ Action guide
+ Stickers
+ Button
+ Posters.
You can decorate yourself and the town with this one-stop shop.
None of that is going to help someone in Uganda. If I were to donate, I'd much rather all of my money go to help than have it wasted on supplies to glorify myself. It's just as ineffective as tying a yellow ribbon around your tree. :|
The next part is kinda off-topic:
If we want conditions to improve in a continent a lot of us don't live in such as Africa, the answer isn't to throw money at them. That's a terrible idea. It's to go over there and help. To make sure that they ARE being helped. I understand we can't drop everything to go help but there's another solution as well.
If someone needs help on their homework, is doing the work for them actually helping? No. That's what cash does. Jobs need to be created over there. By giving jobs, it allows room for growth. Instead of depending on donations, they become independent. A lot of oil companies are doing this very thing right now. They're creating jobs but more is needed.
Post by
Interest
Just wondering if anyone is going to 'cover the night' in support of Kony 2012. Have you ordered an action kit? What do you think about it being on
4/20?
I particularly liked the video. I think the posters are fantastic. Not sure if I'll be able to make it out that night - but I'll donate and spread the word via fb.
For those who don't know..
http://www.invisiblechildren.com
4/20
Interest
<Wowhead Patron>
Joined on 2008/04/20
Oh god...
In all seriousness, I'm unsure if I'm going to take part.
Post by
Magician22773
Interest
<Wowhead Patron>
Joined on 2008/04/20
Smokin that stuff will make you join forums and post 69,000 times.
Post by
134377
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Post by
HoleofArt
I'm ignoring it myself. I just think it's incredibly stupid and naive to think that
a) this will actually change anything
b) this is actually worthwhile
to elaborate, Kony isn't even
in
Uganda anymore (a country I'll bet 99% of people "shocked and appalled at the horrors" couldn't pick out from
this map
) and has been on the run for years. I just don't see how "bringing attention" to this fact will lead to his capture. It's wishful thinking at best, complete bandwagoning at worst.
Don't get me wrong, I like that attention is being brought to some of the atrocities being committed in Africa, I just don't think this is one that's worth this much attention. There should be this enthusiasm for Syrian support, or Libya support, atrocities committed in Somalia, etc.
It's just dumb that people see one video and turn into humanitarians for a country they didn't even know existed before the video on an issue that is hardly relevant.
/rant
Also, I think it's extra silly they chose 4/20 of all days. "Let's get high and support the end of war everyone!" - every hippy, ever.
Post by
91278
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Post by
Squishalot
Hey Sinespe, are you including merchandise in your 'overheads' cost? Ditto to everyone else - direct donations of $2 give you the same net effect as buying a $10 item that costs $8 to distribute, but one makes the company's overheads look excessive, the other doesn't.
That being said, I also agree with HoleofArt - same reason why I was disappointed when the world started paying attention to Syria only after the two foreign journos were killed.
Post by
134377
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Post by
OverZealous
While I think it's nice that people are attempting to do something that could potentially do something to make the world a better place, I think everyone is going about this the wrong way. Kony is not the only mass-murderer or "terrorist" (I believe the U.S labeled him as such?) in the world - yet people seem to focus only on him. And that's because of the kind of sensational video that's been moving across Facebook and other social medias like a wildfire. No one seems to care any more about other mass-murderers doing other bad things in other countries, but Kony specifically.
Adding to that the fact that the Kony "action kit" will do exactly nothing to help anyone except those selling them, and the fact that, apparently, the people running Invisible Children makes a lot of money...
Well, if I were to donate money or do something about this fellow, it would not be through Invisible Children.
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91278
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134377
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134377
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Post by
gamerunknown
A lot of oil companies are doing this very thing right now. They're creating jobs but more is needed.
Agree entirely with pikeyboy on this one. "Job creation" is a myth of Capitalist propaganda and it looks like it's seeped into the collective unconscious rather like Shell's oil is seeping into the
Niger delta
. Oil has exchange value, but what are the overheads and what is the remuneration? Are there significant sources of means of subsistence that'd otherwise be unavailable on average? In both cases, if so, then why is Nigeria still in the bottom 40 countries for HDI and why have journalists that reported as such been executed?
As for Syria, in terms of raw numbers, more people were killed last year than in Congo. But the Congolese war has claimed several million since 2003 I think. An estimated 300 000 were killed in Darfur in 2003.
That said, I'd like to know of specific instances where charity funds were used to pay for weapons to kill the people they were supposed to aid.
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