[Craig328]

bonyjoe, on 07 March 2012 - 02:29 PM, said:

It looks like people are so desperate to look like they are trying to be good people that they are just following something blindly without looking into the issue at all.

Agrees

[ZOMBIE!!!]

Made a thread for this, for some reason I didn't see this one (sorry mods). Well here is what I said:

Well the viral video has been spread to the point where my 13 year old sister knows who Joseph Kony is. Personally I don't really like the campaign. I could tell you why but I think this article does a better job at explaining than I could: TThink Twice Before Donating to Kony 2012

I'm not trying to say donating money to 3rd world countries is a bad thing but I honestly don't see this accomplishing anything. Also, it hasn't been made clear to me exactly where the donated money is going.

To me people (at least my facebook friends) are spreading this to put forth some sort of image for their peers. It has been well known that conditions in Africa haven't been good at all for a long time, yet it takes a cutesie motivational video to make everyone jump on the bandwagon.

This post has been edited by ZOMBIE!!!: 07 March 2012 - 08:10 PM

[WolfCoder]

I still think it's good to raise awareness about Kony, but remember this organization has been rallying against him for about a decade (I actually remember a news article years ago about "Child Soldiers"). Kony is still at large, so dumping your money into an organization that has failed to provide results might not exactly be a smart thing to do.

The guy kind of gives off this Michael Moore vibe which tells you he probably makes a living off of publishing emotional documentaries.

I still re-posted the awareness message, but I hope you actually think of your own solutions at the same time- relying on falling dominos and spamming celebrities isn't going to flush this asshole out of the jungle.

This post has been edited by WolfCoder: 08 March 2012 - 12:16 AM

[Curtis Rutland]

Yeah, this blew up recently, for god knows what reason. This has been going on for how long? And also, I challenge the people posting and forwarding this to point to Uganda on a map without help. People read a story or watch a video and think they're experts on the political situation in Africa.

This is another case of slactivism. People who think changing their profile picture on facebook is changing the world. People who think because they retweeted something, they made a difference. Yeah, that's how people with no real problems try to "help" people on the other side of the world with real problems.

On top of my cynicism, there's also the warnings that the charity driving this whole thing is shady as hell. So have fun with that too.

[xclite]

I'm apparently not allowed to post images.

[Creecher]

I'm not defending the people that are all "jumping on the bandwagon" or whatever, but isn't it better to come into it late than never? There are other organizations you can assist monetarily that aren't nearly as shady Invisible Children. (though they are actively defending themselves against critics)

Anyways, I'm not really going to help like I said I was. I have bad commitment problems and there's a concert that night. Concert > African kids.

[Kilorn]

Depends on who is playing, Creecher.

[WolfCoder]

Curtis Rutland, on 08 March 2012 - 07:16 AM, said:

..I challenge the people posting and forwarding this to point to Uganda on a map without help...

https://en.wikipedia...ojection%29.svg

The more you know~*

[Tarkenfire]

Every transaction of money is an investment, whether it be me paying my water and porn bills or someone making a donation to charity.

Blindly donating to a charity is about the same as blindly investing in the stock market, picking the companies that sound "cool" or "needy".

People who would do that don't deserve their money anyways.

[BenignDesign]

[lordofduct]

I understand and agree with the criticism of people lazily donating to organizations with out researching more into who they are.

But I'd rather people sharing information like this than not doing anything and being blindly ignorant all together. Calling something slactivism, a word I've been hearing a lot lately thrown about to describe all sorts of types of activism, is just as bullshit as what you're trying to demonize.

So you think slactivists are bad because they 'might' donate to the wrong organization (the determinism of which is highly subjective except in the few obvious cases)... ok then also spread information about which is the better organization to donate to. Raise awareness of both damn it.

I only say this because I know people who are passionate about things like this, do research a lot about things like this (maybe not Africa in all cases, but Africa isn't the only problem in the world), but because they only do it from their computer they get labeled a "slactivist".

If it's what you care about, and that is the means of which you have available to yourself, then hell do it. If all I had was a penny to donate to a starving child... it's still more than nothing. Key words there "all I had"...

But of course we have to just pigeonhole the entire group of people who perform some activity lazy and are doing it for only selfish means. How do you know this? And so what?

When I was a kid my house burned down, my brother's went to hospital, and we were on welfare. A lot of people called us lazy good for nothing bums, I was picked on in school and told that my family deserved to die, that my brother's deserved it. But some people held out a helping hand... several of which were probably just to make them feel better about themselves... maybe it wasn't as altruistic as they thought it was.

BUT

I had food in my belly, the fuck if they wanted to pat themselves on the back. I still thanked them graciously, and let them have the stupid petty pat on the back, it ain't hurting.

[Curtis Rutland]

WolfCoder, on 08 March 2012 - 09:27 AM, said:

Curtis Rutland, on 08 March 2012 - 07:16 AM, said:

..I challenge the people posting and forwarding this to point to Uganda on a map without help...

https://en.wikipedia...ojection%29.svg

The more you know~*

Kinda missing the point. Yeah, it can easily be looked up, but most of these people wouldn't know Uganda from Uruguay, and they're preaching to others.

Quote

Every transaction of money is an investment, whether it be me paying my water and porn bills or someone making a donation to charity.

Investment is something you expect a return on. The exact opposite of charity. So I have to disagree. On the other hand, blindly throwing your money at a charity you know nothing about is stupid, but let's not pretend that we're investing in anything when we're giving.

Quote

I understand and agree with the criticism of people lazily donating to organizations with out researching more into who they are....So you think slactivists are bad because they 'might' donate to the wrong organization

No, I think they're bad because they equate posting a facebook status update as "doing something to help." Yeah, yeah, raise awareness and all, but these people don't really care, they just care about being trendy, and honestly think that thousands of people making tweets are making a difference. Donating and volunteering make a difference. Hashtags usually don't. I'm not criticizing people who actually donate, I'm criticizing people who are "changing the world, one status post at a time."

Quote

I only say this because I know people who are passionate about things like this, do research a lot about things like this (maybe not Africa in all cases, but Africa isn't the only problem in the world), but because they only do it from their computer they get labeled a "slactivist".

If they're doing their research and actively supporting something they understand in a constructive way, they're not slactivists. Slactivists are the people who changed their Facebook picture to a cartoon to "fight child abuse."

[Tarkenfire]

You can get a "return" on an investment that isn't monetary, giving to a charity that ultimately ends up doing serious good or making a serious change in the world, for instance.

[ccubed]

Step 1: Kill Kony
Step 2: Someone else takes his place
Step 3: Kill that person
Step 4: Go to Step 2

This is a unique problem with America. We never want to treat the cause, only the symptoms.

This post has been edited by ccubed: 08 March 2012 - 07:41 PM

[lordofduct]

I wouldn't say that it's unique to America...