Thank you, NPR.

[thistlechaser]

Television news is doing something that really pisses me off. Any video that's popular online gets a showing on the evening news now. It's not even just something that might pass as news, cute puppy/kitten videos, kids, any video that goes viral now ends up on the evening news.

Oh no, please, don't give us actual in depth news coverage, keep the cute kitten videos coming!

This Invisible Children/Kony video is now of course making its round on the TV and radio news shows. But has any news show given any details on the other side? The fact that the Invisible Children foundation exists to pay its staff and the film makers, that it gives only a tiny fraction of the money to actually help? The fact that Kony isn't even in the country anymore? Does the news mention that the founders of Invisible Children actually worked with the bad guys before making this video? (The video is made to take people in though, so it's not surprising that it moved folks.)

Yes. One station did. NPR.

Lots of groups (*cough* right wing, conservative ones) attack NPR. LIBERALS! Oh so left wing! But know what? They're also the ones who do the in depth news. They don't just give 15-30 seconds per story, they'll take as long as needed to cover it. I've listened to 10 minute or longer news stories on one single issue! Not to mention, they cover all the stuff that more mainstream media doesn't.

(This week they've been running a series of stories about a weed called pigweed and how cotton farmers are dealing with it. What I've taken from the story: Farmers know way too little about evolution. They think that since they had one herbicide that worked on it, it would work forever. Hello, evolution calling, it's for you! Think of predators and prey: One gets better so the other has to get better so the first has to get better again. IT'S HOW LIFE WORKS! But no, please, go on thinking that one herbicide will work forever! /rant rant)

Anyway. Last year NPR was the charity I donated to. This year it's ASPCA. (I had thought that signing up for the monthly donations would make those commercials less effective on me. Wrong. They just make me want to donate more. :/ ) They're both worthy, I have no idea which I'll give to next year.

Edit: ARGRRRAGRUG*#$(_FG!# And as I post this, a news-talk show is doing another story on that Kony video. Sigh. I have to stop watching the news. This is making me rage.

Edit 2: And of course I'm not saying that the kids don't need help. Anyone in a warzone needs help, especially children. It's the self-serving Invisible Children foundation that I'm talking about.

Edit 3: Speaking of videos, eek, wow! This is all animation and motion capture, not a real person.
Video here. The middle of the video (which is what shows when you embed) is suggestive, so I'm linking to it instead. It is mostly work safe, though sex is mentioned.

Comments

[bastets-place.livejournal.com]

that is a remarkably touching video.

I, too, get a lot of my news from NPR, and often, a lot of it, actually turns out to have something of a conservative slant. By which I mean traditionally conservative, not the bilge that passes as conservative tv, radio, etc.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Isn't it touching? I questioned posting it because of course it's a female model, but I thought it was still worth sharing. The technology to make it! How real it looks!

And yeah, it's not really all that Liberal, unless you're a frothing "Feminazi" type. (Just typing that, ugh.)

[awhisperofdusk.livejournal.com]

The entire Kony thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Invisible Children is problematic for a million reasons, but that video is good enough and the push is big enough for people to just not think about it.

It's feel-good at its best, and a lot of people don't have the interest, time, or background to go 'oh wait no'.

When I saw the video going around, I linked/reblogged because omg people are talking about KONY but didn't watch it myself, which I should have, but I was busy. :c And really, how much wrong could you get about Kony? There's no shortage of sources.

haha oh me :[

Their work with the Ugandan and Sudanese armies and the focus on military intervention make me 8| and I don't think people donating understand the domino effect of military intervention, or how useless it might turn out to be.

Plus, killing Kony doesn't solve the problems of those areas. As terrible as the man is, there's the problem of his organization still being around afterwards, as is the shitfuckery that is most of Africa.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I still haven't watched the video, and now I don't want to. (My heartstrings are too easily pulled.) I do still intend to watch the Prop 8 video though (speaking of half-hour long videos...), hopefully this weekend.

I know people who are tweeting and reblogging the video have their hearts in the right place. I don't blame them at all. (News shows are a totally different story.) I edited and reedited this post trying to make it give that impression, because a few people on my friends list posted the video and my goal was NOT to make them feel bad.

as is the shitfuckery that is most of Africa

This, sadly. So many bad people with power, too few good folks with power. Way, way too many poor people. ;_;

[awhisperofdusk.livejournal.com]

I don't blame them at all either. The only reason I know about the problems with the video is because of a couple people I follow on tumblr, and any sort of knowledge I have about the political situation in Africa is from having the luxury of spending pretty much all my time studying it. It doesn't help that things like news shows are blaring it everywhere with no critique.

I'm going to be watching both this weekend. o: Free time, yay.

Africa is just such a mess. Just, bad people in power, structural problems, exploitation, imperialism, and a million more issues.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

And you're the reason I know. :) Your comment in Trae's LJ. Otherwise the NPR story today would have taken me by total surprise.

It doesn't help that things like news shows are blaring it everywhere with no critique.

That. It's getting so much exposure as-is, who can blame folks for buying into it?

Africa is just such a mess. Just, bad people in power, structural problems, exploitation, imperialism, and a million more issues.

Have you watched West Wing? (If not, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it. Some of the best stuff ever on TV, especially if you're interested in political stuff.) A small storyline was about how to fix Africa, what one thing that could be done what would make a difference. "Roads" was the answer. (This isn't a spoiler, all this was just a small, minor side-conversation.) With better roads, aid and communication would move better, people would get the help they need, there would be better coverage of the area to world news, so many changes.

[awhisperofdusk.livejournal.com]

I'm glad NPR picked it up. \0/ One hopes other outlets pick it up, but I doubt it.

I haven't actually watched West Wing. Roads would definitely do a world of difference for many countries, so completely agreement there. But even then, the Western world has little interest in most of Africa outside blips like Kony (I mean, he's been around for 25 years, and Darfur has been boiling away for a decade, and you have Rwanda and the DRC and Zimbabwe and X_X). I'm still surprised at how he suddenly appeared on people's radars.

More than that, the structural problems remain. When the borders of Africa were drawn up, they weren't done in consultation with the people who lived there, so you end up with groups that despise each other being citizens in the same country. Which produces things like Rwanda and the Congo.

This is ignoring the entire economic factor in making Africa a mess, both corporations and the IMF.

edit: in sum, tl;dr

[bastets-place.livejournal.com]

I just spent too much time trying to figure out where "X_X" is, and how I would pronounce it.

[halogin.livejournal.com]

I found this to be a good read as well in regard to the Kony 2012/IC thing.
http://projectdiaspora.org/2012/03/08/respect-my-agency-2012/

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's well written. I don't know how the IC people sleep at night. Do they fool themselves that they're actually helping? Or do they know they're not? (I suspect the former.)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I doubt it as well, unfortunately.

I'm still surprised at how he suddenly appeared on people's radars.

I wish I could say I was, but he (or rather, the video) is just the Thing of the Day. Video of a kid playing an instrument, kittens struggling to climb something, puppy snoring... tomorrow it will be something new.

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

If I might make a suggestion, donating to a local humane society or other similar organization would probably be a better use of your money. While the ASPCA is marginally better than the HSUS and PETA in that more than 1% of their money goes to help actual animals, they do work with those other organizations to pass all sorts of legislation that's gradually restricting our ability to own pets. California is actually a major area they focus on because they tend to be more successful there with their stringent laws.

Basically, if you want your money to directly help animals rather than go towards working to make sure you can't have animals in your life, donating to an organization that works directly with animals is the way to go.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I hadn't known that. Thanks!