A random assortment of potentially (but doubtfully) valuable things
1. So I'm sure many of you know about that video about Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony produced by the NGO Invisible Children that went viral a couple of days ago (if you don't know what I'm talking about, look up "Kony 2012" on YouTube). The video has become quite a big deal, generating a lot of buzz and publicity in a remarkably short amount of time; I've seen many people on LJ, Twitter, and Facebook talk about it, so I felt it was necessary to do a post about it, much like the 2009 protests in Iran and last year's "Arab Spring." I would make a big linkdump about it, complete with pertinent quotes, but I've been feeling too lazy and tired to do one up this time, and besides, many people have already beaten me to it:
--eska_rina has put together a great assortment of links and relevant quotes
--ontd_political has its big compendium of links here; of particular interest is The Guardian's liveblog of the fallout
--The conveniently titled "Reader's digest to Kony 2012"
I know it may seem like a ton of links to deal with, each attached to rather long reads, but I highly, highly recommend you skim them at the very least. The issues, criticisms, and commentary Invisible Children's campaign has raised can't be neatly summed up in a quick soundbite, and it's very important to read up on the issues before you decide to donate money or engage in activism -- not just on this particular issue, but on everything else as well.
I personally find myself agreeing with the backlash against IC's campaign, and while I think #Kony2012 has good intentions, it has not been thought out very well. The campaign appears to ignore much of the context of the conflict in Uganda, such as how Kony and the LRA became prominent, the circumstances in which (and reasons why) it happened, and the legacy of European colonialism and imperialism that ultimately led such a situation to come about in the first place. The campaign also paints a picture of Uganda that is overly simplistic and reductive; it plays into the common media narrative of Africa being a place of nothing but war, starvation, and poverty, and that only Americans/the West/white people can "save" Africans from this predicament. Not only is this narrative rooted in the same kinds of ideas that led European powers to colonize Africa in the first place, but it's also extremely inaccurate, given that a variety of peoples and cultures exist on the continent, that there are already many organizations on the ground in areas affected by the LRA run by Africans themselves doing the work IC claims to be doing, and that many Africans -- some of whom have been directly affected by Kony's violence -- take issue with the campaign and suggest better ways of going about it. The fact that the campaign's promoters don't appear to be listening to the voices of Africans themselves, especially those of the people they're purporting to stand for, shows how paternalistic it really is, and how it's nothing more than "Kony is evil, he used child soldiers, he must be brought to justice." Obviously Kony is evil and needs to be brought to justice, but if you think about the "nuts and bolts" of how to do it, and the consequences it might bring, then you realize just how good intentions aren't enough.
Obviously these criticisms shouldn't be an excuse to dismiss #Kony2012 as an exercise in feel-good activism targeting American college students; human rights violations are an affront to all of humanity, and we shouldn't stand by and let them happen. But creating change isn't nearly as glamorous as the video makes it out to be, and context (and the nuances, complexities, and frustrations that come with it) matters. If something seems too black-and-white, it probably is. It pays to do your research and come up with your own conclusions, and this is no exception.
*********************************************************************************************
Onto other things:
2. This is the best modern-day retelling of a fairy tale you'll see this week, hands down:
3. I don't post fic recs that often on here, but I found a great LoGH fic worth checking out: Inheritance. Cross-dressing!young!Reuenthal fic that's not crack and is actually pretty well-written? YESPLZ. :D
4. A continuation of the seven-questions meme from the last post, this time from iron_valkyrie :
1. Things you wish happened more with fictional characters. (Either canon, fandom, whatever you wish. |D)
This one's hard to answer because it's just so broad. Hmmm......I do wish there were more queer/GSM characters in fiction in general, especially those who aren't stereotypes or token characters or two-dimensional villains; it'd be great if their gender/sexual identity would be seen as normal and just another facet of them. Queer relationships, especially in the mainstream, need to be portrayed as normal and okay and not things that are tragic and/or voyeuristic, because straight relationships are so predominant and I'd love to see some variety and challenged preconceptions. Fandom as a whole does a lot better when it comes to this sort of thing, though it still has a long way to go too. Mostly though, TBH, it'd be really nice to see muscular male stars in action movies kiss other men. Oh yeah. XD
And there needs to be better representation of POCs, women, disabled people, and other minorities in canons and fandoms as well (and the characters who already exist shouldn't be as ignored as they often are).
It'd also be really great to see more characters like Shinji from Evangelion or Britta from Community -- characters who are tremendously flawed (and in Shinji's case, tragically so) and can be very annoying to many fans, but who are written with a great deal of realism and empathy. Characters who aren't just wannabe Mary Sues, and whose flaws are integral to who they are and not inherently good or bad, are interesting because they're exactly like real people we all know (maybe even ourselves?), and any negative responses they might elicit can show just how much they move and relate to us, or possibly provoke discussion and/or self-reflection, which I always consider a good thing. ;-) (And more witty banter! Or just more dialogue that lines up more with how real people talk IRL and isn't so obviously scripted.)
As for fandom, I'd like to see more long, plotty fics, with all the consequences thought out, and could have been a lost episode or story arc from the canon it's based from. Yeah, there are times when I don't like putting that much effort into reading a multi-chapter fic, and I like fluff and slash and porn as much as everyone else, but long fics that explore new facets to the characters, settings, and themes we're so familiar with are almost always worth it when done well. Especially if there are deeper themes and ideas they decide to explore -- I always enjoy that. ^_^; Fics with an original voice/style are also a big plus; the best fics I've read are the ones where they make me wonder why the authors haven't gotten published professionally yet.
And crossovers! I especially love it when it's two completely different (kinds of) canons that get mashed up, and it's not crack. For example, I once came across a fic for A:tLA in which the characters were transported to the world of House; I loved the idea, and I thought it had lots of potential, but ultimately I didn't think it was all that good. I wish there were more fics like that, where characters from a pre-modern fantasy world like A:tLA were put into a modern-day setting. Like, say, Sherlock. Or Community. The culture shock alone would be funny and fascinating to read!
2. What makes your day better?
Little things -- mail addressed to me, comments on my entries, discovering new songs or poems that absolutely floor me, going out to eat for dinner, good news regarding the family, etc.
3. Your top pet peeves.
I have quite a few, but I can't think of many off the top of my head right now. :P My psoriasis, the times everyone else in my family acts immature, people who are ignorant and uninformed about anything (or worse, those who are proud of it), the sound of metal scraping against metal, smokers -- that's about all I can think of at 2:30 in the morning. 8D
4. Your dream pet.
I once wished I had a German Shepard as a pet. Though nowadays, I think I'd be OK not having any. Too much responsibility for me right now. ^_^;
5. Your childhood favorite superhero and supervillian.
Ummm......is it bad to say I don't have one? I was never much into the whole superhero genre when I was a kid, and I hardly read comic books. ._.,
6. Something you believe strongly in.
The #Kony2012 stuff I posted above, for one thing. And the right for all women (and all people with uteri) to have safe, cheap access to reproductive health care, including birth control and abortions, no restrictions, no questions asked.
7. Favorite quotations, song lyrics, etc. :D
I could be here all night posting these. XD So I'll just do one I've been liking a lot lately:
“The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you.” -- Neil deGrasse Tyson
Originally posted at http://quadruplify.dreamwidth.org/128265.html || Comments on original post:
--eska_rina has put together a great assortment of links and relevant quotes
--ontd_political has its big compendium of links here; of particular interest is The Guardian's liveblog of the fallout
--The conveniently titled "Reader's digest to Kony 2012"
I know it may seem like a ton of links to deal with, each attached to rather long reads, but I highly, highly recommend you skim them at the very least. The issues, criticisms, and commentary Invisible Children's campaign has raised can't be neatly summed up in a quick soundbite, and it's very important to read up on the issues before you decide to donate money or engage in activism -- not just on this particular issue, but on everything else as well.
I personally find myself agreeing with the backlash against IC's campaign, and while I think #Kony2012 has good intentions, it has not been thought out very well. The campaign appears to ignore much of the context of the conflict in Uganda, such as how Kony and the LRA became prominent, the circumstances in which (and reasons why) it happened, and the legacy of European colonialism and imperialism that ultimately led such a situation to come about in the first place. The campaign also paints a picture of Uganda that is overly simplistic and reductive; it plays into the common media narrative of Africa being a place of nothing but war, starvation, and poverty, and that only Americans/the West/white people can "save" Africans from this predicament. Not only is this narrative rooted in the same kinds of ideas that led European powers to colonize Africa in the first place, but it's also extremely inaccurate, given that a variety of peoples and cultures exist on the continent, that there are already many organizations on the ground in areas affected by the LRA run by Africans themselves doing the work IC claims to be doing, and that many Africans -- some of whom have been directly affected by Kony's violence -- take issue with the campaign and suggest better ways of going about it. The fact that the campaign's promoters don't appear to be listening to the voices of Africans themselves, especially those of the people they're purporting to stand for, shows how paternalistic it really is, and how it's nothing more than "Kony is evil, he used child soldiers, he must be brought to justice." Obviously Kony is evil and needs to be brought to justice, but if you think about the "nuts and bolts" of how to do it, and the consequences it might bring, then you realize just how good intentions aren't enough.
Obviously these criticisms shouldn't be an excuse to dismiss #Kony2012 as an exercise in feel-good activism targeting American college students; human rights violations are an affront to all of humanity, and we shouldn't stand by and let them happen. But creating change isn't nearly as glamorous as the video makes it out to be, and context (and the nuances, complexities, and frustrations that come with it) matters. If something seems too black-and-white, it probably is. It pays to do your research and come up with your own conclusions, and this is no exception.
*********************************************************************************************
Onto other things:
2. This is the best modern-day retelling of a fairy tale you'll see this week, hands down:
Click to view3. I don't post fic recs that often on here, but I found a great LoGH fic worth checking out: Inheritance. Cross-dressing!young!Reuenthal fic that's not crack and is actually pretty well-written? YESPLZ. :D
4. A continuation of the seven-questions meme from the last post, this time from iron_valkyrie :
1. Things you wish happened more with fictional characters. (Either canon, fandom, whatever you wish. |D)
This one's hard to answer because it's just so broad. Hmmm......I do wish there were more queer/GSM characters in fiction in general, especially those who aren't stereotypes or token characters or two-dimensional villains; it'd be great if their gender/sexual identity would be seen as normal and just another facet of them. Queer relationships, especially in the mainstream, need to be portrayed as normal and okay and not things that are tragic and/or voyeuristic, because straight relationships are so predominant and I'd love to see some variety and challenged preconceptions. Fandom as a whole does a lot better when it comes to this sort of thing, though it still has a long way to go too. Mostly though, TBH, it'd be really nice to see muscular male stars in action movies kiss other men. Oh yeah. XD
And there needs to be better representation of POCs, women, disabled people, and other minorities in canons and fandoms as well (and the characters who already exist shouldn't be as ignored as they often are).
It'd also be really great to see more characters like Shinji from Evangelion or Britta from Community -- characters who are tremendously flawed (and in Shinji's case, tragically so) and can be very annoying to many fans, but who are written with a great deal of realism and empathy. Characters who aren't just wannabe Mary Sues, and whose flaws are integral to who they are and not inherently good or bad, are interesting because they're exactly like real people we all know (maybe even ourselves?), and any negative responses they might elicit can show just how much they move and relate to us, or possibly provoke discussion and/or self-reflection, which I always consider a good thing. ;-) (And more witty banter! Or just more dialogue that lines up more with how real people talk IRL and isn't so obviously scripted.)
As for fandom, I'd like to see more long, plotty fics, with all the consequences thought out, and could have been a lost episode or story arc from the canon it's based from. Yeah, there are times when I don't like putting that much effort into reading a multi-chapter fic, and I like fluff and slash and porn as much as everyone else, but long fics that explore new facets to the characters, settings, and themes we're so familiar with are almost always worth it when done well. Especially if there are deeper themes and ideas they decide to explore -- I always enjoy that. ^_^; Fics with an original voice/style are also a big plus; the best fics I've read are the ones where they make me wonder why the authors haven't gotten published professionally yet.
And crossovers! I especially love it when it's two completely different (kinds of) canons that get mashed up, and it's not crack. For example, I once came across a fic for A:tLA in which the characters were transported to the world of House; I loved the idea, and I thought it had lots of potential, but ultimately I didn't think it was all that good. I wish there were more fics like that, where characters from a pre-modern fantasy world like A:tLA were put into a modern-day setting. Like, say, Sherlock. Or Community. The culture shock alone would be funny and fascinating to read!
2. What makes your day better?
Little things -- mail addressed to me, comments on my entries, discovering new songs or poems that absolutely floor me, going out to eat for dinner, good news regarding the family, etc.
3. Your top pet peeves.
I have quite a few, but I can't think of many off the top of my head right now. :P My psoriasis, the times everyone else in my family acts immature, people who are ignorant and uninformed about anything (or worse, those who are proud of it), the sound of metal scraping against metal, smokers -- that's about all I can think of at 2:30 in the morning. 8D
4. Your dream pet.
I once wished I had a German Shepard as a pet. Though nowadays, I think I'd be OK not having any. Too much responsibility for me right now. ^_^;
5. Your childhood favorite superhero and supervillian.
Ummm......is it bad to say I don't have one? I was never much into the whole superhero genre when I was a kid, and I hardly read comic books. ._.,
6. Something you believe strongly in.
The #Kony2012 stuff I posted above, for one thing. And the right for all women (and all people with uteri) to have safe, cheap access to reproductive health care, including birth control and abortions, no restrictions, no questions asked.
7. Favorite quotations, song lyrics, etc. :D
I could be here all night posting these. XD So I'll just do one I've been liking a lot lately:
“The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you.” -- Neil deGrasse Tyson
Originally posted at http://quadruplify.dreamwidth.org/128265.html || Comments on original post: