Celebrity Colonialism

[internautte]

nagged from my friend's list.

Brendan O’Neill
Brad, Angelina and the rise of 'celebrity colonialism'
What gives two Hollywood actors the right to shut down an African nation so that they can have a special experience?Over the past six weeks a Western security force has effectively taken over the small African nation of Namibia. A beach resort in

Comments

this article's pretty much crap & speculation

[captain_brad]

Wasn't she doing humanitarian work there to begin with, and then donated $300k worth of natal equipment? I'm also kind of wary of any article that uses words/phrases like "reportedly", "apparent", etc. Also, since it's posted here, is this even an issue of white folks, or just attention hungry celebs in general? What if Jada Pinkett decided to have a kid in Namibia under the same circumstances?

And is Ms. Jolie doing more harm than good with this? What is the author of the article doing about poverty in Namibia? It may be self-serving for a celebrity to put themselves in the spotlight in the name of a good cause, but they're also bring to light the cause itself. A cause that may not be brought to people's attention otherwise.

just trying to offer some critical thinking.

Re: this article's pretty much crap & speculation

[likeawoman]

I agree that this entire article is pretty damned dubious.

Re: this article's pretty much crap & speculation

[chreebomb]

and why is that?

Re: this article's pretty much crap & speculation

[likeawoman]

because it ignores many factors, including Jolie's considerable work with the UN all over the continent (including her personal financial support of educational and medical facilities, which seems a bit more complex than "some ‘focking money’"), to make a polarizing and ill supported point for the sake of taking the piss at some celebrities

[chreebomb]

why exaggerating?

[chreebomb]

no. you're missing the point. it's not just celebrity bashing. it's taking a look at the power imbalance between these white westerners and the various exploited african nations in situations like this. it's how the white people get praised for being so farward-thinking as to donate some cash to a hospital, all the while not knowing or caring about the political strife, the exploitation, the slave labor, the U.S.-backed regimes... etc etc etc.

look at the larger picture in the context of privilege and entitlement.

[mrw372435]

Does the intent of a "good deed" outweigh the benefits of said deed? It is entirely possible that the governing body of Namibia looked at the situation and said "Wow, what a pain this will be! On the other hand, a new maternity ward and increased tourism...rich Americans with money to spend, coming here. That's worth the pain."

[chreebomb]

but deconstruct further, please. let's look at their entitlement and privilege here and how it's affecting an entire nation.

[mrw372435]

No one is arguing that acting out of entitlement and priviledge are morally reprehensible. But is the net result for Namibia a bad one?

[chreebomb]

um.... exploitation and flaunting of power and privilege--both economic and racial--never amount to "net good," imo

[recumbentgoat]

hahahahahahahahaha! ha.

Defensive mighty whiteys pulling the hypothetical 'what ifs'.

smh.

[chreebomb]

god.

"think of all the good brangelina are doing!!1!1!"

[recumbentgoat]

Hey, she's the UN Goodwill Ambassador! That pretty much leaves her immune from mighty whitey critiques right?

smh

[chreebomb]

but of course! and she adopted two brown babies, too. so that's like the trump Get Out of Racism Free card.

[myowndirection]

none of you know anything about what's going on there and the chief source of information is currently the tabloid press. go back to reading us weekly and drinking your frappucinos and stop acting like you're better than everybody else because you hate angelina. it's just unoriginal.

[pretzelsalt]

Having an unpopular oppinion and voicing it is not the same thing as thinking you are better then everyone else.

"their visit has been, overall, unimportant to most of the people in namibia."

You again make sweeping statments about other people's realities.