Kony 2012

che wrote:excellent post, care to elaborate? for example, why peru, a former colony whose population was pretty much wiped out and the land was exploited for natural resources, has more than 3 times gdp per capita of nigeria, a country with one of the world's biggest oil reserves?

in fact, i'd make the argument the opposite way... early colonisation helped establish modern (at least comparatively modern) and more civilized societies, most of subsaharan africa wasn't really colonised until late 19th century, and it shows

to elaborate, yes, my first comment how they have noone to blame but themselves was stupid and wrong... the european, and later rest of the world, countries did have a hand in it, but it's painfully obvious that a lot (i'd hazard a guess that in a lot of countries it's the majorty) of the people in the region simply aren't educated enough to start a real economy, and i'm sorry but for that they can only blame themselves... for god's sake witchcraft is illegal in cameroon

i facepalmed because you grossly oversimplified the issue. it's not like it's one country that needs to get it together, it's an entire continent made of many nations, many more than in south america which you cited.

To be clear, colonization came after the slave trade.Africa on a whole was already weakened, the vast majority of their labour had already been shipped to various continents across the world and I must emphasize....the only way to make the step to industrial society is through agricultural revolution.

Apart from the various droughts and floods etc etc, not having a viable work force makes it impossible to progress.Something exacerbated when you later get colonized and the natural wealth you have is also stripped.

I agree colonization helped establish modern societies.......In the new world.Africa is part of the old world , their civilizations were far more complex than you get the impression they were today, the Ancient Egyptians(obviously) rivaled Rome and the Mali Empire for example was wonderful civilizations, both ,very well respected at the time the slave trade began.

Even in the New World judgment is tainted by the fact that missionaries burned and pillaged native Masterpieces, but stuff like the Dressden codex remain showing clear evidence that these people ween't the barbarous idiots that they're so unfortunately perceived as.

Europe underdeveloped Africa.....it's pretty clear to see and the effects still reverberate.

Did they build any industries? No - they took their resources manufactured it back home.

Did they set up any solid viable political structures? - No

They did what they wanted and then left the states which had become dependent on them with nothing.

Chaos ensued.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/invisible-children-co-founder-jason-russell-reportedly-arrested/2012/03/16/gIQAuBl5GS_blog.html

A co-founder of Invisible Children was detained in San Diego last night for public drunkenness and masturbating, according to the San Diego police, NBC San Diego reports.


Jason Russell poses in New York on March 9. (Brendan McDermid - Reuters) Jason Russell, 33, the filmmaker behind the very viral “Kony 2012” campaign, was allegedly found masturbating in public and vandalizing cars, and was possibly under the influence, Lt. Andra Brown told the outlet. Brown said Russell was acting very strangely, according to NBC San Diego.

In a statement, Invisible Children CEO Ben Keesey said:

“Jason Russell was unfortunately hospitalized yesterday suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition. He is now receiving medical care and is focused on getting better. The past two weeks have taken a severe emotional toll on all of us, Jason especially, and that toll manifested itself in an unfortunate incident yesterday. Jason’s passion and his work have done so much to help so many, and we are devastated to see him dealing with this personal health issue. We will always love and support Jason, and we ask that you give his entire family privacy during this difficult time.”

http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/16/jason-russell-video-naked-meltdown-kony/#.T2PI7BEgffg


:lol!:


A rep for Invisible Children says Russell was suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition as a result of a strenuous PR campaign.

VivaStPauli wrote:

everest1 wrote:Development aid, as in from USAID? or from donations to NGOs?

I generally agree that development aid can (and often does) aggrandize instead of alleviate problems, but i think that this is a little extreme. i'd say dont donate to any cause, not just africa, without doing background research into the organisation and the issue it is working to alleviate. however, unlike state sponsored aid, there are many, many NGOs doing credible and commendable work in africa and all over the world that deserve our donations. IMHO invisible children is not one of those organisations.

The NGOs as well. If your NGO of choice wants to get a couple of tons of rice to, say, Darfur, they have to bribe their way there through corrupt customs officials, a couple warlords on the road, maybe even pirates on the way over.

And for what? Better not fund the warlords, until they give up, and the people there can become self-sufficient in moderate peace. As long as there's an influx of foreign money there really is no need for the weapon-bearing elites to change anything.

this sounds like draining the pond to kill the fish, and be damed if everything else in the pond dies too. i see your point, but there is a middle ground between waiting for the warlords to "give up" (and thus allowing circumstances to deteriorate beyond what they would have with intervention) and fueling more war via corruption, etc. In some parts of the world corruption is just a part of everyday life--but that doesn't mean that the money is funneled to a warlord, OR that we should not reach out to developing countries until ALL corruption is stamped out. Again I agree in principle, but i think you're being a little extreme.

Albiceleste wrote:http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/16/jason-russell-video-naked-meltdown-kony/#.T2PI7BEgffg


:lol!:


A rep for Invisible Children says Russell was suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition as a result of a strenuous PR campaign.

lol... so being tired, hungry, and thirsty leads to public masturbation? at 10:30 AM? sounds more like a bad shroom trip to me.

and if you didnt have a reason not to give your money to IC before, well, here you go.

Albiceleste wrote:http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/16/jason-russell-video-naked-meltdown-kony/#.T2PI7BEgffg


:lol!:


A rep for Invisible Children says Russell was suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition as a result of a strenuous PR campaign.

ROFL! He looks like a baboon on the loose

Albiceleste wrote:http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/16/jason-russell-video-naked-meltdown-kony/#.T2PI7BEgffg

Angry chimpanzee.

The Invisible Children just lost a lot of credibility.

Looks like he left little invisiible children all over san diego

7amood11 wrote:

Albiceleste wrote:http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/16/jason-russell-video-naked-meltdown-kony/#.T2PI7BEgffg

Angry chimpanzee.

The Invisible Children just lost a lot of credibility.

they lost credibility when they spent 1 million on the film and only used 30% of the donations on doing something