hreinleiki

This is somewhat of a diary entry, which at points is embarrassing for me, but if you do read it, it’s okay. Just know that I don’t write fantastically.

—

Last night was the first time in a good number of months that I wanted to go to adoration for more than fifteen minutes, and I had a ride and all the time on my hands, so I went.

By God, I cried.

Read More

lolmew:

I’ve heard that as well. Though I’m beginning to think that they haven’t been abducted, but that they actually ARE aliens. There are some things I’ve noticed lately that i just can’t ignore. Here, take a look:

1. Why are they laying down in this photo? Are they recharging?? They don’t have real bodies, they have humanoid vessels!

2. They’ve showed some bizarre use of the English language. It’s not unreasonable to expect aliens to communicate strangely.

3. I found a secret message hidden in the title of two of their songs on Eggs Are Funny.

What do you guys think??

Seriously please don’t support Invisible Children INC. Anymore….

nerdulernerdance:

badwolfcomplex:

hostilities:

swintons:

resistapathy:

Not only are their spending habits as a non profit horrible (Mainly cause the organization has so far only been successful as sending rich white kids to Africa)

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12429

But If you watch their first documentary, its basically a bunch of privileged kids running into Africa to try and “Save” Africans.

http://www.wrongingrights.com/2009/03/worst-idea-ever.html

Which putting aside the orientalism and blatant racism aside, the problem with that is they have NO CLUE what they are doing. The end up using American sympathy to pressure the Ugandan government to try and meet with Kony to work out a truce, he agrees, and they celebrate as saviors of Africa. The Ugandan government would not have done that had a bunch of white kids caused such a ruckuses, Kony ended up using the cease fire as a way to build up more troops, and shift his military, resulting in the rape, killing, and kidnapping of thousands of people. Their second move was to pressure the OBama admin to send troops there… which derailed a second peace process and resulted once again in the killing and raping of hundreds of people in retaliation.

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/136673/mareike-schomerus-tim-allen-and-koen-vlassenroot/obama-takes-on-the-lra

More reading-

http://ilto.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-visible-problem-with-invisible-children/

http://c2052482.r82.cf0.rackcdn.com/images/737/original/FY11-Audited%20Financial%20Statements.pdf?1320205055

If you have anything to add to this, or would like to correct me on anything please feel free  to hit me up. 

Saying this as someone who has had a lot of contact with various members of Invisible Children for at least three years and is part of a club that is somewhat related to Invisible Children, I really have to agree. I was actually really disgusted watching their videos because it’s ultimately focused on the (white) American youth and their feel-good nonsense with cool hip logo shirts. That’s not to say the founders didn’t have good intentions but it’s become something else and they try to commodify the suffering of others.

Not only that but they really know how to just simplify and sanitize the history of Uganda into a black and white issue that reeks of, as the OP said, orientalism and reminds me of US political rhetoric of ‘bad guys’ vs. ‘good guys’ which inevitably leads into ‘bad guys’ being the ~backwards African rebels~ vs. the good western leaders i.e. the US (how’s that intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan and support Israel going eh?).

And it’s really interesting because the club i’m in focuses on grassroots activism and sustainable development in a specific community in Northern Uganda we work with yet somehow the organization refuses to have anything to do with us even though our group with an indirect offshoot of the group. Even in contact like that it’s obvious how sketchy the organization can be since they would go to the Christian social justice groups instead which was unsettling to say the least.

As someone who just reblogged that video everyone’s been reblogging… well, I guess I wasn’t being paranoid.  I think the important thing is to go out and do our own research, find causes and organizations that we trust and with which we can connect.  The Invisible Children video is moving, particularly when Jacob is being interviewed, but like most social media it doesn’t give a nuanced story.  Nonprofits use marketing tools, too, and they are meant for inspiration, not information.

After some of the things showing up on my dash, I thought it might be good to reblog this and spread the word.

Now I just need an alternative way to help. I’d like to hear about other charities out there. If Invisible Children Inc. doesn’t put my money to good use, who does?