Kony 2012

[Irishgunner46]

10 characters.

[afreu]

I have to express my anger about this. Some naive manchild travelled to Africa and came to the discovery they don't have Starbucks and iPads there, now he's feeling guilty and so should you. Millions of mentally deficient Youtube commenters, Zuckerberg financiers, twitters, twatters all spread the word on how passionate they are after watching a 30 minute video about a guy they had never heard of in a country they still haven't heard of. Independent thought apparently isn't very popular amongst a large portion of the population, as it appears nobody stopped to think how wearing bracelets and other merchandise is going to put a halt to all the injustice in the world. It's like wearing AIDS ribbons and all those other feel-good-cause-I-did-my-part initiatives. What are these retards hoping for - that Kony is gonna turn himself in because some hipsters put him in a bad light? That the west is gonna launch a military campaign against this arbitrary bad guy?

Welcome to the real world, where, unlike in Disney movies, self-interest, money and power direct the stage. ****ing imbeciles.

To some extent I agree with your sentiments. What bothers me with the Kony hype is that people might get the misguided belief that they can solve the problems these children face in Central Africa by liking a facebook link or retweeting some video. Invisible Children is actively encouraging this misconception. The problem here is that people might misunderstand their facebook/twitter/whatsoever talk about Kony as real action. They might be satisfied with that rather than actually doing something, i.e. donating, actively and continuously lobbying politicans, etc. Moreover, Invisible Children purposefully creates the illusion that their video provides the viewer with the full insight scope on the problem of the LRA and Kony more specifically. I don't claim to be an expert on that subject, but from the little that I know about the regional wars that took place in Central Africa in the last 30 years, I'm at least aware that the view presented in the video is far too simple and doesn't do the complex history of this conflict any justice. For instance, from the video the casual viewer might get the idea that Kony is the only "bad guy" in Central Africa. While he is quite the bastard himself, one also has to acknowledge that the soldiers of the UPDF - which Invisible Children encourages to support - are no saints either, being implicated in cases of rape, murder and child abuse as well.

Nevertheless, public awareness has an important role to play in pressuring the US administration and other national and international actors to sustain/increase their efforts to capture/kill Kony. Public pressure here is especially relevant, since there are few significant other strategic (economic, security, etc.) interests at stake in this region for the US or other Western nations. Though, one also has to keep in mind that even the capture/killing of Kony is not likely to radically improve the security situation in Central Africa.

Foreign Affairs published an interesting article on that last year:

.. a superficial focus on the activities of one man and a few of his commanders largely sidesteps the point. ... Until the underlying problem -- the region's poor governance -- is adequately dealt with, there will be no sustainable peace. Seriously addressing the suffering of central Africans would require engagement of a much larger order. A huge deployment of peacekeeping troops with a clearly recognized legal mandate would have to be part of it. ... It would require a long-term commitment and would be targeted not only at chasing the LRA. Moreover, it would make the protection of the local populations a key priority.

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articl...kes-on-the-lra

[Corrupt]

It's a nice idea and story but it won't change a thing, only men with guns have the power the change things there, not Facebook. And in the end, every single one of those people want someone else to bleed for their given idea instead of taking the plunge themselves.

So in reality, nothing has or will change.

Try explaining thos to all the idealists raging at me for pointing out there is neither the money nor the political will to do anything meaningful to improve the situation long term.

A classic quote, when I asked what we should do.

I'm not in charge of these affairs and neither are you, so your opinion that it can't happen is irrelevant

[Hollis]

It's a nice idea and story but it won't change a thing, only men with guns have the power the change things there, not Facebook. And in the end, every single one of those people want someone else to bleed for their given idea instead of taking the plunge themselves.

So in reality, nothing has or will change.

What it takes is something Dr. Graham pointed out in one of his speeches. Not about a Christian but a Communist in Mexico on what it takes:

We communists have a high casualty rate. We are the ones who get shot and hung and ridiculed and fired from our jobs and in every other way made as uncomfortable as possible. A certain percentage of us get killed or imprisoned. We live in virtual poverty. We turn back to the party every penny we make above what is absolutely necessary to keep us alive. We communists do not have the time or the money for many movies or concerts or T-bone steaks or decent homes or new cars. We’ve been described as fanatics. We are fanatics. Our lives are dominated by one great, overshadowing factor: the struggle for world communism. We have a philosophy of life which no amount of money could buy. We have a cause to fight for, a definite purpose in life. We subordinate our petty personal selves into a great movement of humanity; and if our personal lives seem hard or our egos appear to suffer through subordination to the party, then we are adequately compensated by the thought that each of us, in his small way, is contributing to something new and true and better for mankind. There is one thing in which I am in dead earnest about, and that is the communist cause. It is my life, my business, my religion, my hobby, my sweetheart, my wife, my mistress, my bread and meat. I work at it in the daytime and dream of it at night. Its hold on me grows, not lessens, as time goes on; therefore, I cannot carry on a friendship, a love affair, or even a conversation without relating it to this force which both drives and guides my life. I evaluate people, looks, ideas, and actions according to how they affect the communist cause, and by their attitude toward it. I’ve already been in jail because of my ideals, and if necessary, I’m ready to go before a firing squad.

[Laworkerbee]

Nice find -H- !!!

[Corrupt]

Someone just sent me this. I'm so tempted to do it.

[Hyde]

This should pop up as a requirement for anyone who wants to share the link to that video anywhere:



Also, this:

[BLUE THOR]

I believe my point was missed. I agree with the use of PMC force. I dont agree UN should have oversight. If you were looking for international rather than national oversight I would go for the AU.

Also dont be tempted to write down all AU as incompetent. I'm not going to say more than "Western Military teams would be better..." is too global and just not factual.

Not writing off the individual contributors to the AU. Indeed the Ethiopians have been doing alot of hard yards to stabilise their neighbour, but I am annoyed at how the AU troops are poorly used in Somalia. Things have got alot better with Bancroft mentors on the ground assisting the AU from patrolling to large scale planning and operations. Since Bancroft commenced operations the AU's ability to get the job done has increased. Executive Outcomes was the decisive force behind Angola's democratically elected government at the time winning the civil war against the SPLA. However, Eeben Barlow freely admits that training alone did not do the job, as the leadership needed to develop confidence in its abilities, and the soldiers needed to develop theirs and know they werent being ordered around by officers who didnt really know what they were doing.
Equally importantly the world needs to accept that out of the ashes the phoenix rises, and sometimes this means total annihilation is necessary. Sri Lanka battled for years against the Tamil Rebels, suffered countless terrorist attacks and military strikes. When the Government finally put its foot down and continued to fight the Tamils regardless of sanctions and international condemnation, they got the job done and the Tamil Tigers disappeared, and have not been seen since. wasnt pretty, but sometimes violence is necessary for the greater good. Everyone is worried about having to kill off half the poor kids in Kony's possession to get to him, and they are probably right, but what do you do? He will continue this behaviour and maybe slip up one day and get caught but its not likely, as he is always a few steps ahead of the Ugandan and Congolese Army units tracking him down. They cant figure out how he is so well informed and blame magic of all fückin things. [
It seems we agree in principle but our idea of how to use the assets at hand differ somewhat, such is life, if we all thought the same there would be no challenges to and development of ideas

QUOTE=Corrupt;6070494]Someone just sent me this. I'm so tempted to do it.
[/QUOTE]

Thinking about it too...

[PurpleCrow]

Oh god... So wrong but so true.

[Laworkerbee]

Hyde, that was awesome!!!

[Sarig]

PMC's are the answer to Africas problems. properly governed and overseen by the UN but given the ability to act offensively and without the usual UN process of retardedness on Ops.
Let them train and mentor the local army and see the results. Then let them hold the ground with the locals while the UN takes over and governments see that investing their manpower and money wont be an utter waste.

Ahh, common sense again, my apologies.

I read your post, and all I saw was Structural Adjustement: The Sequel.

[LineDoggie]

Want to stop it Hipsters/Hollywood/UN hand wringers? Pick a goddamned real weapon up for once and fight it.

[LineDoggie]

......................................

[Irishgunner46]

Want to stop it Hipsters/Hollywood/UN hand wringers? Pick a goddamned real weapon up for once and fight it.

Dude thats like so mainstream...

[afreu]

PMC's are the answer to Africas problems. properly governed and overseen by the UN but given the ability to act offensively and without the usual UN process of retardedness on Ops.
Let them train and mentor the local army and see the results. Then let them hold the ground with the locals while the UN takes over and governments see that investing their manpower and money wont be an utter waste.

Ahh, common sense again, my apologies.

The conclusion that PMCs are the answer to Africa's problems is not common sense it's simplistic beyond belief. It's as naiive or even worse than those facebook and twitter hipsters who believe they understand the continent after watching a 30min youtube-video. EO had some success in a very specific context and under very specific conditions. Only focusing on PMCs as the solution for armed conflict ignores the political, economic, ethnic and other factors that drive and sustain conflicts.

Besides that, the majority of Africa's problem cannot be solved by military means since the majority of African nations do not suffer of armed conflict. There are 56 countries in Africa, each with their very own specific problems. Some of these problems are of a security nature, many more are dominated by their political, economic or social character.