Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Stop Trying To 'Save' Africa
I found this in one of the communities on livejournal I frequent, and it basically summed up my thoughts on all these "Save Africa!" campaigns. Although there are good in theory, they are missing the point that Africa is a continent where each country has its specific issues that need to be addressed and one solution wont work/charity is not going to "save" Africa (having more access to trade with the Western world might. How many countries can you list got rich based on hand-outs? Exactly)/how these celebrities just jump on the charity bandwagon and arent educated about what they are supporting/etc etc. I actually recommend you read this article and not skim through it.
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Stop Trying To 'Save' Africa
By Uzodinma Iweala
Sunday, July 15, 2007; B07
Last fall, shortly after I returned from Nigeria, I was accosted by a perky blond college student whose blue eyes seemed to match the "African" beads around her wrists. "Save Darfur!" she shouted from behind a table covered with pamphlets urging students to TAKE ACTION NOW! STOP GENOCIDE IN DARFUR!
My aversion to college kids jumping onto fashionable social causes nearly caused me to walk on, but her next shout stopped me. "Don't you want to help us save Africa?" she yelled.
It seems that these days, wracked by guilt at the humanitarian crisis it has created in the Middle East, the West has turned to Africa for redemption. Idealistic college students, celebrities such as Bob Geldof and politicians such as Tony Blair have all made bringing light to the dark continent their mission. They fly in for internships and fact-finding missions or to pick out children to adopt in much the same way my friends and I in New York take the subway to the pound to adopt stray dogs.
This is the West's new image of itself: a sexy, politically active generation whose preferred means of spreading the word are magazine spreads with celebrities pictured in the foreground, forlorn Africans in the back. Never mind that the stars sent to bring succor to the natives often are, willingly, as emaciated as those they want to help.
Perhaps most interesting is the language used to describe the Africa being saved. For example, the Keep a Child Alive/" I am African" ad campaign features portraits of primarily white, Western celebrities with painted "tribal markings" on their faces above "I AM AFRICAN" in bold letters. Below, smaller print says, "help us stop the dying."
Such campaigns, however well intentioned, promote the stereotype of Africa as a black hole of disease and death. News reports constantly focus on the continent's corrupt leaders, warlords, "tribal" conflicts, child laborers, and women disfigured by abuse and genital mutilation. These descriptions run under headlines like "Can Bono Save Africa?" or "Will Brangelina Save Africa?" The relationship between the West and Africa is no longer based on openly racist beliefs, but such articles are reminiscent of reports from the heyday of European colonialism, when missionaries were sent to Africa to introduce us to education, Jesus Christ and "civilization."
There is no African, myself included, who does not appreciate the help of the wider world, but we do question whether aid is genuine or given in the spirit of affirming one's cultural superiority. My mood is dampened every time I attend a benefit whose host runs through a litany of African disasters before presenting a (usually) wealthy, white person, who often proceeds to list the things he or she has done for the poor, starving Africans. Every time a well-meaning college student speaks of villagers dancing because they were so grateful for her help, I cringe. Every time a Hollywood director shoots a film about Africa that features a Western protagonist, I shake my head -- because Africans, real people though we may be, are used as props in the West's fantasy of itself. And not only do such depictions tend to ignore the West's prominent role in creating many of the unfortunate situations on the continent, they also ignore the incredible work Africans have done and continue to do to fix those problems.
Why do the media frequently refer to African countries as having been "granted independence from their colonial masters," as opposed to having fought and shed blood for their freedom? Why do Angelina Jolie and Bono receive overwhelming attention for their work in Africa while Nwankwo Kanu or Dikembe Mutombo, Africans both, are hardly ever mentioned? How is it that a former mid-level U.S. diplomat receives more attention for his cowboy antics in Sudan than do the numerous African Union countries that have sent food and troops and spent countless hours trying to negotiate a settlement among all parties in that crisis?
Two years ago I worked in a camp for internally displaced people in Nigeria, survivors of an uprising that killed about 1,000 people and displaced 200,000. True to form, the Western media reported on the violence but not on the humanitarian work the state and local governments -- without much international help -- did for the survivors. Social workers spent their time and in many cases their own salaries to care for their compatriots. These are the people saving Africa, and others like them across the continent get no credit for their work.
Last month the Group of Eight industrialized nations and a host of celebrities met in Germany to discuss, among other things, how to save Africa. Before the next such summit, I hope people will realize Africa doesn't want to be saved. Africa wants the world to acknowledge that through fair partnerships with other members of the global community, we ourselves are capable of unprecedented growth.
Uzodinma Iweala is the author of "Beasts of No Nation," a novel about child soldiers.
Source
----
Stop Trying To 'Save' Africa
By Uzodinma Iweala
Sunday, July 15, 2007; B07
Last fall, shortly after I returned from Nigeria, I was accosted by a perky blond college student whose blue eyes seemed to match the "African" beads around her wrists. "Save Darfur!" she shouted from behind a table covered with pamphlets urging students to TAKE ACTION NOW! STOP GENOCIDE IN DARFUR!
My aversion to college kids jumping onto fashionable social causes nearly caused me to walk on, but her next shout stopped me. "Don't you want to help us save Africa?" she yelled.
It seems that these days, wracked by guilt at the humanitarian crisis it has created in the Middle East, the West has turned to Africa for redemption. Idealistic college students, celebrities such as Bob Geldof and politicians such as Tony Blair have all made bringing light to the dark continent their mission. They fly in for internships and fact-finding missions or to pick out children to adopt in much the same way my friends and I in New York take the subway to the pound to adopt stray dogs.
This is the West's new image of itself: a sexy, politically active generation whose preferred means of spreading the word are magazine spreads with celebrities pictured in the foreground, forlorn Africans in the back. Never mind that the stars sent to bring succor to the natives often are, willingly, as emaciated as those they want to help.
Perhaps most interesting is the language used to describe the Africa being saved. For example, the Keep a Child Alive/" I am African" ad campaign features portraits of primarily white, Western celebrities with painted "tribal markings" on their faces above "I AM AFRICAN" in bold letters. Below, smaller print says, "help us stop the dying."
Such campaigns, however well intentioned, promote the stereotype of Africa as a black hole of disease and death. News reports constantly focus on the continent's corrupt leaders, warlords, "tribal" conflicts, child laborers, and women disfigured by abuse and genital mutilation. These descriptions run under headlines like "Can Bono Save Africa?" or "Will Brangelina Save Africa?" The relationship between the West and Africa is no longer based on openly racist beliefs, but such articles are reminiscent of reports from the heyday of European colonialism, when missionaries were sent to Africa to introduce us to education, Jesus Christ and "civilization."
There is no African, myself included, who does not appreciate the help of the wider world, but we do question whether aid is genuine or given in the spirit of affirming one's cultural superiority. My mood is dampened every time I attend a benefit whose host runs through a litany of African disasters before presenting a (usually) wealthy, white person, who often proceeds to list the things he or she has done for the poor, starving Africans. Every time a well-meaning college student speaks of villagers dancing because they were so grateful for her help, I cringe. Every time a Hollywood director shoots a film about Africa that features a Western protagonist, I shake my head -- because Africans, real people though we may be, are used as props in the West's fantasy of itself. And not only do such depictions tend to ignore the West's prominent role in creating many of the unfortunate situations on the continent, they also ignore the incredible work Africans have done and continue to do to fix those problems.
Why do the media frequently refer to African countries as having been "granted independence from their colonial masters," as opposed to having fought and shed blood for their freedom? Why do Angelina Jolie and Bono receive overwhelming attention for their work in Africa while Nwankwo Kanu or Dikembe Mutombo, Africans both, are hardly ever mentioned? How is it that a former mid-level U.S. diplomat receives more attention for his cowboy antics in Sudan than do the numerous African Union countries that have sent food and troops and spent countless hours trying to negotiate a settlement among all parties in that crisis?
Two years ago I worked in a camp for internally displaced people in Nigeria, survivors of an uprising that killed about 1,000 people and displaced 200,000. True to form, the Western media reported on the violence but not on the humanitarian work the state and local governments -- without much international help -- did for the survivors. Social workers spent their time and in many cases their own salaries to care for their compatriots. These are the people saving Africa, and others like them across the continent get no credit for their work.
Last month the Group of Eight industrialized nations and a host of celebrities met in Germany to discuss, among other things, how to save Africa. Before the next such summit, I hope people will realize Africa doesn't want to be saved. Africa wants the world to acknowledge that through fair partnerships with other members of the global community, we ourselves are capable of unprecedented growth.
Uzodinma Iweala is the author of "Beasts of No Nation," a novel about child soldiers.
Source
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Clandestineplot - "Space Cowboy" Hoax
On July 8, 2007, nine girls (robdyrdek, wisefools, gloomies, blankwavearcade, scheme, looseleaves, receiving, horridratings, nightwellspent) in an AIM chat room decided to have some fun. It just started with pranking the livejournal community anonquestions with anonymous rumors just to get the pages going. For some reason, even without source links, this rumor was believable! Maybe it’s the genius fact that PATD are the NSYNC of our day and that Travis already rapped on a shitty pop song (Snakes on a Plane – Bring It!). But just 3 sentences changed the internet forever:
Panic! at the Disco is set to record a cover of *NSYNC's "Space Cowboy" featuring Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes. Several other bands will be involved in the recording of this cover album of pop songs. A release date has not been set.
Anonquestions was the first target, and was actually hit twice. We never thought that they would believe it, especially since almost everything in that community is bullshit rumors. But they did! So us nine livejournal users (with a little help from frankensteins and mormonisms) decided to just roll with it and see how far this rumor will go. We ended up pranking a good portion of the Fueled By Ramen fandom. As of now, here are all the communities this hoax has been spread to (keep in mind there was NEVER a source link).
- Where it all started: original thread
- Also: original thread
- Shitlist: original post
- Divierto @ greatestjournal.com: original post
- Weloveit: original post
- Topicless:original post
- Schleptastic: original post
- P!ATD: original post
- LOLWentzFucks: original post
After that, we decided to actually make our hoax legit and get it into absolutepunk.net, ohnotheydidnt, and any other gossip/news blogs we could:
- Absolutepunk.net general forum
- Absolutepunk.net News SCREEN CAP SINCE HE DELETED IT HAHA
- Ohnotheydidnt
With the “legitimate” news sources in hand, there was no stopping the hoax!
- P!ATD Wikipedia
- Icrecreamheadaches
- Gym Class Heroes Wikipedia
We were actually going to reveal this hoax a lot sooner until it got on the NME website and Yahoo News ! But eventually we decided it was time to let this go. This rumor accomplished so much more than what we originally thought. The lesson of this story is:
- If you put anything in italics, it will be believed, regardless of if there is a source link or not.
- Jason Tate does not fact check.
- People are actually psyched about a *NSYNC cover? Really?
- FBR fans are an….interesting bunch.
- NME will post anything from a user that registered an hour before posting. Yeah, that’s not suspicious at all, right?
- It’s extremely easy to spread information that is blatantly false across the internet. Way too easy, in fact.
Our small community prank quickly turned into a complete internet hoax. Our goal was to get P!ATD management, Pete Wentz, or a member of the band to comment on it, and they did (EDIT I guess this isnt clear - PATD management released some sort of statement that the cover was false. Our goal was for just one of the above to recognize the rumor existed). Honestly, this entire glorious event has made me wonder just how much of what we read on the internet is complete and utter bullshit. It was startlingly easy for a small group of girls to start and maintain an unsubstantiated rumor. We had no real and credible sources. We linked everything in circles and managed to dupe 99% of the people who read the news. We are kind of disappointed in the lack of fact-checking by Absolutepunk and NME. While it probably wasn't right for us to make up a rumor and see how far it could go, it certainly proved that these music websites don't really seem to care if the information they post is accurate, as long as they post it first.
In conclusion, yeah we might be a “bunch of people with way too much time on their hands,” but who are the idiots that believed it? Exactly. And the whole "you guys need lives argument" is really not applicable, since each one of us posted it in one place and Absolutepunk & NME ran with it.
Love,
Clandestineplot @ livejournal.com
(Happy Lurking!)
PS – Everything that has been done has been saved, regardless of if they get deleted or not. Don’t act like you weren’t fooled. And if P!ATD or Schleprok actually end up covering that song, we want 50% of the profits. Or a good portion of Schlep’s hoodie collection, which ever is greater.
PPS - Only the members/maintainers were involved in this. Anyone else trying to credit is a goddamn liar. But this whole thing was "immature and pathetic" so you wouldn't want to take credit in the first place, right?
Panic! at the Disco is set to record a cover of *NSYNC's "Space Cowboy" featuring Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes. Several other bands will be involved in the recording of this cover album of pop songs. A release date has not been set.
Anonquestions was the first target, and was actually hit twice. We never thought that they would believe it, especially since almost everything in that community is bullshit rumors. But they did! So us nine livejournal users (with a little help from frankensteins and mormonisms) decided to just roll with it and see how far this rumor will go. We ended up pranking a good portion of the Fueled By Ramen fandom. As of now, here are all the communities this hoax has been spread to (keep in mind there was NEVER a source link).
- Where it all started: original thread
- Also: original thread
- Shitlist: original post
- Divierto @ greatestjournal.com: original post
- Weloveit: original post
- Topicless:original post
- Schleptastic: original post
- P!ATD: original post
- LOLWentzFucks: original post
After that, we decided to actually make our hoax legit and get it into absolutepunk.net, ohnotheydidnt, and any other gossip/news blogs we could:
- Absolutepunk.net general forum
- Absolutepunk.net News SCREEN CAP SINCE HE DELETED IT HAHA
- Ohnotheydidnt
With the “legitimate” news sources in hand, there was no stopping the hoax!
- P!ATD Wikipedia
- Icrecreamheadaches
- Gym Class Heroes Wikipedia
We were actually going to reveal this hoax a lot sooner until it got on the NME website and Yahoo News ! But eventually we decided it was time to let this go. This rumor accomplished so much more than what we originally thought. The lesson of this story is:
- If you put anything in italics, it will be believed, regardless of if there is a source link or not.
- Jason Tate does not fact check.
- People are actually psyched about a *NSYNC cover? Really?
- FBR fans are an….interesting bunch.
- NME will post anything from a user that registered an hour before posting. Yeah, that’s not suspicious at all, right?
- It’s extremely easy to spread information that is blatantly false across the internet. Way too easy, in fact.
Our small community prank quickly turned into a complete internet hoax. Our goal was to get P!ATD management, Pete Wentz, or a member of the band to comment on it, and they did (EDIT I guess this isnt clear - PATD management released some sort of statement that the cover was false. Our goal was for just one of the above to recognize the rumor existed). Honestly, this entire glorious event has made me wonder just how much of what we read on the internet is complete and utter bullshit. It was startlingly easy for a small group of girls to start and maintain an unsubstantiated rumor. We had no real and credible sources. We linked everything in circles and managed to dupe 99% of the people who read the news. We are kind of disappointed in the lack of fact-checking by Absolutepunk and NME. While it probably wasn't right for us to make up a rumor and see how far it could go, it certainly proved that these music websites don't really seem to care if the information they post is accurate, as long as they post it first.
In conclusion, yeah we might be a “bunch of people with way too much time on their hands,” but who are the idiots that believed it? Exactly. And the whole "you guys need lives argument" is really not applicable, since each one of us posted it in one place and Absolutepunk & NME ran with it.
Love,
Clandestineplot @ livejournal.com
(Happy Lurking!)
PS – Everything that has been done has been saved, regardless of if they get deleted or not. Don’t act like you weren’t fooled. And if P!ATD or Schleprok actually end up covering that song, we want 50% of the profits. Or a good portion of Schlep’s hoodie collection, which ever is greater.
PPS - Only the members/maintainers were involved in this. Anyone else trying to credit is a goddamn liar. But this whole thing was "immature and pathetic" so you wouldn't want to take credit in the first place, right?
Thursday, July 5, 2007
2 wrongs dont make a right, you're messin' with the O G bitch Bobby Light
Dirty Girl
Add to My Profile | More Videos
I just need to spread this around the internet a bit.
LMAO I LOVE THEM. Whomever decided that they deserved their own reality show needs to get a raise. Rob & Big is the BEST damn show on television.
Add to My Profile | More Videos
I just need to spread this around the internet a bit.
LMAO I LOVE THEM. Whomever decided that they deserved their own reality show needs to get a raise. Rob & Big is the BEST damn show on television.
Friday, June 29, 2007
New Circa Survive video
Circa Survive is another band I'm getting into hella late in the game. Nothing bad to say about this video, other than I'm horrible at getting the meaning to these type of videos. Well, actually, I have an idea in mind, but I fear I'm totally off so I won't type what I think lol. And the tube thingies coming out of their bodies definitely gave me chills.
I'm jumping on the Anthony Green bandwagon. This guy is seriously attractive.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Coheed & Cambria's new album...
...coming out in the fall!
October! As in my birthday is in October so this will be the best birthday present ever. I am craving for new material by them. I honestly would consider Coheed to be my favorite rock band that I know nothing about, and I love it that way. I listen to their music almost daily, but do I know what their names are or what they look like? Not really. I got into them because of the music and still listen to them because of the music. I know they have a new drummer now and that there might have been some drama with the past member, but I dont know anything more.
I'm just happy I have a band where I can actually listen to the music and not know the personal details of their lives or if their dick is all over the internet, like some other bands I'm into.
October! As in my birthday is in October so this will be the best birthday present ever. I am craving for new material by them. I honestly would consider Coheed to be my favorite rock band that I know nothing about, and I love it that way. I listen to their music almost daily, but do I know what their names are or what they look like? Not really. I got into them because of the music and still listen to them because of the music. I know they have a new drummer now and that there might have been some drama with the past member, but I dont know anything more.
I'm just happy I have a band where I can actually listen to the music and not know the personal details of their lives or if their dick is all over the internet, like some other bands I'm into.
Gym Class Heroes - Clothes Off!
I hate this video. I hate this song. I hate what they are turning into. But more importantly, I HATE THIS VIDEO.
WHAT THE FLYING SHIT IS THIS. Seriously. I've watched this a couple times like all week, hoping it will marinate and it will grow on me, BUT THIS IS HORRIBLE. Guys :( What happened to that band :(
And its not even like "Oh my god, they are famous now, time to abandon ship." I know I go back and forth with this, but I love that they are huge. I love that they can pull in the upper-hundreds to shows now. Thats amazing and they deserve IT, they are very talented guys. BUT THEY COULD AT LEAST PUT QUALITY MATERIAL OUT THAT WONT EMBARRASS ME. Because its obviously all about me, you'll learn that soon enough. Everybody already thinks they are a cover band with the singles they put out. And no, Patrick is not in the band, thanks.
But just for this blog's sake, I'll re-watch the video again and to a play by play of what I'm thinking (plus/minus style!):
+ Viva La White Girl playing is the best part about this video. But its so out of place.
- Pete GTFO of all your artists video please. Yes, they might need you to get huge with the teenies, but stop it.
- They all know damn well they have T-Mobile Sidekicks. Nice Verizon product placement.
+ I love the way Mattydukes drums. Like, its the simplest beat, but it goes way crazy with it.
- LOL EYEBROWS!
+ All the guy dancers.
- Some of the girl dancers kind of suck and are off rhythm a little bit. Especially the ones in bikinis.
- Furries? Was someone high as hell when they wrote this treatment?
+ OMG there are actually black girls in this video!
+ Go 'head Sash, get yo Slash on!
+ Furries dance off!
- Furries are Panic! At The Disco
- Shower scene is dumb as hell and not sexy. Um, needs more guy flesh for it to be sexy DUH
+/- Schlep pop, lock, n should have dropped it
BITERS BLOCK SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE NEXT SINGLE.
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