Earlier this week, local Republican Congressman Ed Royce, alongside Democrat Jim McGovern, introduced a resolution supporting further U.S. interventionism in the name of stopping Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). In a press release, Royce said:
“Last week, an unprecedented Internet campaign brought the attention of tens of millions of Americans to the atrocities the LRA is committing. This resolution builds on past legislation and the current campaign by giving an added focus to these atrocities on children and efforts to stop them.”
The senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a former Chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa was, of course, making reference to the Invisible Children organization, co-founded by Jason Russell, who earlier this month put out a problematic YouTube 30-minute video on Kony urging people to “raise awareness” and if so inclined, buy action kits including posters and bracelets while tweeting #StopKony. As of this writing “Kony 2012” has amassed over 80 million views. Although, when screened in Northern Uganda, rocks, not tomatoes, were thrown!
The film has been ultra-scrutinized for being an oversimplified and misleading portrayal of the situation. Others have uncovered the covert Christian fundamentalist underpinnings of the organization not made apparent in the film while its finances have been subject to unfavorable criticism. My personal favorite comes from a Good News interview with IC’s Jedidiah Jenkins. Asked about the ‘White Savior’ undertow of the whole endeavor, he responded, in part, “It has nothing to do with race and it has nothing to do with neo-colonialism. This has to do with us having the resources to help fight for people who don’t have resources.” Um, racism and neo-colonialism has more than a little something to do with how those resources were allocated in such a manner in the first place! Good grief!
All that aside, the solution put forth by the Kony film is a call for increased U.S. intervention in the region in tandem with the human rights abusing Ugandan army in order to bring the warlord to the International Criminal Court — which the U.S. has never and most likely will never sign onto itself! Congressman Royce’s resolution shamelessly piggybacks off the viral video’s popularity in self-congratulation for previous efforts while calling for stepped-up meddling in the region and for that I simply #SMH.
[*NOTE: This was introduced before news surfaced of Russell’s bizarre alleged public fapping incident in San Diego. How that changes things, I don’t know, but Lake Forest mega-church Pastor Rick Warren, one of the celebs courted by the film, has tweeted followers urging them to pray.]
This story makes me feel old and out of it. FAPPING? I had to click on the link. I conclude that “fapping” entails running through traffic masturbating while Christian and dehydrated?
And what is #SMH, Gabo?
Hashtag S.hake M.y H.ead! = SMH. As in disapproval!
“Fapping” is what the yanksters are calling it these days and to my knowledge hashtags do not get you high :/
Well I’m pretty sure I disapprove of Fapping in Traffic. #SMH.
Here we go again with somebody from the God Squad getting caught doing something sexually inappropriate. I mean roughin’ up the suspect in traffic ? Can’t you wait till you get home? No wonder you’re dehydrated.
Now we have Rick Warren chiming in urging everybody to pray. Pray?
Maybe everybody should go out and have some healthy sort of sex, so they don’t feel the urge to be the master debater of their church group.
Don’t forget the birth control.
Funny story you remind me of there, Dem, from prison. Carlos was the most obnoxious proselytizing Christian in the dorm. I was just trying to write something, and he was sitting at the table with me and some slack-jawed tweeker who was just nodding and taking in all Carlos’ preaching, as he tried to explain the difference between “sins of omission” and “sins of commission.” First off, he had THAT all wrong which was irritating. But like always he insisted on using masturbation as an example. So I broke in: “Actually, Carlos, masturbation is a sin of EMISSION.”
He raised his eyebrows, “Oh really? Emission?” And jotted it down to look it up later. One of many times that I made a funny that I knew would only be appreciated by others later in the big world.
It’s tough to be brilliant in front of an audience of dullards.
I’m sure that your writing helped preserve your sanity.