Quote:
Originally Posted by Haejin
I def. got convinced by the whole documentary when I watched it the other day, but after reading into it more I feel pretty iffy.
I'm so emotional that cute little babies, crying boys, and group "feelgoodness" can convince me of anything. And I'm sure those emotions are taken into account by IC. .. and whatever motives they may have whether good or bad. I still don't really know what side to be on.
|
I don't think there's really sides, and I don't think its a bad thing to care about this. What's problematic is the people who assume they know whats best for Uganda, without consulting Ugandans, and without educating themselves further.
I totally recommend picking up the memoir
A Thousand Sisters by Lisa Shannon. After seeing Lisa Ling on Oprah talking about the situation for women in the DR Congo, she started fundraising for Women For Women International, and went over there. I like it because she becomes more aware of her privilege and the importance of the agency of the Congolese. I think one of the worst things I read in the book was how apathetic the UN was to rrape victims (one telling her, "its just cultural here".)
Her response to Kony kinda bothered me. She doesn't like the focus on IC and isn't donating to them, but overall she agrees the US should intervene to capture him, and only says that Ugandans she's spoken to before thinks its a good idea. I just don't think its a good idea to speak for Ugandans, even if they said that before things could have changed since 2010 when she was there, and its just anecdotal information right now.
I think my biggest fear is that people will get so upset for a short enough time for the US to justify expanding in Africa, and then get compassion fatigue or even just forget all about it. I don't think the campaign has much lasting power, especially if Kony is captured, to get people to really learn and care about the problems of central Africa.