http://thatneedstogo.tumblr.com/post...harm-than-good

Good blog post taking a different perspective. Basically, people constantly going on fb/twitter just saying, "Yeah, stop Kony cuz he's bad! I know because I watched that video!" gets tired after a while.

Some light relief on this topic

Posted in MTTc:

maybe a little bit of an off base comment, but people march to diff beats, get mobilized by different things, so if something incites charitable action or consideration I'd never want to deter anyone from receiving that message (as long as the net work being done is positive.. of course like Grizy described its not a given)...

basically is rational thinking about this stuff the best route?.. I'm under the impression we'd want to pull on heart strings, make people get angry, and emotional so they care enough to act?.. because I assume the bigger problem is a gross lack of charitable funds/work, not how we utilize them (I think? uneducated opinion).

If you follow almost any utilitarian school of thought though, even most rule utilitarian philosophies, the conclusions with regard to charitable work boil down to... we should be giving many many more resources to people who value them more.... in non-philosophical terms, these arguments end with 'well, we mostly act like a bunch of inhumane dicks' because were good at ignoring suffering.... out of sight, out of mind.

You're absolutely right you have to appeal to people's emotions. (basically, most people are sheeple)

That makes it all the more important that the opinion makers are not morons or ill informed. The worst kind of people are charismatic morons leading his people straight to ruin.

We got mad lucky our first president was both charismatic and competent. Then we ran like god with the presidents after. The Frenchies got Napoleon for their first president.



PS: a little known fact. Most presidents, until recently with teh advent of super profitable speaking engagements, left office poorer than when they entered it (mostly because most of them were super rich and could not tend to their estates while in office). It wasn't until 1958, due to Truman's bustoness, his inability to answer mail, and appearance unfit for a former president of US, did US presidents start getting a pension.

amen

Disagree pretty strongly. More eloquently than I can:

"The backlash against Kony 2012, a super-popular social media campaign to raise awareness about deranged warlord Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army, has mostly focused on two things. First, the group behind it, Invisible Children, has a poor track record and shady finances; and, second, the campaign's uninformed and almost infantilizing over-simplifications are probably going to do very little beyond raise lots of money and publicity for Invisible Children. But campaigns like this one, and this one especially, can end up doing more harm than good. "

http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...y-2012/254194/

"Perhaps worst of all are the unexplored assumptions underpinning the awareness argument, which reduce people in conflict situations to two broad categories: mass-murderers like Joseph Kony and passive victims so helpless that they must wait around to be saved by a bunch of American college students with stickers. "

http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...y-2012/254193/

i always wanted to ask who was that girl... amazing ass.

unfortunally brazilian google don't have anything about Bilyana Yotovska...

wow these articles are terrible

this is so fff epic im gonna troll my facebook with that pic

will post results

Had been in some discussions with people about this before, but for one reason or another things fell through so I am still looking for a stake starting at 2/4 with a progression to higher stakes following good results. PokerStars is the easiest site for me to play on as I am already pretty well versed in how all the regs play and prefer the software, but also have no problem playing elsewhere.

All hands on Stars/Party/Ongame since July '11


Stats for Midstakes on Stars:
I broke my stats into 2 parts, the first one being stats from when I first started playing midstakes on Stars and the second from when I should have taken a month off entirely from poker, I have no problem going into details about this with potential backers, but it doesn't exactly need to be public knowledge. I can say however that I went from being one of the better regs at those stakes to without a doubt the absolute worst practically overnight.



If there is any question of my results I have no problem verifying them and can even go so far as to forward the e-mails directly from Party and PokerStars containing my hand histories so you can import them yourself.




I am looking for a 50/50 split of all profit (rakeback/FPPs included), but will possibly take a lower percentage based on the specifics of the agreement such as stakes/bankroll/coaching. I can be reached by PM or on Skype at seakinglol. Thanks.

Jesus you must really suck at conversation and promoting yourself when you still haven't found a truckload full of backers with your skills/results. Wtf are you doing man? Good luck though.

the reason is unfortunately true

jesus first post was "that dillon dude from predator"
god damn. should i try again tomorrow?

^^ Heh, I'm guessing it works best on females.

Pretty interesting vid about FBI branding Anonymous as terrorists.

your posting was so polarized and he knew it. but then again, he definitely was on the top of his range... would have been interesting if he snapped your bluff of with less

seaking, why dont u just grind your way back up from ssplo? or even restart ur poker career at ssnl

The right answer to someone posting that on facebook is obv "whoah denzel is looking young in that pic"

LOL.. come on pfunk, those articles are so over-the-top it's absurd.

Does IC come off as a pretty shady non-profit that has had some financial disclosure issues in the past? Yes, definitely.

Does the video obviously intend to pull on emotional strings for a self-serving purpose (video of kid, etc)? Yes.

However, it's for sure more of a ridiculous stretch to call the video some masked ploy at soft bigotry rather than applaud it for - though somewhat naively - intending to gather the support of Western youth behind the capture of an insane criminal. I mean, how self-righteous to you have to be to finish watching that video and have your concluding thought be, "ugh, here we go again, putting the white man on a pedestal to rescue poor old africans again". The reality is that this video targets a young social demographic that for the VAST majority has no interest whatsoever in international affairs. Does it really matter if the video may/may not subconsciously promote a slight undertone of western superiority or whatever other garbage those articles were spouting if the ultimate goal is raising political/social/humane awareness/involvement from a demographic that otherwise has no interest?

Considering the general tone over there is that apparently they really dislike Invisible Children, yes, yes it may.

How arrogant is it to finish watching that video and believe, oh wow I'm helping by sharing this video on facebook?

And awareness? Were people not aware that there are terrible human rights atrocities going on in Africa? Congratulations, now they are "aware" of someones name who may or not be dead, and according to Invisible Childrens own research, hasn't made any major movements in four years. But now people can pat themselves on the back and feel like they've done something when all they've done is donated to a shady charity that did this exact same thing five or six years ago when they did this exact same campaign and accomplished nothing, besides more awareness that is.

should prob just agree on a hsplo-approved utilitarian charity

I vote:

United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)

I guess I just tend to disassociate most things that people do with good intentions from arrogance, but hey, maybe that's just me.


I'm mostly just playing devil's advocate - IC seems like as shady a NFP organization as they come - but what harm can really come from people getting excited about humanitarian issues?

And unfortunately, yes, I'm willing to bet that there's a disturbing amount of people not aware of human rights atrocities happening in Africa.