okay, so i know this is overplayed and it has nothing to do with my trip, but... have you seen this video? the one that everyone posts on facebook and thinks they're an activist? you can't escape it as you log onto any social media site. (if you don't know what i'm talking about... watch it). the video is well done, and raising awareness about an issue such as child soldiers is commendable. it should happen, and thank god that it's this video that is all over facebook, and people are talking about something that matters, as opposed to 20 pictures of their new haircut,or last night's episode of jersey shore.....
but now what?
oh, you say i can end the recruitment of child soldiers?
and all i have to do is post a video on my facebook, buy a bracelet and put up a few posters?
done deal.
of course this movement is blowing up.... i barely have to get off my laptop to change the world!
i wonder how big of a movement we could get going about child soldiers in sierra leone or republic of congo.... where our consumeristic life style has created an environment for child soldiers. where our 'need' for diamonds and electronics are driving countries into the ground. (i know that leonardo dicaprio already did the blood diamond thing, but if you do want to learn about how our electronics have fuelled civil war in the d.r. congo for 10 years, watch this, sorry it's not as exciting of a watch as blood diamond). i guess what i'm saying is this.. how many youtube videos and website hits would a movement that asked us to change how we live in order to make an impact get? what if the youtube video you were asked to watch was called 'you, you ignorant jackoff 2012', and the person responsible for these crimes against humanity was YOU. i'm guessing it'd fizzle out pretty quick.
we don't want to be challenged with something that actually makes us re-think our lifestyle. because it's hard. because it's uncomfortable. because it actually means we have to do something.
the other part that awakens in me when i watch this video is this : why aren't we this passionate about crimes against humanity on our own soil?
maybe kony 2012 is just an awareness campaign... cool. what about the awareness campaigns shedding light on the injustices in our backyard? can we talk a bit about the conditions that aboriginal people are living on in the reserves? can we talk about how through years and years of corrupt politics we have pushed these people next to extinction? can we talk about how the church and the government teamed up and created a program intended to 'white wash' every native kid in the country so that we could destroy their culture? can we talk about the fact that that program only ended in 1996? i was 26 when i first heard about the residential school program. 26! this is one of the most disgusting, deplorable acts done by the church or the government, and it was still happening in 1996. that's only 16 years ago, and i just heard about it.... how did that not come up in social class once or twice?!
so i beg you... look these things up! learn about what's happening on OUR soil. yeah, it's great to be passionate about world issues, but we have issues right here that could use your time and effort. so please.... research the residential school program, research the history of injustice towards our brothers and sisters, and act! don't just post a video.... please. act. get out there. change something. whether that is even just in your own life. please just don't sit there.
because how sad would it be if one day, there's some sleek, catchy, hard-hitting youtube video made about crimes against humanity, about injustices against a minority, about a century of systematic oppression, and we're going to watch it, and find out it's about canada. and find out we didn't do anything. and then feel how awesome it is to have people lobby to have other countries come in and fix something we could have fixed ourselves.
love.
