My Two Cents on Kony2012

I love that everyone is talking about this campaign. What's more, I love that everyone is talking critically about this campaign. And I don't just mean being critical of it.

I think those of you who read visible children and blindly wrote the whole thing off are just as ignorant as those who only watched the film and now blindly support Invisible Children. 

But it appears to me that both of those groups are the minority. The majority of comments, blogs, articles, etc, that I've read have taken a genuine critical approach; looking at the merits of IC and Kony2012 and at their downfalls, discussing the power of social media, talking about the power of the international community and how giving aid or military support might actually affect central Africa. Maybe I'm blindly optimistic about society, but what I've been seeing is a lot of individuals looking in a lot of places and drawing their own conclusions on the whole phenomenon. To me, this is fantastic. 

I think this says a lot about who we are as a society today. We have a world of information at our fingertips and we are using it. We are using it to ask questions and find answers about the media that bombards our lives. We are using it to make political statements in a social world. We are all thriving in a world of technology and using it to address the issues that are important to us and the people around us. 

We're saying that politics doesn't only happen in fancy buildings in big cities. It happens here; on this blog and on your facebook page and in Twitter trends and YouTube comments. 

Of course, it remains to be seen if and how this translates into action in any way. 

Whatever you think about the Kony2012 campaign, you have to admit that the consequences of its' popularity has shown a lot about the way we think about politics, charities, the international community, Africa, social media, celebrity participation, accountability, and on and on. It has pushed the world into a global dialogue about an international issue. Tell me that's not cool?

Some things you might want to watch and read that are related:

The Kony2012 film. You can't talk about it if you haven't seen it.

Visible Children tumblr. The most popular criticism.

The twitter feed for #Kony2012.

BBC Africa correspondent view. 

A rap about Kony and IC. 

From the FT.

Critical piece from the Atlantic. 

There are countless more obviously. You all know how to use Google. 

I may never sleep again thanks to Charlie Brooker and Black Mirror

Did you watch Black Mirror? It was certainly the most interesting thing on tele this weekend and possibly the most talked about. Have no idea what I'm on about? Let me help you.

Black Mirror is an original drama mini-series on Channel 4 written by Charlie Brooker. It is satire for our contemporary media saturated society. The first episode, called The National Anthem, begins with the Prime Minister being woken in the wee hours to find that the nation's sweetheart princess has been kidnapped. Obviously this is a national crisis and the PM must respond. But the demand of the kidnapper is unusual to say the very least; the Prime Minister must have sex with a pig on live national television. The rest of the episode tells the story of how the Prime Minister, the press, and indeed the nation handle the crisis.

Scene from The National Anthem in 10 Downing Street

I usually think of Charlie Brooker as quite funny. But funny this was not. That's not a criticism. It was gripping, fascinating, emotional, realistic, confusing, disturbing, dramatic, thought-provoking... and on and on. I felt sick watching most of it. But I think that's the point. I think Brooker has done a good job here, not by creating a great piece of entertainment, but by telling a story that forces the audience to react. A story that, at the very centre, is about our relationship with media and the internet. It shows that in our world of Twitter and YouTube, the public is often flippant, and at worst cruel, about how our actions online affect the personal lives of public figures. In the end, (sorry spoiler!) the PMs career survives but his marriage does not. He's had to act to appease the public and in doing so ruined his previously good relationship with his wife.

There is so much more that can be said about Black Mirror. I think this first episode was truly amazing and I am still processing my own reaction. I'd certainly recommend that you watch it. But that also comes with a warning that it can be uncomfortable viewing. If you're in the UK you can watch it on 4OD here. And you can tune in to Channel 4 next Sunday at 21:00 for episode 2. If you're not in the UK, I'm really sorry because it is good television. I'm interested to see what next week will bring us.

Put Down Your Phone!

All of our lives rely on technology. We can't live without it. And don't even try to say "Oh no! I hate the way technology rules our lives!" You love it. If your phone goes a whole hour without going bu-deep for a text/tweet/facebook/email, you start to fidget and worry: "Why doesn't anyone want to be in touch with me?" Don't deny it. We're all guilty.

With that said, I'd like to now say: I hate the way technology rules our lives!

From here

Recently I was chatting with a friend who works for a big international accounting firm. She is debating now whether or not she ought to get a smart phone on the company. At first I was a bit taken aback. What do you mean debating? Everyone has a smart phone! Especially every high level professional. It seemed that this decision was like ten years too late. Today the answer is obvious: smart phone = happiness. Right? Apparently not.

She explained to me that the pros are the usual; clients can be in touch at any time, she can work while she's not at work, etc (these don't always sound like pros, but you know what I mean). But the cons are things I hadn't thought about before. The biggest being confidentiality. Naturally, working with high profile clients she is privy to some accounting information that really ought not to be public knowledge. All of her correspondence about client portfolios is strictly confidential. This means that even having her work-phone on her at a social event is a big risk.

I know that since half the population all have identical Blackberrys, I've many a time picked up the wrong phone thinking it is mine. But when your phone holds sensitive information this is a big deal. She said that even if her phone was lost or stolen she would be liable for any information that was potentially stolen. So she's torn. On the one hand her bosses and clients want to be able to be in touch 24/7, and she works hard and wants to make them happy. On the other hand, there is this massive risk of breaking confidentiality agreements and screwing up her entire career. This makes me hate technology!

Why do we all have the SAME phone?
From here

Another friend of mine is currently on a rant and rave about the total lack of real social interaction. And here she has got a real point! She is (as am I) fed up with trying to talk to people in person while they refuse to tear their eyes away from Angry Birds. Fed up with trying to organise a coffee date with a friend who is more concerned with boosting their Bbm contact list into triple digits than actually having a meaningful conversation with someone. I've got to admit that I've got a couple of ex-friends that landed in that ex-category not because they are bad people, but because I've sat through entire dinners where no more than three words were said to me, the person sitting in front of them, because there was a continuous stream of texting that was WAY more important.

This woman should have never been given a microphone
From here

Many of us find these things annoying, and more of us are guilty than we think. I know I am guilty even though I try not to be. Sometimes I have to remind myself: Put the phone down. Turn off the computer. Whatever it is, it can wait. The irony is that the above conversation is happening over facebook, and I'm sitting at my computer ranting away. Does this make me a hypocrite? Maybe. Truly I love the internet. I love Facebook. I love my Blackberry. I couldn't live without Google or email or blogs. Ultimately, I think we all need these things in our lives. But we also need to remember that they can be great and awful at the same time.