The General Conversation Area

ilmaestro said:
This clunge is sticking a bit, I need a replacement?
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I hear the things you'll need to take into account when replacing an old clunge:

Alittle less mileage, less wear and better performance, better if only 1 previous owner lol.
 
ayase said:
I know what you mean, it's like a bit of a guilty secret. When I'm at my dad's and hear his partner listening to Radio 4 I start thinking that actually sounds like intelligent discussion, albeit carried out a somewhat cringe-worthy, upper-middle class way (no matter what my politics, I'm definitely more of the John Prescott school of debate. Which is to say, tell it like it is, openly display your incredulity at your opponents' stupidity and if the opportunity presents itself, punch them). But would I switch Radio 4 on at home? Mmmm... Nope.

This discussion should really be in random chit-chat now, shouldn't it?
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I'll admit, that did make me smile.

Talk radio tends to have, like you say - atleast the general appearance of a more intelligent debate than that of the general riff raff who would sooner bottle you than listen to your opinion *coughs* general mentality of luton.

I'd sum myself up as; i like to be gentry and be more than average working class, ive done my year(s) of going out and partying every night, spending all my wages on booze and getting too drunk, now if given a choice between going out and partying or going to a bar and having a few drinks with friends and the missus, i'll always pick the latter here's 2 nights in my life:

Tonight i'll be going home, tidying the house, picking up the missus and taking her for a romantic meal at a chinese restaurant, coming back home and having a few glasses of wine or a port or two before bed, having sex, getting up and making my missus some pancakes with banana's and whipped cream then taking her shopping for a new dress and i'll be in the pub by 2pm having a beer, in the evening drive us round to the missus' house and spend time with her family, maybe go for a meal at the indian down the road or a pizza, sunday i go home and chill all day.
Money spent = £100
General appearance = pretty much married couple life, sensible and more value for money.

When i was 17/18 it would be: Get home, start getting ready to go out, polish shoes and head into town with my mates, start off at Yates's and drink till 12, then go to chicago's and carry on drinkig copious amounts till 3.30, go to the dirty chicken and chip shop down the road and then stagger home about 5am, money spent = over £100
General appearance = drunken fool trying to dance with his foot in his hand

But i guess those nights reflect my choice in radio stations, I would happily listen to sensible conversation and a good laugh (like Radio 2 and the laughs of radio 1) than soppy crap with people who didn't even write the songs they are singing (Heart radio, the station name says it all really)
 
Some of you may have already seen this video doing the rounds, but if not please take a look and spread the word. This is one of the few times where simply spreading awareness alone can potentially make a difference.

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To summarise for people, since the video is 30 minutes long...

In some places bad people make kids fight in wars, and this should be stopped.

Unhappy stuff.
 
So basically, these guys want to encourage America (and presumably other Western nations) to get involved in Uganda because they don't like what's going on there?

Yeah, how about Americans leaving other countries the f*ck alone to sort out their own problems and instead trying to sort out the problems in their own country? They're only too happy to present the privileged kid of the documentary maker as how children in Africa should be living... Seen the childhood poverty figures for the US recently? How about lobbying congress to help your own poor? But no, that would make you unpopular domestic socialists rather than self-righteous white heroes of Africa.

I don't like kids dying in wars any more than the next person, but I'm also a big believer that people should put their own houses in order before trying to re-arrange those of other people. Like that whole bloody "Free Tibet" crowd. This whole concept seems to support the idea that America really should be the "World Police" and I bet those Washington policy makers love it, they couldn't have asked for a better distraction from themselves. "Ha! Everybody's railing at some Ugandan militia leader instead of us! Brilliant! Actually come to think of it, does Uganda have any natural resources?" ::they rub their hands together and grin maniacal Dick Cheney grins::

Apologies for the rant but honestly, I'm sick of people thinking that the most extreme causes are the worthiest. In my experience, the most worthy cause is the one you can most directly affect. If all these people sticking up posters in DC went and volunteered to help the homeless or spend time with old people or something, they'd probably affect a lot more lives in a much more meaningful way.
 
Funny how people suddenly start caring about Africa when they're presented with video and images. I guess I was right about western society's "morality" functioning on guilt.
 
ayase said:
So basically, these guys want to encourage America (and presumably other Western nations) to get involved in Uganda because they don't like what's going on there?

Yeah, how about Americans leaving other countries the f*ck alone to sort out their own problems and instead trying to sort out the problems in their own country? They're only too happy to present the privileged kid of the documentary maker as how children in Africa should be living... Seen the childhood poverty figures for the US recently? How about lobbying congress to help your own poor? But no, that would make you unpopular domestic socialists rather than self-righteous white heroes of Africa.

I don't like kids dying in wars any more than the next person, but I'm also a big believer that people should put their own houses in order before trying to re-arrange those of other people. Like that whole bloody "Free Tibet" crowd. This whole concept seems to support the idea that America really should be the "World Police" and I bet those Washington policy makers love it, they couldn't have asked for a better distraction from themselves. "Ha! Everybody's railing at some Ugandan militia leader instead of us! Brilliant! Actually come to think of it, does Uganda have any natural resources?" ::they rub their hands together and grin maniacal Dick Cheney grins::

Apologies for the rant but honestly, I'm sick of people thinking that the most extreme causes are the worthiest. In my experience, the most worthy cause is the one you can most directly affect. If all these people sticking up posters in DC went and volunteered to help the homeless or spend time with old people or something, they'd probably affect a lot more lives in a much more meaningful way.
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A very true and valid point.
 
I watched the video with similar views to Ayase, throughout the film i didn't feel even the slightest bit of duty to take up this cause until he brought his son into it and tried to explain what was going on.... the innocence of a child like that coming to terms with something as horrible as kidnapping and forcing to kill their parents, mutilate other children and become toy soldiers in one madmans regime to create havoc truly for the sakes of keeping himself empowered.

The thought hit me, if i had a son that i'd waited 9 months to meet. Spent everyday after that helping him to grow and as a 3-4 year old wake up one morning to see him taken away i would be completely overwhelmed with fear, then months later i find him again in the middle of nowhere with a gun in his hands and he's being told by another man to kill me. I would feel helpless.

I put myself in the adults shoes, not the childrens. That is what changed my opinion, the child soldiers are not news to me, its been going on for alot longer than i have even been on this planet but with awareness heightened by this campaign it should motivate whole countries (not just the west, we are talking worldwide) to work together to get rid of this monster.

I also liked the idea of covering town centres in posters at night and to see what the newspapers make of it on April 21st :)
 
The thing with Kony 2012 is this, as that link highlights:

Only 31% of the money made is going to Invisible Children; the other 69% are going to the Ugandan Army, who are known rapists and pillagers themselves. Now, the Ugandan Army won't do anything because they don't like the idea of killing children - and Kony has children as bodyguards.

In other words, your money is going nowhere. Yes, what is happening shouldn't happen and it should be stopped - but this isn't the way to do it.

Also er...wouldn't military intervention mean having to kill said children bodyguards?
 
I'd take Invisible Children a bit more seriously if they actually put more than a third of the money they recieve towards charitable actions.

Funny how, when presented with a flashy Hollywood-style video, people seem to become sheep towards a cause they never cared to find out about.
 
Joshawott said:
Also er...wouldn't military intervention mean having to kill said children bodyguards?
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Thing is, if that's the only way to stop him then I guess that's what has to be done. I'm all for the Ugandans/Sudanese taking care of him by whatever means necessary, but it is their job to do that because it's their lives he's making miserable. Nobody ever won a war by lacking resolve. These days international law kinda compels people to hold back, thus creating major obstacles in actually ending wars and making them nigh on unwinnable, especially for those who want to hold the moral high ground over their enemies (see: Afghanistan). If you really want to win a war conclusively against such a ruthless enemy I don't think there's any other way to do it than to go all Colonel Kurtz. Otherwise they'll never defeat him and might as well let him win.
 
Personally my opinion on finding and getting rid of a guy like that would be to send in bombers and just napalm the bastard out of the grass.

These kids that are brainwashed into working for him are now beyond hope so the nicest thing to do would be to put them out of the situation permanently.

Most charities are in it for themselves, little of the donations ever get through and when they are sent to places life africa their own government takes it. I believe that charity starts at home and postering a town to heighten awareness is a nice thing to do that won't financially affect me in the slightest being seen to do the right thing is more often better than actually doing the right thing (as there are too many variables to fully do the job most of the time)

So i'll take part in the covering of the night but as for sending aid - i've never bothered. I work for the NHS, surely that's enough for my country so any other countries problems are their own.

So to sum up both of my posts today on the matter: I do have empathy for those across there but i won't be sending money, instead i will help to heighten awareness so that hopefully the world governments agree that it would be better to work together and get this guy, be that through bombarding the bastard with mortar fire or bombing from the skies then so be it. As for the kids already involved...... the military have a phrase for explaining that people are "accidentally killed in the process" but the phrase is on the tip of my tongue and i can't quite remember it.

Basically like casualties of war.
 
Have to say I'm with ayase on this one. It's sad, certainly, but so are an awful lot of things, and I don't feel motivated to suddenly leap to action to support this one cause when there are so many miserable stories out there. Especially when I know almost nothing about this one in order to make my own informed decisions. I'll stick to putting my charitable efforts into causes which I personally feel best deserve it.

R
 
Oh piss off people. I'm seeing this everywhere and I'm sick of it.

There's no doubt that Kony is an evil ****, but Invisible Children make the whole situation out to be oh so simple and one dimensional, it's gotten loads of people thinking that no one gives a ****, when in fact the US government has had the LRA designated as a terrorist organisation since 2001 and have been making various attempts over the years to capture or kill him.

Plus most of their money goes straight to them, seriously, how the **** does it cost so much to buy equipment to film, and edit, plus travel expenses? Surely they should've figured out a cheaper, more effective way of going about their buisness.

/rantover

For a little bit of humour.

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Well since practically everyone on the net seems to be debating this, to add my two cents, I also agree with Ayase on this. Anyone actually seriously suggesting that America should send in their military to intervene, is just bonkers to me. American military whom is the biggest and one the most unjust military's in the world should intervene? Think about that for a second.

considering so many of these problems in Africa actually originate from western interference in the first place, I find it pretty sad that the big western powers are still being looked to as 'the good guys' that will save the world.

Obviously what is going on over there is completely tragic, but let's not forget that our own armies are still suiting, booting and arming children to send to their deaths in a war that was initiated for completely unjust and selfish aims.

The situation shouldn't be ignored, but western governments getting involved just doesn't seem like a proper solution at all.
 
vashdaman said:
considering so many of these problems in Africa actually originate from western interference in the first place, I find it pretty sad that the big western powers are still being looked to as 'the good guys' that will save the world.
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Very much so. In the modern era, African solutions are the only satisfactory ones to African problems. Western nations going in there and doing things for them because they don't think they can or will do it themselves is just smacks of a continuing colonial paternalistic attitude to me. Sure, if people want to go and help out by actually doing something useful like helping dig a well then all means they should do so, but helping by simply asking your government to help? Most effort free way to ease your conscience ever.

vashdaman said:
Obviously what is going on over there is completely tragic, but let's not forget that our own armies are still suiting, booting and arming children to send to their deaths in a war that was initiated for completely unjust and selfish aims.
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Er, we and the Americans have armies composed entirely of adult volunteers IIRC. Of course our soldiers aren't to blame for the decisions that send them to war, but if you sign up to be a soldier, you sign up to follow orders and with the knowledge you might be killed in the line of duty. The idea that our soldiers are somehow victims of the conflicts they take part in doesn't sit well with me at all - No, they are willing participants who knew the risks when they took the job. I think to suggest otherwise is somewhat belittling to the soldiers because it suggests that they don't know the possible implications of their decision to join up. They know. They aren't stupid.
 
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