Chapter 1: Humanitarian or Hipster?

I will preface by asking anyone reading this to reserve judgement and not to jump to any conclusions until they have finished the entire post. Thank you

We live in a time period where many people, particularly those of my generation, seem desperate for a cause to be a part of. Having undergone a schooling filled with stories of anti war protests or the civil rights movement, we feel it necessary to become activists the same way our parent generation did. Whether it be the current atrocities in Uganda or the occupy movement, there is an apparent never ending list of issues to be irate about. Mind you, I do support most of the social and political causes on the table a this particular juncture and am filled with a certain amount of pride to see people I respect fighting for justice, I simply have to question the commitment and reasons behind a lot of it.

Today I will focus on Uganda.

With social networking being such a big part of all of our lives, it becomes very easy to hide behind a keyboard and 'preach the good word'. I have watched as people fall in and out of causes seemingly based upon it's trendiness. During the civil rights marches or the fight for womens rights, the social landscape of the world was different. Instead of posting links and blogs, this being an example, supporters of these causes were writing their congressmen, organizing marches, raising money and overall, investing themselves completely to the fight. They did not waver from their convictions no matter how society viewed them nor did they back down when met with force. For me, this is admirable and what current movements are lacking. So many seem content to simply sit back and post link after link and lecture everyone about how they're not doing their part, but never actually getting involved...not really. I'm not advocating for these people to quit their jobs and run away nor am I condemning them for utilizing the internet to share information they find, but clearly this is no longer enough.

I look at Uganda. Until recently, most people had no idea what was happening there or they simply didn't care. I'm guilty of the first part of that. I fully admit that until watching a video link, I was totally unaware of who Kony is. As I said above, I am thrilled with the out pour of support and rage over these horrible acts being committed by this man and his followers, however, what is actually being done about it? I see post after post and link after link urging everyone to get involved and this is great, but this alone is not going to change anything. If things are to change, it's going to be necessary to donate, to write congress, to get the word out in non-social media ways. That being said, let's face it: these sort of atrocities have been occurring in that area and all around the world for...well, as long as I care to remember. I'm not saying we should lose hope and just move on, but we should all brace ourselves. Once or if Kony is removed from power, what then? Do these orphaned and brainwashed children just denounce their training and go back to civilized life? It won't happen and to think it would is simply naive. There will be a new leader like there always has been. Until the government and people of these areas let go of their fear and stand up for themselves, it will be an endless cycle no matter what we do. I know this sounds blunt, sorry.

Now, I'll say again, I'm not saying this cause is a waste of time...no, it's far from it. This is something extremely important. I just pray this doesn't go the way of Darfur. My junior year when I started becoming active in social and political causes, someone gave me some literature (there was no fancy video) to read about a place that I'd never heard of. Within these pages, I was made aware of mass genocide being committed at the hands of their government. Perhaps I was naive before this moment, but I was stunned that this had been going on for such a long time and I'd never heard of it before. I dove in. I bought the bracelets, as so many at the time were doing, I wrote congress, I posted on xanga and myspace, I talked to as many people as I could, I shared the literature and for a few months, people were just as enraged as they are now over Uganda. However, fast forward a few months/years. A new cause that seemed to be more 'hip' I guess popped up and Darfur was all but forgotten. I was stunned. How could people who were so passionate about this cause just walk away? How could they forget?

The reason I tell this story is because I don't know if I can handle watching it happen again but I know it will. Right now, it's all about Uganda. I give it a month and people will stop caring and find something new to be outraged about. I mean, honestly ask yourself, whens the last time you heard anything about Darfur?

In conclusion, please don't lose hope. Please don't turn this into a fauxment. Don't let the suffering and murders of people be a fad. The thing about a movement is results don't happen overnight. It takes time. There will be a lot of set backs and disappointments. Society will try to silence and discourage you. Use it as fuel. I beg of you, do not take the easy route and just sit back on your damn laptop and use the movement to demonstrate to all your friends how much you care. Be active in ways beyond the internet. Research this cause. Keep fighting.

Thanks for reading.

Prelude

I would imagine that most people reading this already know me and thus know most of what I'm about to say, however, for those who do not, my first post will simply be an explanation of things to come.

To begin, I'll simply say this: I hate blogs and bloggers. That being said, I'm creating this for a multitude of reasons ranging from political and social problems to music related rants. That's what I'll be posting: rants. Now, I tend to get overly wordy and my grammar isn't always the best, but frankly Scarlett, I don't give a damn. You will not always agree with what I say and at some point, I'm bound to offend or upset you but remember, at the end of the day, these are my thoughts on various subject. So deal with it.

Now, a little backing information. My name is Michael, but I go by Mike. I went to culinary school in Pittsburgh and am now a sous chef at a local fine dining establishment. Though I was born in Indiana, for me, West Virginia is and will always be home to me. I tend to use what little free time I have for music listening/playing and watching documentaries. I've always hated the phrase 'music is my life' because it's fucking stupid. However, I do consider myself a music lover in every sense of the word. My mother, a cellist, began teaching me cello when I was about 18 months old and it's been nonstop since. My father introduced a love of rock'n'roll, blues and folk starting basically from birth. The combination of the two spectrum's have influenced pretty much every aspect of what I listen to and play. Periodically, I will be posting songs from artists that I look up to. Brace yourself.

To conclude, I don't give a good shit what your thoughts are on the subject of me 'blogging'. I do it for me in order to get things off my chest. My hope and goal for this is that perhaps it will provide me some sort of relief rather than bottling up my anger and whatnot.

Thanks for reading