Sunday, March 1, 2009

Go abduct yourself

Invisible Children, a "movement" that has tasked itself with resolving the conflict formerly in Northern Uganda and restoring peace and prosperity in the region, is embarking on the latest in its series of adventures -- abducting themselves.

Why or how you can "abduct yourself to free the abducted" is unclear. Nevertheless, come April 25th, one imagines that thousands of youngsters across the western world will be in "9 COUNTRIES. 100 CITIES. ONE VOICE," attempting to kidnap themselves.

A constant debate will be whether an abundance of uninformed and idealistic naiveté, sometimes laced with unconscious hubris, will do more good than harm. While I have my own misgivings about this organization, founded by accident by "three young filmmakers [who] traveled to Africa in search of a story", I think the jury is still out on whether their intentions, however good, translate on balance into real benefits for the people they seek to "help."

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