IMPORTANT UPDATE RE: KONY 2012: I am an idiot.
Why Criticism of KONY 2012 Doesn’t Bother Me
Some thorough criticism of KONY 2012 here: visiblechildren.tumblr.com
Here’s why, as a quick and admittedly not fully informed supporter of KONY 2012, I don’t find it alarming:
Do I have a better answer? No, I don’t, but that doesn’t mean that you should support KONY 2012 just because it’s something. Something isn’t always better than nothing. Sometimes it’s worse.
Every action of any consequence has detractors. Because every action of any consequence has negative implications, some of which we haven’t even conceived of. But if that’s the extent of his answer and he doesn’t have a better one, then the only thing he is advocating is inaction.
That doesn’t mean his points are invalid. But if it weren’t for KONY 2012, they wouldn’t be heard either.
This isn’t about each one of us coming to perfect moral arithmetic and a thorough point of view on every issue in the world. That isn’t possible, and even trying to achieve it for yourself will make you crazy, because it does not compute; the world is not that clean and it cannot be understood that way.
Which is why his post is only a perfect recipe for things continuing as they are. How can that possibly be the right answer?
Speaking more broadly, I’m interested in this both for its specific aims and also as a social experiment mobilizing public will. I believe governments are generally corrupt and rearward facing by their nature and this to me feels like a step towards more forward-leaning, small-d democratic activism.
But public will is largely ignorant and always will be. Awareness isn’t really awareness, it’s activation. Most people are drones. If we all sit around trying to thoroughly educate everyone we’re just going to keep arguing and achieving nothing while those less interested in universal goodness mobilize. I’d rather take action and course correct.
So until this guy has an alternative solution around which he can mobilize and compete with KONY 2012, it’s just a post. Good for him.
“We defended and gave ourselves a chance to win, and that’s all you can ask for,” James said. “So we can be satisfied. I mean, you don’t like to lose, but we’re not going to hang our heads about this one.”
“A lot of times we were able to get LeBron to the rim and that’s what we wanted,” Wade said. “It’s not always going to go in, but we can leave here with our heads up high, knowing that we stuck to our game plan. We just didn’t get the win.”
Reality Intrudes
I’m a Nebraska fan living in New York City. For months some buddies and I have been planning a trip to State College for the Penn State game. All our plans are set. And more than any other game I’ve ever planned to attend, I don’t know how I feel about it. I don’t know if I’m excited or if I want to cancel. It seems crass to cheer.
College football fanhood already required huge indulgence in fantasy given how corrupt and unfair it is relative to the other mainstream spectator sports. You already had to ignore all that to enjoy college football, to believe it, and find meaning in it. Decades spent identifying so personally with universities helps maintain our grip on the idea that sports matter, even when so much of this sport (like the concept of amateurism or the idea that these players relate to your alma mater the same way you do) is an illusion.
But this reality is so much darker, graver, harder to deny. It’s not like I’m rooting for them, but the Penn State community needs some bit of good news, even if it’s as relatively trivial as a win. Or is that what it needs? Is that a crass thought?
This tragedy is universally depressing because of what it says about all of us: if Paterno can screw up like this, then anyone can, and we’re all part of a system and society that profoundly and systemically damages innocent people. “We’re all human” is a slight consolation to the guilty because it slightly condemns the rest of us.
For sports fans there’s something else. For people who have chosen to build their lives around Saturday afternoons and derive some level of meaning from college football, and especially Penn State fans, there’s something more. Not worse necessarily but different, more disorienting. It’s a feeling they can’t ignore because it’s personal. It’s not that they’re rooting for or against bad guys or even that the game is unfair (after all, being a fan is not about being rational).
No, this is different, and it’s toxic to fanaticism. It’s the undeniable feeling that Saturday’s game is unimportant.
Manhattan Neighborhoods In Six Words Or Less
A combination of egocentrism and overzealous real estate agents has led to an overabundance of Manhattan neighborhoods. Here’s a guide to the most popular of them, created with the Attention Deficit Generation in mind. By JANUARY NELSON
Marble Hill – Basically the Bronx Inwood – So far away, why bother
Washington Heights – Good to know Spanish here
Morningside Heights – Columbia trying to make ‘SoHa’ happen
Sugar Hill – Bougie, once upon a time
East Harlem – Sneaker capital of the world
Upper East Side – Old people love it
Upper West Side – Your nanny and kids love it
Columbus Circle – Tenth circle of hell
Rockefeller Center – No one lives here, I hope
Diamond District – Not as fun as it sounds
Theater District – Overdressed people with no style
Turtle Bay – Home of drink specials and wings
Midtown East – Drink here until you’re 21
Tudor City – What is this, even
Times Square – Nightmare for epileptics and everyone
Hell’s Kitchen – Great place to pick up hookers
Garment District – Better name Bedazzled Ringer-Tee Row
Herald Square – There’s a Macy’s and other stuff
Koreatown – Korean BBQ and karaoke FTW
Murray Hill – Frat boys graduate then move here
Union Square – Wallet hasn’t been stolen? Go shopping
Kips Bay – “It’s a hell of a town”
NoMad – Nickname never stuck, mark as ‘Irrelevant’
Chelsea – Homophobic need not apply
Flatiron District – Looking for SVA? Check American Apparel
Stuyvesant Town – You’ll get lost here if stoned
Meatpacking District – Avoid roofies in your $18 cocktail
Alphabet City – Most expensive place to get stabbed
East Village – Score ramen, a tattoo, or heroin
Little Italy – There are some Italian flags here
Greenwich Village – You can’t afford that townhouse, sorry
West Village – NYU and lots of blue hair
Lower East Side – Narrow bars; be skinny to enter
SoHo – Don’t wear heels here
Chinatown – ‘No smoking’ in bars doesn’t apply
TriBeCa – Celebrities live here, for some reason
South Street Seaport – Where the best buskers perform
@robbradal knows you can’t show huge waves any fear (Taken with Instagram at Shannon/Allen Oceanside Retreat and Summertime Headquarters)
