http://vt.tumblr.com/tumblr_m41io7zkL51qc87cg.mp4 →
Some girl’s reaction to the HIMYM finale. Literally me. I reacted the same way when Nicki Minaj made an appearance onstage at the Super Bowl…
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Call me, Maeby
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His face for “BEER,” though.
oh my god. it gets better as it goes along. i cant even.
(Source: vveaboo)
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Nicki Minaj | “Beez in the Trap”
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Kony 2012
Don’t ask me why I feel compelled to write about this whole situation, but I do. So basically here’s what I’m going to discuss: (1) The Invisible Children Donations and Fundraising (2) The IC Budget (3) The IC Mission Statement. In this whole post I am going to write to the best of my knowledge and understanding of the Kony 2012 situation. I am by no means an expert, just a girl with a positive outlook and apparently a lot of time to sit on the computer to conduct some research. A friend and I were discussing this whole Kony 2012 thing and here’s how I stand on the major factors in people deciding if this whole ordeal is legit or not. Deal with it.
(1) The Invisible Children Donations and Fundraising: So with the recent popularity of the Kony 2012 video, there is no doubt that donations have been flying their way the past couple days. Obviously when most people see bad things happening they want to do what they can to stop it and why not do it the American way and throw some money at the problem? I mean clearly the man in charge (Jason Russell) is passionate about it so he knows what he thinks needs to be done and if people support that idea then why is it my responsibility to stop people from donating? This is my only argument against the IC organization…there are a lot of gaps and grey areas in the donation process and people generally like knowing that they aren’t getting hooked into some kind of ponzi scheme. The Better Business Bureau hasn’t received the information from IC to certify that they are legit in their fundraising…this doesn’t mean that IC is stealing everyone’s money but it also doesn’t mean that they are using the donations for good. Total grey area going on here…
(2) The IC Budget: The biggest issue that people have with the IC budget is travel and filming.The travel expense (via this PDF of their financials) for June 2010-June 2011 is $1,074,273. Shit, that’s a lot of money. Now I did a quick search on Expedia to see how much a flight from Los Angeles (IC is based in San Diego so they probably fly through LAX) to Entebbe, Uganda and that is an expensive flight…a round trip is, at its cheapest $1,250 and at its most expensive is well over $7,000. And I am definitely looking at the cheapest possible way to go there and back, no business class here. So if you expect an organization to help people in Africa all the way from San Diego without ever taking any flights, you’re an idiot. You’re also an idiot if you think they could afford to pay for that themselves and that they should. If they’re as dedicated as any benefactor would want them to be, they are constantly flying back and forth, so the travel expense seems correct to me. Also take into account the drivers they need to hire and the luggage expenses, if they’re bringing supplies. The film expense is $357,610, which is way different that the $1 million that The Daily What quoted it to be. Honestly, check the financial statement again. I’m going to get to why a big film expense is there in my next point.
(3) The IC Mission Statement: According to the IC website, they state that their goal is to “use the power of media to inspire young people to help end the longest-running armed conflict in Africa. We make documentaries, tour them around the world, and lobby our nation’s leaders to make ending this conflict a priority”. So in a nutshell, they create documentaries and movies to help raise awareness about the awful happenings going on in Africa. They also say on the same page that they implement educational programs in order to create stability in Africa, which is what the BIGGEST EXPENSE is for them (its listed as ‘Direct Services’ and for 2011 is amounted to $2,810,681). So everyone that says hardly any of the money goes towards actually helping those in Uganda, that’s not true. And since when is any business (yes, this organization is a business) able to function without any sort of money to keep them from having to shut down? Every business has expenses whether it be travel, filming, supplies, rent, or payroll. I understand that the percentage of money being funneled to the programs in Africa is 32%, but lets go back to the mission statement…raising awareness through the “power of media”. IC’s goal isn’t just to create programs but to make people like you and me aware of what’s actually happening in the most effective way they know that they can. They create mini-documentaries and spread the media through the mediums that we all use; Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, celebrities and cultural icons. IC knows that we as a culture won’t really focus on anything unless you’re recommended it by a friend on Facebook or Twitter, your favorite YouTube star, you favorite movie or music star, or the politicians that we put our faith in to make decisions on our behalf. Their goal is to spread information like wildfire in order to achieve awareness and get the ball rolling to create change for those in Uganda. Guess what, guys? That’s exactly what they’re doing and they didn’t tell you that the money you all are donating/thinking of donating was going to go anywhere different.
So overall…everyone is being misinformed. By everybody. Now I’ve (for some very odd reason since I really don’t have people that follow this tumblr at all) tried to straighten out the facts the best that I could so maybe people can be a little bit more knowledgeable before they either (A) toss all their money to an organization that really could stand to clear their shit up a bit or (B) instantly write off Kony 2012 without actually taking the mission statement into consideration. Honestly people, why is it necessary to try and turn people against something that has the potential to do a lot of good? People seem to think that IC is this big scam (which it very well could be since I’m not the all-knowing here) for reasons that don’t actually hold up in a debate. I understand that the Ugandan government is in deep shit right now, but if you watched the video all the way through one of the stepping stones and goals of IC is to have the US offer to advise the government there in order to take the best possible course of action. And sure messages get mixed up and hopefully if that part of the plan gets put into action it’ll work out as the IC intended, but the IC isn’t planning some hostile takeover. The Ugandan army does some bad shit but there is absolutely no way Kony is going to get whats coming to him if the US has to work against the Ugandan army to fight the Lord’s Resistance Army. There’s a lot of work to be done and the IC and Kony 2012 movement is obviously not perfect, as good plans never are. But the negativity around something that could change the course of history for the better is just ridiculous. Stop thinking that you’re smarter than the average person because you found the Daily What article before you posted the Kony 2012 video. Anyone with a basic understanding of a financial statement for a business can understand why those expenses are the way that they are. Educate yourself, people…you’re not better than everyone else because you’re a pessimist or even an optimist on the whole situation. Keep yourself informed and make your decisions on the matter based off of facts and not from opinions from either side of the argument.
