Jeremy Bentham - present but not voting

The Auto-Icon of Jeremy Bentham
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/who/autoicon

世界一活躍的な死体アハハハハハハハ！

へえ、social capitalって社会のお金って意味じゃないの？

Maybe Bowling Alone Isn’t So Bad - How the prevalence of civic associations in Weimar Germany may have sped the rise of the Nazis
(click to read the whole article)

QUOTE:

Social capital is typically taken to be a good thing. But even Putnam, in the book-length version of his essay, noted that social capital can have its dark side: To the extent that groups encourage their members to focus their energies inward (as is the case with some religious, ethnic, or political groups where membership excludes those without particular beliefs or connections), they can breed intolerance and suspicion of outsiders. Putnam largely dismisses such concerns, but a fascinating study of civic associations during the Weimar Republic, by economists Nico Voigtländer and Hans-Joachim Voth and political scientist Shanker Satyanath, demonstrates the terrifying power of social capital gone awry. The researchers document that membership in the Nazi Party spread most rapidly in areas of Germany where civic associations were strongest, indicating that the social capital played a hand in building the most destructive political movement in modern history.

leave those idiots alone!

at last watched this SHOCKING interview:
Jeremy Irons Discusses Gay Marriage

and this one:
Jeremy Irons: I wish I'd buttoned my lip
in which he obviously didn't button his lips at all. hahahhahahaha

leave him alone! he's just an idiot! and i love this idiot!

the same about:
John Lydon tells female Australian TV presenter: 'When a man is talking, do not interrupt'

why would anyone get politically offended by john lydon?
come on, it's john lydon, not ELTON JOHN.
and if someone interrupted my conversation with others, just to ask about my opinion on a controversial political figure of my country, i would definitely let her/him (see how politically correct i am) shut the f*** up too.

this so called "five responses to a misogynistic put down like John Lydon's" somehow does have its point, but makes me feel quite sorry for feminists, that i occasionally consider myself one of. clever jokes may help you win a quarrel and make you feel good about yourself but, well, if you're satisfied with that...

インターネットのインターナショナル 我等がもの！

PRESS RELEASE, NEW PROVIDER FOR TPB

The Internationale unites the human race~

まあ、実はそうじゃないかもしれませんが
Doubt cast on Pirate Bay's claim to have set up in North Korea (Guardian)

タグ：Copyleft

America's favourite liar

Ping Fu's childhood tales of China's cultural revolution spark controversy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/13/ping-fu-controversy-china-cultural-revolution

so that's what is called AMERICAN DREAM, lol

Kony 2012: what's the real story? (Guardian)

Kony 2012: what's the real story?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2012/mar/08/kony-2012-what-s-the-story

ちょっと整理してみたが…（長すぎ！）

1. About the video

"Kony2012 is aimed at children... it is a very, very persuasive, manipulative film, beautifully made." "I think it's very successful because it doesn't ask very much of people. It doesn't ask people to understand much more than 'There is good, and there is bad.'"

"They are focusing more on an American solution to an African conflict than the holistic approach which should include regional governments and people who are very key to make this a success," says Ochen, "Every war has its own victims. They are advocating for a mechanism to end war with more attention to a perpetrator not victims. Campaigning on killing one man and that's the end is not enough."

Couldn't help but feel the director's concern was less about addressing the needs of those affected today by the LRA and the complexities of tackling the rebel group, than as serving as a very slick promotional vehicle for his charity.

It is partisan, tactless and very bold. But it could be seen as insufferably condescending, a way of making US college kids feel good about themselves. And is Jason Russell scared to come out and admit that effective action entails an old-fashioned boots-on-soil invasion of a landlocked African country, with all the collateral damage that this implies?

2. About Uganda nowadays

The video heavily relies on images shot in Uganda more than 6 years ago and presents it as the current situation.

It doesn't sound like a fair representation of Uganda. We have challenges within the country, but certainly the perception of a country at war is not accurate at all. There are political, economic and social challenges, but they are complex. Being dramatic about a country at war is not accurate.

Years after Kony has moved away from Uganda, northern Uganda is dealing a whole lot of fresh challenges of resettlement and dealing with broken systems.

Many NGOs and the government, especially local government in the north, are about rebuilding and securing lives for children, in education, sanitation, health and livelihoods. International campaigning that doesn't support this agenda is not so useful at this point. We have moved beyond that.

I don't think this is the best way. It might be an appeal that makes sense in America. But there are more fundamental challenges. Kony has been around for 25 years and over. I don't think in the north at the moment that is really what is most important. It might be best on the internet and the like but, at the end of the day, there are more pressing things to deal with. If the Americans had wanted to arrest him, they would have done that a long time ago.

If the international media want to be helpful especially for the conflict situation, they should exert more time and effort understanding practically what the needs are. It is fast-changing.

The video would have been appealing in the last decade. Now we just need support for the recovery rather than all this international attention on this one point. Getting the facts right is most important for the international media.

3. About Invisible Children

Behind the slick website and the touchy-feely talk about "changing the course of human history", there's a hard-nosed money-making operation led by US filmmakers and accountants, commuication experts, lobbyists and salespeople.

So far the organisation has released 11 films and run film tours across the US and other countries to raise awareness. In Uganda, it has given scholarships to 750 children, and helped to re-build schools there and in centralo Africa. The organisation's accounts show it's a cash rich operation, which more than tripled its income in 2011, with more than two thirds of its money coming from "general donations".

The accounts suggest nearly 25% of its $8.8m income last year was spent on travel and film-making with only around 30% going toward programes on the ground. The great majority of the money raised has been spent in the US. $1.7 million went on US employee salaries, $357,000 in film costs, $850,000 in film production costs, $244,000 in "professional services" - thought to be Washington lobbyists - and $1.07 million in travel expenses . Nearly $400,000 was spent on office rent in San Diego.

Charity Navigator, a US charity evaluator, gives Invisible Children three out of four stars overall, four stars financially, but only two stars for "accountability and transparency".


4. About Kony and LRA

Joseph Kony is not in Uganda and hasn't been for six years. The LRA is not in Uganda but now operates in the DRC, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

In October last year, Obama authorised the deployment of 100 US army advisers to help the Ugandan military track down Kony, with no results disclosed to date.

The LRA is much smaller than previously thought. It does not have have 30,000 or 60,000 child soldiers. The figure of 30,000 refers to the total number of children abducted by the LRA over nearly 30 years.

It also makes the point that there is currently no threat to remove the US advisers who are working with the Uganda government to track down the army – Invisible Children's key aim is to force the US government to keep them there.

5. About the Ugandan government and army

The Ugandan government and army are a deeply problematic ally in their campaign.

The Guardian has widely reported recent electoral violence and the persecution of opposition leader, homosexuals and journalists in Uganda. This is clearly sanctioned, even driven by the country's leadership. The persecution of homosexuals is also strongly driven (and funded) by American-based Christian fundamentalist groups, who also see Uganda as a frontline in the cultural war against Islam, thanks to the Museveni regimie's outspoken (and military-strategis) support of the US 'War on Terror'.

While the extreme atrocities committed by the LRA cannot be justified by any 'political cause', the LRA did originally emerge as a direct reaction to extreme atrocities committed since the late 1980s by the government and armed forces of Uganda against the Acholi people in northern Uganda. The person in charge since 1986 until today is Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, who is himself a former rebel army leader and came to power by force.

The Ugandan army and military, including members of the family of the president, are known to have cashed in on the country's sending of troops to participate in the civil war of Congo DRC in the 1990s. The enrichment schemes involve the plundering of timber and high-value minerals like gold, diamonds and coltan in eastern DRC and the creation of false payment and pension schemes for army sections that do not exist ('ghost soldiers').

6. The story behind

One salient issue the film totally misses is that the actual geography of today's LRA operations is related to a potentially troubling "resource war".

Since 2006, Uganda discovered world class oil fields along its border with DRC. The location of the oil fields has raised the stakes for the Ugandan military and its regional partners, including the US.

While LRA is seen as a mindless evil force, its deceased deputy leader, Vincent Otii, told me once that their fight with President Yoweri Museveni was about "money and oil". This context is relevant because it allows for outsiders to view the LRA issue more objectively within the recent history of violence in the wider region that includes the great Central Africa wars of the 90s, in which groups like LRA were pawns for proxy wars between countries.

Izama (Ugandan journalist) pointed out that the Ugandan military – which the Obama administration legally committed itself to assisting one year after the oil discovery – has been increasing its oil-related security operations.

"For Uganda to exploit oil on that border region, it has to run a very large security operation. Part of that includes securing the border against rebels groups including the LRA, the Allied Democratic Forces, Congolese militias and several other Sudanese and Congolese groups that are all operating in that area," he said. "LRA is actually a minority."

"Governments that are motivated by exploiting solely this resource can be pretty excessive in their choice of policies. I think that Invisible Children really lost that wonderful opportunity," Izama added. "The big story in Uganda is about the oil."

Izama believes Invisible Children was mistaken in "going back into history and casting this in terms of what happened five, six years ago, which is no longer the case."

7. How Ugandan people feel

What I'd really like is for organisations like this to have a little bit more respect for individuals like ourselves you have the capability to speak for ourselves. By putting themselves as the heroes of our situation it debilitates our own ability to progress and develop our own capacity. Every time we take a step forward to rebrand ourselves, something comes along like this and uses us in their own game. We are left as the pawns in the game. Without a better brand we cannot develop better international relations. We need to change the image of Africa as a basket case.

All ill roads are built on good intentions. Meaning well doesn't give you the right to march into my house and tell me how to live. It does not offer you that right. Uganda is my country, my brothers, cousins and countrymen. Because I have the privilege to be in the States and I have a forum which is listened to, it's my responsibility to stand up and say something. Just because you mean good doesn't give you the right to control my life.

Uganda needs to be respected as an equal participant in this, we need to be respected as equal citizens of his world. We need to understand that there is more to us than the failures of our past.

What will a $30 kit do? Did I ask you to sell my story for an action kit to make uninformed college students feel good?

8. What might happen to the local population and what they actually need

Steven Van Damme (Oxfam's protection and policy advisor for the whole of eastern Congo) said his organization is concerned about potentially violent consequences for the local population from the Kony2012 campaign.

"In general, we're concerned [about] the catastrophic consequences for the local population," Van Damme said. "We've seen in the past, over and over again, how there's been a lot of retaliation by the LRA, the burning of villages, maiming people, a lot of killings, with little military success."

According to Van Damme, military operations targeting Kony would present a host of risks. "They should take into account the protection of those people living in the areas where those military operations would take place, and at the same time [we're] concerned about the fact that Kony has surrounded himself with a lot of civilians around.

"The LRA is able to operate in that part of DRC because it is a remote area, because it's cut off, because it's isolated. There is very limited infrastructure, very limited amount of roads, schools, hospitals, very limited communications. The state authority is very weak and is absent. ... There's a lack of political acknowledgment of the presence of the LRA in the area."

Van Damme said the challenge of helping people impacted by Joseph Kony and his LRA forces requires focus on issues that are bigger than one man.

"What we want to highlight is the lack of development in the area that we're talking about, where people have a lot of concerns – including the lack of access to hospitals, roads and schools – with this impacting massively on these people," Van Damme said. "And so, any solution has to look at wider development in the area, and that seems to be where there's a lot less attention and a lot less funding and political support.

"The LRA problem goes way beyond a purely military solution and has to tackle all of these matters that basically boil down to a very underdeveloped region."

9. About Kony 2012 merchandise

There is now thousands of pounds worth of Kony 2012 merchandise available of Ebay. On the American Ebay website 1,391 items come up under a search for "Kony" including keyrings, t shirts, posters and phone covers. This search shows 443 items for sale on the English version of the site. As far as I can tell from flicking through the sellers, this is not related to the Invisible Children campaign, but seems to be some sort of industry springing up around it. There's no indication that the profits will go to charity. One seller rgalle86rob is located in Wallasey, Merseyside and offering vinyl stickers for £1.49. M-u-s-k-y, also in the UK, is selling wristbands for £2.99.

タグ：Kony 2012

無事祈願

日本にいる方々が無事でありますように。
私も今月26日、筋少のライヴを見に行く予定ですが。

薬物アレルギーのほほん

薬物アレルギーのおかげて、四日間の病休も取りました。薬疹がひどかったが、ほかの症状がないから、朝点滴に行って、帰りにスーパーで買い物をする毎日を送りました。暇だったな。病院に行く度にバスで見えるからいつもちょっと気になった「中国労働組合書記部」記念館に入っちゃったほど暇だった。つまらない記念館ですが、私以外お客さん一人もいない暖かい部屋に、一人で本を読んでたスタッフさんが羨ましいな、暇な仕事でしょうね。

あまりにも暇だから、自分で料理を作ってみた。意外と簡単。まあ、スープだから、基本的には、何かを鍋に入れて、煮るってこと。おいしいと言われるほどじゃないが、自分で食べられる料理なら、やればできるもんだね。このまま一ヶ月休めば、主婦になれるかもね～

一番暇な時と言えば、やっぱり点滴の時だった。数十人も同じ部屋にいて、時には、祭りのように賑やかだった。よく他の病気をうつされなかった（かな）。まあ、こんな時こそ漫画だ！一週間の点滴タイムに、「赤んぼう少女」、「彼方より」、「蛭子能収コレクション（病気編）」、「空手バカ一代」を一気に読んだ（一週間かかったよ！なにが「一気」だ！）。よかったな。のほほんだったな。

もう治っちゃって、仕事に帰ったが、いつかまた、何か変な薬を飲んじゃおうか。

42にようこそ！

なんか日本語ブログを再開したいから…

どんなものになるか自分もよく分からないが、まあ、とりあえず「welcome」を書かなきゃね。

Welcome to 42!

うん、なんで42って言ったら、H2G2のファンだ！と胸を張って言いたいが、H2G2のことなんかもうほとんど忘れちゃったかな。でも、いつか読み直すぞ！（なんて無力な宣言）

まともな「welcome」にならないか。まあ、いいか。

よろしくお願いします。