Wealth, greed and hunting
If you havent heard, read, or seen by now, the ultra wealthy Trump family (moreso, it’s sons) have been on a killing spree in Africa
Hunting animals such as a Cape buffalo, a waterbuck, a leopard, a civet cat, a crocodile, a kudu and an elephant, this link shows a youtube video with photos of their kills and even “One picture showed a crocodile strung by its neck from a tree, another showed Donald Jr. propped up next to a buffalo while Eric posed with another buffalo with two rifles positioned in its horns”
Trump Jr. arrogantly claims in a tweet ““I am also not going to apologize because some eco nuts want me 2, I AM A HUNTER I don’t hide from that” based on the premise that he believes oh so conveniently that these hunts are designed to “keep wildlife numbers down”. Well good on you, you dickhead, numbers of that elephant you killed certainly don’t need “controlling”, but thanks for the thought. I’m sure that elephant tail you have hanging on your wall keeps you reminded of the ‘good’ you’ve done in controlling Africa’s elephant population.
Trump Jr. hunting with a gun from the comfort of a jeep 100m away from an animal doesn’t exactly prove anything at all, apart from that you can look through a sight and pull a trigger. What a “hunter” you are
I’m starting to think that perhaps the more money you have is directly relevant to the lack of common sense you have. This reminds me of this article on groups of similarly monied up chumps who think it’s a great idea to go and hunt, wait for it, GIRAFFES!! WTF??!!
It’s such a sad fact that today, with all our knowledge, technology, and so called “awareness” that the people who could actually afford to make a difference and do something for GOOD instead of bad, do just the opposite.
Tradition
The notion of “tradition” is fast becoming an issue that should (in my books) carry far less weight than it currently does and is seemingly becoming much more of a convenient scapegoat for countries and governments who give less than two shits about either their natural resources, nature itself and/ or the very people who live in the countries they ‘run’
Take this example for instance. A Moroccan girl has recently committed suicide after being forced (under Moroccan law - and by a Moroccan judge) to marry the very person who raped her….
Once you try to comprehend that, and likely realise you can’t, this is an excerpt from an article written here on deltaworld.org about her fate and this completely absurd law that still exists in this world. Yes, on Earth, where we all live:
“A minor 16 years Moroccan decided to end [her] life in Larache (North of Morocco) after being forced to marry her rapist, ten years older than she, and by the mistreatment to which [she] was subjected.
This type of marriage is imposed by the force of tradition, especially in rural areas to safeguard the honour of the young and “resolve” the damage caused after the violation.
Also, according to the Moroccan penal code the rapist is exempt from punishment if he admits to marry his victim.”
Now, this whole idea of the protection of ‘honour’ in itself seems to be so outrageously absurd to me. If a girl/ boy/ man/ woman is raped, where does honour even come into play and who’s honour is actually in question and at all, WHY? Is the father ashamed that he didn’t protect his daughter or is it a matter of their daughter not being a virgin anymore that they find ‘shameful’? And if it’s the latter, would they not be more pissed that a low life asshole took it from her and in that case, rather than forcing her to MARRY him, want to have his balls up on a rack??
Why the fuck is it HIS exemption that should be concerned??!!
The Majestic Plastic Bag - An amusing mockumentary about the effect plastic bags have on our oceans
The shark fin trade
The shark fin trade is something that strikes a very personal chord with me. It is cruel, barbaric, pointless and to be honest, arrogant. To justify this practice as tradition should bear no weight. This was a tradition that was introduced by a chinese king a very long time ago who claimed it helped him with his sexual prowess. Nowadays they have tablets for that.
The shark fin trade kills 100 million sharks a year. For a soup. This number is unfortunately increasing as wealthy Chinese consider it a status symbol and the soup is consumed increasingly on every national celebration, birthdays, weddings and anything else you can think of, where I am sure no thought is given to the way the shark was killed (by cutting it’s fin off at sea, then throwing the rest of the shark, alive, back into the sea to die) and the rapidly declining shark population worldwide. Estimates are that the shark population today is 90% of what it was a few hundred years ago and we have this largely to thank.
The actual practice of shark finning takes place on the shores of many countries around the world and then sold to the Asian nations to make shark fin soup. Luckily, countries (and celebrities like Gordon Ramsay) around the world are starting to take note with bans starting to be put in place which outlaw it’s practice. It’s a start, but much more needs to be done. What’s more, is that the regulation of these laws is given very low priority in the scheme of things…
This link shows thousands of shark fins lining the streets of Hong Kong in preparation to be sold off (at around $650/pound) for this, from many reports, tasteless soup:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111690/Video-shows-thousands-shark-fins-dumped-Hong-Kong-street-supply-soup-industry.html
I’m beginning to think there needs to be a video like the Kony one made about the shark fin trade… Any takers?
If you’ve ever wondered about the real impacts of Coal Seam Gas (CSG) has on the environment, this documentary gives you a pretty good idea. This is the full documentary but I recommend you hire it from the local video store, sit down and watch it through
Here’s some food for thought.
Given that Africa has been a country in turmoil for over 100 years, if the promise of oil in Uganda was not apparent, would America really have taken any interest now?
This is a very interesting article from the Guardian and should make people question everything before jumping on the bandwagon of “good cause”
Right now, Kony 2012 is probably the most watched, facebooked, shared, blogged about (case in point) topic all over the web.
The plight of the child soldiers in Africa (and anywhere for that reason) definitely deserves attention, and to really get people’s attention you need to create a whole bunch of hype, which is exactly what these guys, Invisible Children have succeeded in doing.
The main problem with creating internet hype is people quickly lose focus of what they’re actually supporting. Even more so when celebrities like Rhianna start tweeting about it and all of a sudden it’s THE thing to do, rather than the RIGHT thing to do. Although it may still very well be the RIGHT thing to do, people aren’t necessarily doing it for that reason
I get a lot of enjoyment out of reading Vice’s articles although they can sometimes be, for me anyway, fairly hit or miss. This article on “Whether I Should Donate Money To Kony 2012 or Not?” is definitely spot on. It raises some very interesting points on the criticisms of Kony 2012 and what people who, caught up in all the hype, might not necessarily consider before jumping on the band wagon.
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/should-i-donate-money-to-kony-2012-or-not
The push to bring Kony down is 100% warranted in my books and no doubt Invisible Children are doing what 99.9% of the world’s population would be too unaware/ lazy/ care-less to do. I can only hope that all of this awareness and hype is put to good use rather than creating an “internet phenomenon”
