(no subject)

[baleanoptera]

Dear Media


I have mentioned this before, but apparently I have to plead again. When talking about an inferno there is no need to elaborate. Especially not by calling it a "a flaming inferno of smoke and flames". If you do this often enough we might have to revoke your education diploma.

Also - when talking about villages in Africa please stop using the words "simple", "quiet" or a mix of the two with "simple and quiet". For instance - I doubt that people in rural Uganda live in houses with earth floors and no running water because of the "simple and/or quiet" quality.

Likewise - when talking about the refugee camps in Darfur do not refer to them as a "simpler way of life were the focus is not as materialistic as ours." Please! These are not ashrams. The people who live there are not roughing it for the sake of spiritual enlightenment.

That is all.

Yours etc.

Comments

[richlayers.livejournal.com]

Yes. Thank you.

[sunnyskywalker]

Inferno of flame. *sigh*

But the other examples are just plain offensive. I bet the refugees would like just a little more materialism and a little less "simplicity." As if living like that is actually simple. (I have peasants just a few generations back on one side of the family, and it always gets my hackles up when people start talking about the "simple" farming lifestyle. It's a lot more complicated than they make out! Have they ever tried cooking everything on a wood-burning stove, every day? And I always feel that they're implying that the people living the "simple" lifestyle are a bit simple as well, or at least totally honest and uncomplicated - pff!)

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Please tell me you didn't really read a reference to the refugee camps as some kind of rural retreat. Can there really be people in this world stupid enough to believe that?

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

Had he just said rural retreat I would have had grounds to complain more publicly - but instead the reporter turned it into some "shaking fist at the materialism of the western world, and look at the simple - more natural life of the refugee camps".
And all I could think was that I'm sure quite a lot of the refugees would like a little materialism....

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

That kind of tone deafness to reality and humanity and, well, everything is just appalling.

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

And I always feel that they're implying that the people living the "simple" lifestyle are a bit simple as well, or at least totally honest and uncomplicated

Yeah - that is my feeling as well. It smacks a little of the "noble savage" myth, and that "nature people" are much more innocent than "civilized people". I just don't buy that. (also the whole noble savage thing is mainly constructed to legitimize colonization and the white mans right to take land. )

I also have peasants a few generations back, and my uncle still lives on the family farm - and from what I have seen of farming there is nothing simple about it, and I have no idea why farming and rurality are seen through such rose-tinted glasses.

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

I just get so mad at these kind of statements, so its good to have a place to vent. So thank you for listening. ;)

[richlayers.livejournal.com]

Not only listening, but in complete agreement!