H/T Claudio.
Waddya think? Sure got me!
Here’s another question. Why does the death of just a few people by violent means make the *very* top of the headlines all week long when it happens in the U.S., but the death of *lots* of people by violent means in a U.S. militarily occupied nation all week long does *not* even make the 2nd or 3rd page of headlines? Does your answer to this question relate to your reaction to the video? Why/How?
Posted in Videos | 5 Comments »Next Friday we will be reviewing the new movie In the Valley of Elah. It’s getting 67% over at Rotten Tomatoes, so it’s got to be at least watchable. If you get a chance, see the movie this week and join us to talk about it next Friday.
Posted in Movie Reviews, Videos, War, War Crimes | 5 Comments »This wikinews story from yesterday reminded me of this TED talk by musician Peter Gabriel. Witness works with human rights groups around the world distributing cameras and helping people to document human rights abuses.
From the TED talk:
The thing that really amazed me that I had now idea was that you could suffer in this way and then have your whole experience, your story, denied, buried, or forgotten. And it seemed whenever there was a camera around, a video or film camera, it was a great deal harder to do, for those in power to bury the story
From the Witness website:
WITNESS uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. We empower people to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice, promoting public engagement and policy change.
I love this because in a sense witness is about giving away power to the powerless, which is one of my favorite ideas, and really one of the great redemptive ideas that lies behind a lot of the great stories that I find most moving. It makes me want to somehow get more involved in that power transfer, helping to make it happen.
Posted in Activism, Torture, Videos, technology | 3 Comments »Wanted to draw your attention to Logan’s story. He refers to himself as a “courageous coward”. Logan realized during and after his first tour of duty in Iraq that as a Christian he could no longer justify his work. So he started the process of asking to be given non-combatant conscientious objector status. This is the first of 3 video clips on his web site. In this clip, he says
A large part of my life was destroying as much as possible of whatever I was told to–human life, personal property
I don’t think that Christians are called to kill anybody at anytime, and that put me in difficulty with regards to my job, because my professional obligations were pretty much to do that.
H T to Joe for this one.
Posted in Peace, Videos, War | 18 Comments »Just a note to say that Meg will be reviewing Iraq in Fragments this Friday, and we would love for you to join in discussing it here at JaC. It is in limited release in theatres in these cities right now, but can also be rented from net flix.
Posted in Movie Reviews, Upcoming Events, Videos, War | No Comments »Helen found this video this week produced by 16 year old Ava Lowery for her site Peacetakescourage.com. Hat tip to Mike Clawson
Does Jesus love the Iraqi children too? If you say “yes”, what does it *mean* to say that he does?
Posted in Videos, War | 3 Comments »Invisible Children is inviting us to imagine for 24 hours what it is like to be displaced for 10 years. On April 28th, tens of thousands of people across the U.S. will gather in 15 cities in mock internally displaced persons camps to show our support for the internally displaced persons in northern Uganda.
Posted in Activism, Videos, War, What can we do? | No Comments »This via Cracked Virtue
Posted in Videos | No Comments »