Yunho is a sweetheart and all but the fact that the plight of these people is used as a promotional tool irks me to no end. I t also does not help that SM fucked it up by posting pics on facebook
Meaning what, exactly? You don't trust any K-idol who puts their name to supporting a charity campaign - for what reason? And does this apply to every well-known person who promotes charitable causes or just k-idols specifically? All charities or overseas aid charities in particular?
I can't speak for the OC but it's always problematic when a K-idol goes on one of these televised "charity" trips to Africa (because ofc Africa is just one giant country)
They bring in these huge camera crews into places that they don't know and that definitely don't need tons of people filming their plights and exploiting them in order for publicity. Because all they do is just take pictures with kids and hug kids and maybe pass out some clothes or something. And then they go back to Korea and give interviews about how much Africa has changed them and how grateful they are for their lives.
It's so tacky and self promotional. These kids don't need you to feel sorry for them. They need a future ensured for them.
It's nice if a celebrity has a charity project that they support whole heartedly and put effort into. If they find that one cause that they're passionate about and learn about and promote about beyond going to film a television special there. But every time a Korean idol does a show like this, that is not it. Shows like this cause more harm than good.
Have you watched it? He went to Ghana - the captions say Ghana, the presenters say Ghana. It's very clearly about the country of Ghana. No one says or implies that Africa is one big giant country. The show goes into some detail about the different jobs that children do, the economic necessity for them to do so, the fact that sustainable farming activity is being displaced by mining and other industries, the effect that working in difficult and dangerous jobs has on the health and education of young people in this situation. It's not 90 minutes of hugging and patronising people to massage a celebrity ego - it's actually informative and gives a fair amount of insight into the experiences of the Ghanaian young people featured in it.
It's a fact that a documentary such as this will gain a higher viewership if presented by someone well-known and likeable. Should KBS limit the number of people who will see this documentary and who may be inspired to contribute time, money and activism to protect the delicate sensibilities of people such as yourself who automatically suspect the motives of the person presenting the documentary just because they're famous? I know some celebs have been known to be dicks about it, but is that a reason to write off all such TV programmes just because its presented by someone you've heard of? I see some very good documentaries, such as Unreported World (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreported_World) which feature stories from the developing world but i can tell you that not many people do see them. It's niche programming for people who are interested in current affairs already. To get a large viewership you need a well-known face - you might not like it, but that's the reality of the situation.
He's very low-key about it, but Yunho is known to be quietly philanthropic and gives very generously both in terms of longstanding financial support and committing his limited free time to a number of children's charities and educational scholarship programmes for young people living in poverty in Korea. If he wanted to blow his own trumpet about what an all-round champ and charitable good guy he is and how much money he stumps up he's not short of opportunities to do so. But you can regard this show as a halo-polishing exercise by a publicity hound if you like.
One of my facebook friends linked this article the other day.
Obviously K-idols aren't white but this pretty much hits the spot with what's wrong with this kind of meaningless "charity" work https://medium.com/p/b84d4011d17e
Elements of this show were sentimental but for the most part it was straightforward reportage concerning the poor working conditions of of some groups of children in Ghana and the fact that they are obliged to work due to economic necessity. It does reference the fact that viable farms have been displaced by the mining industry.
What you've done here is to take one of the worst aspects of some aid programmes - an example of clueless volunteers doing useless busywork that could better be performed by locals in need of paid employment - and you're inferring that the programme in this documentary is guilty of the same sorts of practices. Can you back this up? I have looked online to see what i can find out about the Road for Hope programme, but all I can gather is that it's run by public service broadcaster KBS, that it's to mark the anniversary of South Korea joining the UN, and that it's intended to raise awareness of poverty in areas of Asia and Africa and to raise funds to support specific aid programmes. I can't find anything to suggest that these programmes are similar to the ones in your example. Perhaps you can?
Oh, and K-idols also come from a country which has, within living memory, experienced oppressive colonisation by the Japanese which included sex slavery, a devastating civil war / international proxy war which destroyed the country's infrastructure and economy, plunged them into extreme poverty and saw a huge proportion of the population permanently stranded on the other side of an artificial border in a state with one of the worst human rights records on earth and, within South Korea, lived under a series of military dictatorships the last of which was still in place when many older idols, including Yunho, were born. They and their families might possibly have some insight into the lives of people experiencing some of those sorts of conditions today and consequently might feel some responsibility to help alleviate their suffering.
Or they could be self-aggrandising rich dickheads because someone you know on facebook reposted some anecdotes on their blog about the times some girl with more money than sense repeatedly undertook charity work that she blatantly wasn't qualified to carry out and now has a big guilt complex about it. Is that about right?
Yunho doesnt walk in thinking he can change anyone's lives nor was the purpose of it for him to be walking in and everything would be alright, at one point he tried to help out a kid with his work and he couldn't cause he didn't know how to do it. The only thing Yunho could do was lend an ear and an opportunity for more people to listen to their stories, and he did. It was pretty straight forward that this was to raise awareness and Yunho learned a lot from this... More than anything you feel the helplessness idk, at times it was obvious Yunho realized that his words couldn't help and that's the truth but it was just sad.
"While looking at the children in Ghana, I found out that the things which I previously thought of as exhausting / difficult can never be compared to what these children feel. Looking at the children smiling, this became a huge source of strength for me. So I made a promise with the children that I would smile whenever I came across anything tiring / difficult."
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Date: 2014-02-24 11:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 01:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-28 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-24 11:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 12:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 01:37 am (UTC)They bring in these huge camera crews into places that they don't know and that definitely don't need tons of people filming their plights and exploiting them in order for publicity. Because all they do is just take pictures with kids and hug kids and maybe pass out some clothes or something. And then they go back to Korea and give interviews about how much Africa has changed them and how grateful they are for their lives.
It's so tacky and self promotional. These kids don't need you to feel sorry for them. They need a future ensured for them.
It's nice if a celebrity has a charity project that they support whole heartedly and put effort into. If they find that one cause that they're passionate about and learn about and promote about beyond going to film a television special there.
But every time a Korean idol does a show like this, that is not it. Shows like this cause more harm than good.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 02:23 am (UTC)It's a fact that a documentary such as this will gain a higher viewership if presented by someone well-known and likeable. Should KBS limit the number of people who will see this documentary and who may be inspired to contribute time, money and activism to protect the delicate sensibilities of people such as yourself who automatically suspect the motives of the person presenting the documentary just because they're famous? I know some celebs have been known to be dicks about it, but is that a reason to write off all such TV programmes just because its presented by someone you've heard of? I see some very good documentaries, such as Unreported World (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreported_World) which feature stories from the developing world but i can tell you that not many people do see them. It's niche programming for people who are interested in current affairs already. To get a large viewership you need a well-known face - you might not like it, but that's the reality of the situation.
He's very low-key about it, but Yunho is known to be quietly philanthropic and gives very generously both in terms of longstanding financial support and committing his limited free time to a number of children's charities and educational scholarship programmes for young people living in poverty in Korea. If he wanted to blow his own trumpet about what an all-round champ and charitable good guy he is and how much money he stumps up he's not short of opportunities to do so. But you can regard this show as a halo-polishing exercise by a publicity hound if you like.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 03:44 am (UTC)Thanks!
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Date: 2014-02-25 12:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 03:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 05:58 pm (UTC)like, please watch it first :/
no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 01:31 am (UTC)Obviously K-idols aren't white but this pretty much hits the spot with what's wrong with this kind of meaningless "charity" work https://medium.com/p/b84d4011d17e
no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 01:57 am (UTC)of some groups of children in Ghana and the fact that they are obliged to work due to economic necessity. It does reference the fact that viable farms have been displaced by the mining industry.
What you've done here is to take one of the worst aspects of some aid programmes - an example of clueless volunteers doing useless busywork that could better be performed by locals in need of paid employment - and you're inferring that the programme in this documentary is guilty of the same sorts of practices. Can you back this up? I have looked online to see what i can find out about the Road for Hope programme, but all I can gather is that it's run by public service broadcaster KBS, that it's to mark the anniversary of South Korea joining the UN, and that it's intended to raise awareness of poverty in areas of Asia and Africa and to raise funds to support specific aid programmes. I can't find anything to suggest that these programmes are similar to the ones in your example. Perhaps you can?
no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 05:41 pm (UTC)Or they could be self-aggrandising rich dickheads because someone you know on facebook reposted some anecdotes on their blog about the times some girl with more money than sense repeatedly undertook charity work that she blatantly wasn't qualified to carry out and now has a big guilt complex about it. Is that about right?
no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 02:20 am (UTC)"While looking at the children in Ghana, I found out that the things which I previously thought of as exhausting / difficult can never be compared to what these children feel. Looking at the children smiling, this became a huge source of strength for me. So I made a promise with the children that I would smile whenever I came across anything tiring / difficult."