soapbox

WAR SCHOOL from Ben Newman on Vimeo.


allow me please, to step on my little soapbox.

after watching this video what was your reaction? shock? horror? despair? the better question is, did you know that this is happening? every day? outside of our little comfy american bubble, children are being forced to do unimaginable things. things that we think only happen in movies or in books. here in america we are outraged that our gas prices are rising, that our iphone is broken, that our shoes don't match our outfit when around the world children, innocent children, and being forced and trained to do things that would rip anyone's soul to shreds.

this video forces you to open your eyes, to broaden your mind, and to think about more than yourself.  i came across it on tumblr. aside from being disturbed by what i was watching, i was even more disturbed by what i read.

lightburninonthedancefloor:

saracanfixit:

turboswag-:

kyyyyyyyylee:

-wewereinfinite:

starryash:

giantasspandas:

cigarettes-and-whiskey:

puremutiny:

This actually made me cry, please watch.

Chills. Brutal truth is just too much sometimes. But damn you all should watch this.

k when the little girl was forced to do that.. homan, teaaaaars :’/ This shouldnt be happening

The human society is disgusting. Ugh.

please, everyone that follows me, take the time to watch this. you really should.

This is so sad and upsetting

THIS IS INHUMAN. The world is fucking sick.

I can’t believe this is happening… and I didn’t realize it was until I watched this video. Some people are absolutely disgusting.

I had no idea this was happening until Tumblr pointed it out to me. Like, the world isn’t just about Glee and Apple products? Wha?

holy shit this video is incredible

wow.

OH MY GOD. THERE ARE NO WORDS.

Fuck. I cannot-

really opened my eyes

I have no words.

well this was amazingly shot, but i can’t even… no words. this just broke my heart. 

——

That was really powerful for 8 minutes. oh, god. 

At first I was like, “what the actual fuck?” And then I was like “No way this shit is actually happening man.” But then I cried a little bit when the end came up and said the facts about the ‘training camps’. This is fucking disgusting. ):

the fuck is this. i am shocked.

this is so sad. I cried. I cannot believe this actually happens in real life. This world is disgusting. What a shame it is.

oh my dear. this is insanity.

Please watch this. This shouldn’t be happening. This world disgusts me. 

just watch it.

Please watch and reblog. If you can reblog pretty photos and quotes then you can take 2 seconds and reblog this.

 omg. i can’t even.

As amazingly well shot as this is, and as much as this is a cause I really, really care about, it seriously almost makes me as mad how many comments are all “oh man I can’t believe this actually happens.” The fact that we live in a society that can so easily ignore/almost hide that this is a huge problem world wide is equally heartbreaking.

http://www2.invisiblechildren.com/ <— don’t just reblog. Do more. 

how can some people not know what is happening? do you not read the newspaper? do you not turn on the tv? heck, do you not watch movies? blood diamond? black hawk down? tears of the sun?

aside from all of this another question popped into my head. this video depicts white children soldiers.  how would these bloggers react if the children soldiers were black like so many in the world are? maybe it's the devil's advocate in me, but i wonder if they would react as strongly if the children in the video were black.  would people be as appalled and disturbed? this is something that is a reality for so many countries in africa. does the rwandan or darfur crisis ring a bell? the civil wars in the congo? children in these countries fear for their lives on their miles upon miles commute to school everyday. they worry about being kidnapped and brainwashed and forced to murder their families and friends.

it's proven that when the crisis in darfur and rwanda broke out america tuned out. i spent a whole semester researching it. american's couldn't relate. they didn't understand or know where the countries were so they didn't care. africa is one of those continents that has countries that are out of sight, out of mind.  i just wonder how americans would react if this were to happen in predominately white areas like canada or western europe? would they be more outraged because appearance wise, it hits closer to home?

i don't mean to sound preachy or accuse anyone of not caring. i just wonder what the world would be like if we were all more aware and more informed of our surroundings.