mbjones

• Who in the world thought it'd be a good idea to privatize prisons, and put quotas on how "full" they should remain? Essentially what you have happening: if crime lowers, tax payers must spend more as quotas aren't met so you incentivize the state to keep crime rates inflated and prisons full.
• Giving money to child beggars is one of the worst things you could do when traveling through impoverished nations. Did you know, for example, in Brazil child beggars trade powdered milk for coke (as in cocaine, not cola)? Or in India that organized crime runs rings of trafficked child beggars to exploit tourists?
• Thrice has always been a favorite band of mine. They are on a bit of a hiatus but their frontman just released a worship album and it is amazing. That review is from a non-christian magazine, and they gave it 3.5 stars out of 5, which kind of surprised me.
• Worth linking to again, as it came up this week: The Missionary Code and how churches play into it. Dynamics that are important to process through.
• Great questions for the Bible part of a DBS. They'll help any study get deep into the text.
• Interested in the Lavabit story? Here are the details of what all transpired.

Please join me in praying for Kenya. I'm sure you've read, seen or heard the news about what's going on in Nairobi. If for some reason you haven't, a heavily armed terrorist group entered and took hostage a large up-scale shopping mall in Nairobi. As of writing this update, the siege is over. The current death toll sits at 72 with more than 170 injured. I'm not sure if these are the final numbers yet, but it's what I'm seeing most in the news.

This event hits particularly close to home for my family because we have good friends based in Nairobi and we plan to relocate there in early March of 2014. It's particularly surreal to read about (and see pictures of) as we spent quite a bit of time at that mall pricing household items and preparing a new budget. As far as I know, we don't personally know anyone affected but our friends do. Most people living in Kenya do.

• Pray with me for peace at the Westgate Shopping Center.
• Pray with me for those injured.
• Pray with me for the families and friends mourning loved ones.
• Pray against backlash against the thousands of refugees and immigrants in Nairobi and Kenya.¹
• Pray with me for the healing of Kenya, and its resilience to bounce back in the face of terrorism.

If you are wondering if this changes our plans, the short and simple answer is no. The reality is a bit more nuanced than that. It's impossible not to be a little shaken by this event - it's horrible and tragic and our familiarity with the area does induce a bit of anxiety. But there is much that keep our resolve strong:

• Calling: We are called to East Africa, with all of the good and bad that comes with that. We knew accepting the challenge to look and head that direction would bring with it an increase in risk and danger. It's the reality of working in the nonprofit/development world in majority world countries. And they are risks my family glad, but soberly, accept.
• Reality: Mass shootings happen anywhere and everywhere. Terrorism will forever be used by cowards to target the defenseless and innocent wherever they might be. It's easy to point at Nairobi and be shocked and full of fear but lets not forget Chicago last week, the Navy Yard shooting earlier in September, and the Boston Marathon bombing. The magnitude might be greater in the event in Nairobi but there are no "terror free" zones. Actually, I'm going to take that back; there could be "terror free" zones anywhere people boldly choose life instead of the death (through fear and anger and bitterness) terror tries to create. We can either be crippled by terror or boldly walk out in a hope that refuses to accept a life quenched by fear.
• Hope: That brings me to the last point I'll make: we have massive hope in the potential of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and the kingdom He inaugurated, to produce real and lasting transformation amongst all peoples. We feel particularly called to those neglected by the world. They are in massive need of new hope like that inspired by Jesus. Often terrorism and other radical elements of society leave a people neglected and in need of this dose of hope but because of those risky, dangerous or uncomfortable outward circumstances, there is no one to walk with them. Going and sharing this hope is the calling we've given our lives to.

Keep Kenya in your hearts, thoughts and prayers in the coming days and weeks as they seek to rebuild as a nation unified (Kenyans, refugees, expats, etc). They will need the support of the world around them.

If you are curious on the backstory of what happened and why, check out the following links as a start: 1 and 2.

1. Please see here for the fears in "little Mogadishu". ↩

• Pat Robertson is always in the news and it never seems to be good. This is horrible actually. Raising tons of money for refugee work, and funneling it into a diamond mining venture? I hope this gets the attention that it deserves.
• Like webcomics? This one is pretty good, consistently. It's faith based, so keep that in mind. I particularly like the one linked (although its not "haha" funny).
• I've had my eyes on Kenya since deciding to move there. Accordingly, I found this short article to be interesting: Kenya is developing their own Goth subculture.
• iOS 7 is out! Check out this article For some of the finer details, tips & tricks.
• It's hard not to like the blog of Jaime (the very worst missionary). Here, she discusses openly and honestly a recent trip with WorldVision. It's a worthwhile read that looks at the good and the bad.
• Midlake is one of my favorites and they have new music coming out!
• I'm a bit impressed with this dialect survey. It pegged my dialect as most similar to Norman, OK (where I spent 10 formative years). And that's without telling "it" I'd ever been there, and that I currently live in South Africa.

Syria is a tough situation, complicated by competing interests vying for support. I've heard lots of different opinions and sides over the past few weeks, and thought I'd share what I've found to be some of the more helpful articles.

• A good mentor/friend leader wrote this. It's against US intervention in Syria.
• An outside perspective here.
• Russia & China are at odds with the west over incomplete information (see here for one story).
• Perhaps the best article I've read so far comes from Carl Medearis. It's not long, and doesn't go into a lot of the current news, but rather serves to setup the situation. I felt like I stepped away from it with a much clearer picture of the madness.
• And finally, to lighten the situation, The Onion's take: let's just send all of congress into Syria.

As an addendum, regardless where you fall politically on this and similar topics, this is a good reminder of peripheral affects.

The following links are meant to stand with the previous bit I wrote. My opinion hasn’t really changed all that much: #Kony2012 is to be applauded if it succeeds and getting people deeper into the issues of the region. If it stands on it’s own though, without deeper engagement, I don’t think it rightfully can be applauded. My concern is that it stands more often than not on its own. These links will helpfully flesh out the issues and concerns and drive us into a deeper understanding of how we can rightly be involved.

• We’ll start with this: Ben Keesey, one of IC’s founders responds via video to some of the criticism. Personally, I don’t think it responds to the right pieces of the criticism, but here it is for your perusal.

• Slate wrote a good article on “Crowd-Sourced Intervention”. It’s good food for thought.

• One item that I’ve seen come up several times is the lack of an LRA presence in northern Uganda BUT the presence of an odd disease (nodding disease) only affecting children. Many Ugandan voices in particular would like to see more awareness about this.

• Rachel Held Evans wrote about the situation for Relevant Magazine. It’s worth a perusal at the very least.

• This is a video from an Ugandan journalist. Her voice is worth hearing. She pointed as well towards this coverage by Al Jazeera detailing the reaction of several thousand Ugandans watching Kony2012 for the first time.

• And finally, in a more amusing twist, apparently quite a few folks have been confusing Joseph Kony with Carl Weathers.

Invisible Children have a new video out (Kony2012) and it’s made a splash in a big way. The vast majority of the publicity you’ve likely seen is positive but there have been a few less than excited voices out there. I have a natural aversion to anything that goes viral in such a big way so it took me some time to check it out, and upon doing so found myself with mixed emotions.

• I’m honestly glad that they are trying to raise awareness about an important issue: a vast history of injustice in the central/eastern African region perpetuated by the LRA and Joseph Kony.
• There has been a lot of discussion about IC’s financials. It’s not all that bothersome to me that so much of their cash goes into video advocacy. I expected that. I think IC did a good job of speaking to this issue specifically here
• I’m honestly quite uncomfortable with several aspects of it.
• I’m not keen on how much the issue has been oversimplified. IF the video thrusts folks into learning more and digging deeper, GREAT. But I’m not sure it’s doing that. And you still have to deal with the fact that it glosses over information that’s quite important (and at times gives some questionable info as well)
• I’m not keen on heavy US involvement or placing an un-critical eye on Ugandan army involvement either. Particularly in regards to the latter, they have their own war crimes to answer for in this region. In regards to the former, it wasn’t exactly an altruistic involvement: we got the Ugandans to fight in Somalia for us.
• I’m not keen on the advocating of direct violence as a solution. Especially when nonviolent approaches are currently working (and have been for some time). I won’t go so far as to say that its beyond a state’s power to exercise violence if she deems it necessary, but it should never be done lightly. Direct concerns here: will cutting off the head kill the LRA? Probably not, and we are left with a new, potentially more troublesome problem. Also, do we not think that Kony will surround himself with a large number of children? Ignoring that they are brainwashed and holding guns, and assuming the innocence of childhood, the collateral damage potential is massive.
• Flowing from the above, Obama’s “kill or capture” order makes me uncomfortable. I’d much rather see, and celebrate, justice rather than death.

Anyways, I don’t want to spend much more time writing on it. It has worth in raising awareness but I would encourage you not to stop with it, or what IC is trying to do. Dig deeper into the issue. Listen to Ugandan voices. There is significant work going on in the region, actively seeking justice and peace. Get involved there. Listen to the voices of successful nonviolent resistance and heed their cries.

• Found this to be a helpful post on eating well in the midst of poverty. There are simple things to do that go miles.

• eBible.com is under new ownership, and launched a new version. It would seem they are looking to compete with YouVersion.

• Neoliberal economic theory, and it’s grip on American Politics is something I’ve found disturbing over the past few years. This is a pretty good article on it (and some of the reasons why I’m not much of a fan).

• In the web-startup-world, Lanbito appears to be an interesting competitor to Wufoo. Like the pricing, but don’t yet like the feature list. Add some things, and I’d consider migrating over.

• If you are on facebook, then you’ve at least heard tell of a the forthcoming changes. Here’s a good round up of what to expect. It doesn’t appear that they are changing pages much yet, just profiles (this is important if you are managing several).

Well this seems like a good enough roundup for now. Hopefully you can find some good reading material there!

One of the things I least liked about being in America this past August and September was the political climate. Since the last presidential election it seems that the ability of one to have a speculative and intelligent political discussion without the steady influence of heavy emotions has gotten exponentially worse. I saw it starting with the lead up to the 2008 election and am amazed at how significantly worse it has gotten. By and large, discussion is polarized and its nigh impossible to talk with a dissenting voice in normal tones and with smiles afterwards. I actually quite miss nights of deep discussion over beers of all things politics, culture, theology and tech. Political theory is an intrigue of mine but isn’t enjoyable in such a touchy climate.

I’d add that there are a lot of peripheral things disheartening about such an environment: an unwillingness to work together on important actions items, the reduction of dense political concepts to sound byte sized talking points that may or may not be rooted in fact, the promoting of lies to persuade people, a false characterization of individuals (and broad swathes of peoples), etc. But one of the things that is most troubling is the reality of political violence taking tangible shape.

By political violence I refer specifically to violence undertaken to further political agendas. It’s something that on the surface seems foreign to our American context but this couldn’t be further from the truth. The actual reality is its becoming entrenched in the rhetoric surrounding political discourse throughout the states, and it’s taking tangible form as exemplified by the recent, and tragic, shooting in Arizona.

I suppose this discussion of political violence should probably start with a definition of what violence is. Wikipedia tells us:

Violence is the expression of physical force against one or more people, compelling action against one’s will on pain of being hurt. Worldwide, violence is used as a tool of manipulation and also is an area of concern for law and culture which take attempts to suppress and stop it. The word violence covers a broad spectrum. It can vary from between a physical altercation between two beings to war and genocide where millions may die as a result.

I like this definition as it encompasses specific, literal definitions (see here, here and here) as well as intended reasons and results. Not present, and for good reason, is a specific outline of all of the possible violent acts. Rather it produces a guideline of what makes an act violent or not.

Pulling from this we can easily presume that any act (physical, verbal or otherwise) designed to manipulate or force someones being or will into a situation they hadn’t intended is probably a form of violence. Political violence are those acts with a specific political edge to them, most often designed to manipulate and twist perception to particular political vantage points.

Those things that I mentioned as being disheartening towards the beginning of this note? They tend to encompass some form of political violence. The unwillingness to work together breeds contempt and places ones one self above what is “different.” This manipulates perceptions for or against groups. The promotion of lies to persuade works much the same way, often specifically targeting and attacking specific individuals and/or groups. While an unwillingness to work together is violence in an abstract sense, making use of lies to target and attack begins giving shape to the violence. The same goes with falsely characterizing opponents. Some of the most troubling forms though are rooting political discourse in specific violent imagery. It doesn’t matter if you stand on the right or left side of the line dividing the US, these actions aren’t, and should never be, acceptable.

To be honest I see this as an incredibly important topic of discussion now. There was just an attempted assassination of an elected official, after all. And the response on twitter and elsewhere has just been an escalation of the rhetoric: the left points their fingers at the right, while the right points theirs at the left and meanwhile authorities are still sifting through actual motives and explanations and they might not be what they seem on the surface (are they ever?). It’s all kind of maddening. Can’t we all agree to stop with the violent rhetoric, grab someones hand and choose to work together for the good of the nation? No more crosshairs or targets, no more reloading comments. Lets all just agree to leave the politically violent rhetoric behind.