?In Africa, there are no human rights,
there is only the strongest?s right.?
-Laurent N?Kunda, (Congolese schoolteacher turned Warlord)
In America, if you believe a study by Dr. Paul Slovic quoted in Eric Metzgar?s documentary film, compassion cannot be extended to more than one individual, else it almost entirely dissipates. The results are worse, even, when we try to rationalize humanitarian crises with numbers and statistics; then, it seems, people simply tune-out?So how do we, as agents of social change, get the leisurely readers of today to pay attention?
While there are no easy answers, one journalist has made a point tackling issues of poverty and human rights infringements one sob story at a time.
REPORTER follows Nick Kristof, an Op-Ed columnist from The New York Times, as he roams the eastern Congo in search of stories that will make the rest of us care. To do so, Kristof, who has traveled the world over, feels that it is necessary to record ONLY the MOST heart-wrenching tales for posterity. In this way, he hopes to move his savvy readership into feeling empathy for strangers slowly wasting away of neglect and malnutrition on a distant continent.
Kristof has been criticized for being more of an advocate than a journalist, and for dabbling in sensationalism and victimization as a means to push his ?do-godder? agenda. But regardless of the ethics in questions, it is impossible to think that Kristof is not dedicated to bringing about radical social change, even as we cringe at hearing him admit he has reached a point where he can listen quite dispassionately to the worst stories. There are so many, after all.
The winner of two Pulitzers, Kristof is best known for his reporting on human rights abuses, and most notably perhaps, for putting the crisis in Darfur on the map of American consciousness.
The film also features the two 2007 finalists of the ?Win-a-Trip With Nick Kristof? contest, initiated by the journalist so American citizens could witness firsthand the harsh global realities he encounters when reporting from the field. Their reflections were included alongside Kristof?s bi-weekly columns throughout the trip, and can be read on their blog: Two For The Road.
Missing, however, is the insightful commentary into the ?why?s? and ?how?s? that surround the conflict zones Kristof covers - he is so busy telling the one story to convince the many. Nevertheless, like any self-respecting reporter, Kristof won?t shy away from getting both sides of the story, and has made a point of interviewing both victims and perpetrators of human rights abuses. In REPORTER, Kristof?s team travels deep into the eastern Congo to visit Laurent N?Kunda, a rebel Congolese leader rumored to have been jailed, early last year, by the Rwandan authorities for his participation in war crimes.
And if truly compassion is an unstable emotion, we should always let films like REPORTER push us over the edge.
Available on DVD March 21, 2010.
Source: http://citizenshift.org/blogs/blog/2010/03/16/24/
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