Thanks for sharing this article.

Though I should loathe to participate in the same identity politics that I
detest, there are some aspects of this article that stuck out to me to
suggest that this is an exaggerated piece meant to play into the culturally
dividing social justice warrior mentality rather than an intellectual
analysis of how much harm versus good is done by travelling and offering
aid to socioeconomically disadvantaged foreign countries.

First, the author opens by immediately explaining away the fact that she
uses Tinder. Clearly, it was important for her to immediately establish
herself as "not the type of person who would be seen using a dating app."
Instead, she makes an excuse that she uses it to pass the time like one
would with some attention-grabbing pointless game like candy crush. Yet,
she immediately follows this with a statement that she doesn't expect men
who use it to stray away from their "programming." Is she not doing the
same thing as them? While they're labeled as mindless biologically
programmed robots... strange.

She also lends credulity to herself through the usage of novel words (e.g.,
blanditude, which isn't a word, by the way
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.google.com_search-3Fq-3Dblanditude-26rlz-3D1C1GGRV-5FenUS872US873-26oq-3Dblanditude-2B-26aqs-3Dchrome..69i57.2609j1j7-26sourceid-3Dchrome-26ie-3DUTF-2D8&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=6awwoQP1vzimbrL52nm05O9xELuJ57q7kbJq2zU8Ye0&s=U64dn5SaPGKLhcCl5PYvwR7XVch51-QGX4VFwSIHTMw&e=>;
misogynoir) and through almost instantly establishing herself as 'one of
them' as a local to the area. While not inherently bad tactics to engage
the audience, I believe the usage of these tactics immediately sets the
stage that this is a piece that's more wrapped up in the identity and
ideology of the author (and those who identify with this ideology as
readers), rather than as objective piece holding any real meaning.

The article cites several examples of wrong-doing portrayed by individuals
in the situation she's writing about. While no one would excuse such
behavior, I think it's important to recall that these are extreme cases of
wrong-doing that are identified to aid in the argument that she's
portraying. What this makes me think of is the inherent evil in mankind at
the individual level. A lovely quote in this regard recently appeared in
some of my social media memories... "If only it were all so simple! If only
there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it
were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.
But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human
being." - Alexandr Solzhenitsyn. With this in mind, it seems, at least to
me, that evil is bound to appear even in the context of acts that are meant
to be social goods. It is easy to label "white people who travel to Africa
to 'help'" as the evil doers who need to be gotten rid of, and to
simultaneously justify oneself as a good being without *having to do
anything*.

The bio of the author lends further credence to the claim that the author
is writing this as an ideologically based hit-piece rather than any type of
objective look at a social issue. I'll leave the interpretation of that to
the reader :)

Best,

Cole Butler
TPAC Project Coordinator
University of Maryland
UMD ADHD Lab <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.umdadhd.org_cole&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=6awwoQP1vzimbrL52nm05O9xELuJ57q7kbJq2zU8Ye0&s=plMYEOLexxkaUqWnUfuSEOLaXe4DpRMAbLRv7J5V-3g&e=>
2103W, Cole Field House | College Park, MD 20742
tel 301.405.6163


On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 2:30 PM Wilson, Katherine Christine - wilso3kc <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear ToK Crew,
>
>
> I am often very shy and intimidated to post on this list serve. It can be
> challenging for those of us with a more sensitive nervous system to open
> something up for conversation today given the extreme views, polarizations,
> intense political climate, reductionistic tendencies, and often shaming and
> blaming language that is becoming increasingly used on the internet (Gregg,
> I may have succumbed to some “toxic sensitivity” of the day). However,
> there is an article that is trending right now on facebook that I am
> struggling to navigate; my own reception of it is a mix of repulsion,
> concern, frustration, and deep sadness.
>
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__wearyourvoicemag.com_news-2Dpolitics_voluntourism-2Dcolonialism-2Dwhite-2Dsavior-2Dcomplex&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=6awwoQP1vzimbrL52nm05O9xELuJ57q7kbJq2zU8Ye0&s=CjXLd4Znt3yo3vDUrfFpW64mNHitsBFN_ng-Cr3mnGg&e=
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__wearyourvoicemag.com_news-2Dpolitics_voluntourism-2Dcolonialism-2Dwhite-2Dsavior-2Dcomplex&d=DwMGaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=VPQ4SciI7VcrC7-WPowgx4XdYc4Tfj5bmosQ0Wn29m8&s=-H-ELcPhX_Vh6zaurhFex6NRXMkaji1-2jI-6lLvZPA&e=>
>
> It is a short read, though not without intense references to some awful
> human acts.
>
> If you get a chance, I would really love to hear your thoughts from
> whatever lens or angle you may receive this type of piece.
>
> thanks,
> K
>
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