Monday, October 24, 2011

The LRA and the Colbert Report



       Occasionally if I have a few spare minutes after doing homework, I will watch episodes of the Colbert Report. Personally, I think the show is very entertaining, and often gives surprisingly sharp and accurate critiques of politics and well known people. Last week, I saw this segment on his show. If you haven't watched it, do that now.
       You may be familiar with the Lord's Resistance army from middle school, when, at least at WJHS, we watched a documentary called Invisible Children, about how the LRA abduct children and force them to become child soldiers. Or from reading news articles about the hundreds of atrocities they have commited in central Africa. And Rush Limbaugh criticizes Obama for trying to "wipe out Chrisitians."
       In addition to being totally outrageous and terrible, Limbaugh's gaffe presents some cautionary lessons. First is the obvious importance of research. If Limbaugh had even bothered to Google search "LRA," he would have easily learned that they are war criminals and terrorist, not good Christians attempting to defeat dictatorship. Second is to avoid disagreeing with someone on an issue simply because of who they are. Despite what many in the Republican party might believe, Obama is not wrong on everything. In this incident, Limbaugh assumed that because Obama decided to send soldiers to help fight the LRA, they must be good people.
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