The Onion says that “the majority of people in Darfur are still unaware of how many people in America are raising awareness of the genocide there.”

Here’s the video:

I especially enjoyed the suggestions that we should start by airdropping press releases all over them, and that celebrities should have a big awareness-raising dinner in transparent tents so that the people of Darfur can stand on the perimeter, look in and see all the hard work that people are doing.

(H/T Good intents)

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Owen Barder

Owen is CEO of Precision Agriculture for Development. He has worked in the office of the UK Prime Minister, the British Treasury, the Department for International Development; and at the Center for Global Development.

11 Comments

Justin Kraus · November 27, 2010 at 6:39 am

If the work we are doing “for them” isn’t obvious then I’d suggested it might not be work worth doing. This isn’t always true, but it’s probably a good rule of thumb.

Pete · November 27, 2010 at 9:49 am

The thank you card with a child’s hand print sounds like a nice idea for a way of Darfurians to thank the celebrities.

Important point too about increasing awareness now, before the new Batman movie takes centre stage.

Patricia Parker MBE · November 27, 2010 at 10:34 am

Is this a serious report? I simply cannot believe it. Kids for Kids has been helping children in Darfur, directly in their villages, for the past 10 years. I have seen NOTHING provided by Save Dafur IN Darfur during the whole of this time – and I have lost count how many times I have been there to see for myself. What ARE you doing to change the lives of children? Surely you must see by now that propoganda is not working. You need to do something yourself – like so many of the chidlren in America who are quietly changing children’s lives – children their own age. Please look at our website. The children in Darfur are living beyond hardship. So why are you not spending money on what really makes a difference to people? Dinners for Celebrities? I think not! Milk for a child ….. now that it something else!

Father C*****mas · November 27, 2010 at 10:52 pm

Dropping dollar notes on the Darfurians from C130s would be in accordance with a well-known proposal by a development guru, but I have a better idea, inspired by the well-known maxim about giving a fishing net being better than giving a fish: instead of dropping dollar notes, why not drop share certificates in Irish banks?

terence · November 29, 2010 at 8:56 am

Ha. That’s pretty good, although I still think the best Onion news ever was this one: http://www.theonion.com/video/911-conspiracy-theories-ridiculous-al-qaeda-says,14222/

Nigel Thornton · November 29, 2010 at 9:39 am

And who says Americans can’t do irony? I particularly like the idea of transparent tents, so that the operations of the fundraising galas in Darfur become a fully open process…

Don Stoll · November 30, 2010 at 5:33 am

With all due respect for Terence’s nominee for the best “Onion” story ever, my own favorite remains this one which appeared the day after the last U.S. Presidential election: “Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job” (http://www.theonion.com/articles/black-man-given-nations-worst-job,6439/).

Unfortunately, after the Democrats’ recent Congressional debacle, that no longer seems as funny.

Julie · November 30, 2010 at 2:01 pm

My nomination for best Onion: http://www.theonion.com/video/nation-of-andorra-not-in-africa-shocked-us-state-d,14211/

ewaffle · December 1, 2010 at 1:54 am

@Julie: Very funny–

“Someone said that Andorra was in Africa, it sounded right, we just kept sending the money.”

Jeff · December 9, 2010 at 11:37 pm

this is great, oh America and their role models so consumed with their image.

on a related note check out the “giving pledge” also good PR i’m sure…
http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/week-transcript-giving-pledge/story?id=12258827

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