Coloring Books for Russia

[crazyforkate]

No, I'm not starting a charity drive ;) Take a look at this. FCKH8 wants to send 10,000 pro-LGBT coloring books to Russia during the Olympics, to which I say DUMBASSES.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/1 ... 82899.html

Okay, let's get into all the reasons why this won't work. First, most of them will get stopped at the border. (And those that do - good luck with the labyrinthine postal system, even approved stuff may never arrive.) I mean, duh. They do pay people to look at these things.

Second, this is going to do nothing but cause trouble for innocent people (especially the kids, dear God). They could get into serious trouble with the law over this, and believe me, the Russian justice system isn't pretty. If this group has trouble with this policy, fine, but they're punishing the wrong people for it. It's just like that guy who air drops Bibles into North Korea. Really, really disrespectful and dangerous.

Third, Russia really doesn't give a crap what you think anyway. They will do what they want. Their society is not going to change that fast just because of international pressure, especially from comparatively smaller groups like this. A good rule of thumb is to think of it as 25 years behind North America, in terms of social values. Maybe even more.

Can we just take a minute for a collective facepalm? :doh:

[SteampunkLovelace]

For people who want to Do Something to help, how hard would it be to first contact LGBT groups in Russia and ask people who would know what an effective form of help might be? Good God, back when people were protesting the kill the gays bill in Uganda, Ugandan LGBT organizations had to specifically ask for other governments not to cut off foreign aid to Uganda Outsiders are not the experts in these situations, and good intent is not magic.