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Teju Cole on American sentimentality towards Africa

...My heart's in Accra 2012-03-08

Teju Cole, who just won a prestigious award for his novel “Open City“, offers a brief essay, in Twitter form, as a reaction to Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 campaign:

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Seven thoughts on the banality of sentimentality.
@tejucole
Teju Cole

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1- From Sachs to Kristof to Invisible Children to TED, the fastest growth industry in the US is the White Savior Industrial Complex.
@tejucole
Teju Cole

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2- The white savior supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening.
@tejucole
Teju Cole

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3- The banality of evil transmutes into the banality of sentimentality. The world is nothing but a problem to be solved by enthusiasm.
@tejucole
Teju Cole

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4- This world exists simply to satisfy the needs—including, importantly, the sentimental needs—of white people and Oprah.
@tejucole
Teju Cole

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5- The White Savior Industrial Complex is not about justice. It is about having a big emotional experience that validates privilege.
@tejucole
Teju Cole

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6- Feverish worry over that awful African warlord. But close to 1.5 million Iraqis died from an American war of choice. Worry about that.
@tejucole
Teju Cole

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7- I deeply respect American sentimentality, the way one respects a wounded hippo. You must keep an eye on it, for you know it is deadly.
@tejucole
Teju Cole

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