Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Madagascar Pranks March Against Monsanto - What is the difference?

To my new friends from March Against Monsanto:

I apologize, I have tricked you for many days now, and I must now stop because I am getting scared of your community, and even though I do not respect your ways, you are humans and I feel bad tricking you into thinking I am one of your group. You mean well, but you are not using science in a good way to help Madagascar.

There was no March Against Monsanto (MAM) in Madagascar. I made the signs and gave them to my friends to see what your group would say. My teacher (who does not agree with this project because of the trickery) told me that your group will accept almost anything regardless of the scientific process, this was my experiment to see if he is correct. In my opinion, he is correct, and your group should not have the same respect as people who are careful about their science. When we talk about science, we must be very careful how we use peoples emotions, otherwise it is manipulation.

Below I will put the pictures from our fake protest and write my real thoughts. During this experiment I was encouraged and instructed by MAM organizers to destroy or damage golden rice experiments. I was encouraged to allow locusts to eat all our food crops instead of allowing the emergency use of insecticides (this is a very difficult problem for the Malagasy people!). The signs and "memes" below were made to have no factual truth and are very offensive to many Malagasy people, and yet you shared them, you say you will use them in your marketing, and you encouraged me to take more pictures of "people with diseases" to spread your message. You encouraged me to mistrust a man from the USA who starts organic school gardens here, just because he also thinks that agriculture is complicated and biotechnologies might be able to help us. You encouraged me to stop working with this man and focus instead on vandalizing my imaginary gold rice experiments. This was offensive and unpleasant for me to experience.

I had to stop my experiment when I found
this picture at the MAM website - my fake
signs can not get this extreme.
Please stop using this approach.
My experiment was also a failure in another way. I made my signs in a way that I thought was so extreme and offensive that they would be rejected by your community. Instead, all of the signs received compliments, and I could not think of anything more extreme until I searched your own website! My signs were untrue, offensive, and even incoherent or contradictory - but after my experiment, when I look at your websites I ask myself "What is the difference?".

For Madagascar, I think we will be better off if we have nothing to do with March Against Monsanto. I think Monsanto is probably not a good company. I do not know if biotechnology will be good for Madagascar. One thing that I do know is that March Against Monsanto is not an organization that is able to help the Malagasy people learn about the risks and benefits of biotechnology in any meaningful way. Thank you for keeping your signs and "memes" out of our country, we welcome you back when you learn about what science is.

Thank you,
Navid Rakotofala




Photo Expose:

I pretended to have a "special laboratory" at a fake university, and I told MAM organizers that I was testing Madagascar's frogs for heavy metals to check for GMOs in our country where GMOs are not allowed. This disgusting picture is just a butchered frog carcass for meat eating, and it is not good for our environment for reasons different than Monsanto's GMOs.

This is all a terrible joke of course. I think it is clear that any group that is using science in the right way would not allow this kind of imagery combined with nonsense words. For example - one study can never "PROVE" anything.

"Monsanto Tests Agent Orange on Homeless Malagasy"
WOW - that is really untrue, a horrible thing to say about any human
even if they work at Monsanto, and is very disrespectful to any true
historical victim of the real agent orange!

Also, we understand that NaturalNews.com is a joke website for bad science.
My friends are happy to play a trick on people who try to spread lies, even though I still feel bad for what I did here.

"Monsanto Kills & Eats Baby Lemurs for Profit"
This doesn't even make any sense - Monsanto does
not work in Madagascar, and even if they did - what would this mean?

One MAM Organizer said to me that many people really would
rather go blind than eat golden rice. "Its really that important to them" she posted in a
facebook comment. It turns out my teacher is more correct. This man does not want to be blind
and IF golden rice could have helped him as a child, I think he would have taken the risk.

The problem is first we must get all the Malagasy people good education about agriculture so they can make these decisions themselves. March Against Monsanto has nothing to offer us for this need.

This image was liked and shared among MAM organizers.
I was even encouraged to take more pictures of "people with diseases" to support the cause.

This young man survived polio and thinks that Americans who advocate against vaccines are not good people.
He was happy to play a joke on MAM organizers to see if they enjoy using pictures of "people with diseases" to promote bad science. 

"HELP!!!! Monsanto is using our Locust Infestation to FORCE Agent Organge into MADA"
One MAM organizer agreed that I should prefer that ALL of the crops in Madagascar get eaten by locusts rather than to spray "ONE DROP" because that will only lead to super bugs.

I am worried about the impacts of pesticides, but in our current emergency of locus infestation, it is important to understand how complicated it is! MAM does not help us with this.
Like I said, this MEME does not make any sense in any way, and is horrible and offensive.

I put the name of #MarchAgainstMonsanto & the Global GMO Free Coalition on the picture and sent it to their leaders to see if they would tell me not to use this. 


There are many more things I could tell you about my experiment to see what it is like in the extremist anti-science group #MarchAgainstMonsanto, but I think the examples above give an example of how this group is willing to spread bad information at any cost.





17 comments:

  1. I went to one of their rallies this weekend and it's clear that they really are becoming extremists; their speakers were leading chants of "Burn their fields!" and "Off with Monsanto's heads!" and the people who attended were chanting right along. This was also done directly in front of a number of starving homeless people.

    Very few people, if any, in MAM have ever experienced real hunger or the harsher realities of the world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Enhancing our ability to produce food does not necessarily mean that more of it will get to those who need it, unfortunately.

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    2. Because of morons like in "March Against Monsanto" spreading fear and lies. The United States is seen as the worldwide leader in many fields, so poor folks like in Madagascar might think (not saying they do) might think MAM knows what they are talking about because they are American.

      As Navid said in his piece, "I was encouraged and instructed by MAM organizers to destroy or damage golden rice experiments. I was encouraged to allow locusts to eat all our food crops instead of allowing the emergency use of insecticides..."

      When you're trying to fight idiots like MAM, there is ALWAYS going to be a battle. And that sucks.

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    3. Please consider that the US is NOT leading this effort. Dozens of countries have either banned or labeled GMOS. When I became involved in this movement, it was about labeling ONLY. Freedom of choice. Not much to ask for really, just tell me what Im eating so I can make my own choices. You are correct that a population of extremists have gotten involved in the MAM organization. I think they feel that it is the only way to spread a message - to get attention. Blows my mind that these idiots would resort to sabotage, but thats how corruption starts. Sux that a perfectly reasonable idea got out of hand...

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  2. You are brilliant! Thank you! Btw, if you're interested, here's a good resource for info on the GMO debate:
    http://wiki.skeptiforum.org/wiki/GMO_Skepti-Forum_Threads

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was involved in the first MAM event. I helped organize a second. Shortly after, I became a bit disenchanted with the direction in which it was going. While I do believe that organic agriculture can feed the world better than genetically engineered food, it is a hefty task that will not be easily accomplished. I do live by the ideas in which I believe. Since I have gone organic (though to be fair add that I also eliminated all grains and sugar) I no longer take thyroid medication and at 46, and healthier than I think Ive ever been (per labs/bloodwork) I do not like that many MAM "supporters" are using extremist tactics and unsubstantiated information to push the agenda. This is not true of ALL MAM supporters. In the 3 Marches I have attended, there are a few clearly divided "schools" - only one of which is extremist. Unfortunately, these are the people with experience promoting an agenda and spreading the word. They are generally supporters of other agendas as well. I fear that the cause will become almost as corrupt as the corporation it is fighting. I just want to put it out there that we are not all "crazies" I have read as much scientific documentation as I can find on BOTH sides of the issue. In conclusion, please note that there are many, many more ideas that have changed purely based on conflicting evidence. People tend to follw what is popular, regardless of its relative truth or consequences. This is the world we live in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the problem is that, the extremists are the ones with the loudest voice and the uneducated can easily be convinced of their truth. Personally I have no problem with GMO since as far as my knowledge in biology and genetics goes it should be good for us and in my country organic food aren't well tested, many sell normal food and only say it's organic. as long as my food tastes great I will eat anything

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  4. What the hell? I was under the impression that Golden Rice wasn't even a Monsanto product? I thought it was developed by a non-profit organization for philanthropic purposes. Why on Earth would MAM be against Golden Rice?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. (That was a rhetorical question, of course. The answer is because they're a bunch of loons who are paranoid about any GMO. It isn't really about Monsanto... but about their own fear of agricultural technology.)

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  5. There is enough food to feed everyone in the World today.
    Americans, by many estimates, now waste more than 40% of their food, compared with a global average of around 30%. About 20% rots in the field, or gets discarded in the packaging process, or is rejected before it reaches the supermarket because of imperfections, many of them as trivial as a single browned leaf on a head of salad or a small bruise on an apple.
    today.http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/27/food-waste-around-world.

    Genetic Engineering Companies Promised Reduced Pesticide Use … But GMO Crops Have Led to a 25% Increase In Herbicide Use.
    http://www.globalresearch.ca/genetic-engineering-companies-promised-reduced-pesticide-use-but-gmo-crops-have-led-to-a-25-increase-in-herbicide-use/5366371

    *Substantial equivalence & safety studies for GM soy fraudulent*
    http://www.examiner.com/article/are-substantial-equivalence-safety-studies-for-gm-soy-fraudulent


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please, stop flaunting your ignorance. Wasn't this post enough for you?

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  6. Navid, do you have evidence that MAM or other anti-GMO groups were complicit with your prank and said the things you claimed and/or shared your pictures?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I do - email me: nrakoktofalala@gmail.com

      Delete
  7. I think that you are right about there being extremists in MAM, or really any activist for that matter. However, for you to stereotype the entire group base on the actions of a few is textbook ignorance. My best suggestion to you is to focus your efforts on things that make a positive influence, rather that bashing what you don't like about a particular group of people

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is it - or do scientific organizations do it every day - to the best of their ability.... its never over - but its also never done...

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  8. I have to say it: This experiement might not be quite scientific, but it proved a point stated at the very beginning: "people are gullible and easy to manipulate".
    Congratulations.
    This was beautiful

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