A New Documentary Exposes the U.N.'s DNA

[Rockntractor]

When I was in grade school, I was given a UNICEF collection box every year with marching orders to solicit donations from family, friends and neighbors. My parents always had me toss the box in the garbage explaining that the United Nations was an anti-Semitic organization and we would not support its projects.

Decades later, my children were still sent home from school every year before Halloween with a UNICEF collection box and instructions to take it along while trick-or-treating. Like my parents, my initial reaction was to forbid my children from collecting money for the U. N. It was not just the anti-Semitism emanating from the organization that caused this visceral reaction. It was my awareness of the corruption and dysfunction that permeated that institution that infuriated me every time I drove by the headquarters on the East River, passed a diplomat's car double parked wherever it chose in Midtown Manhattan, or got stuck in traffic delays due to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once again coming to New York to address the General Assembly. But that was difficult to explain to my children as well as adults who questioned my evident callousness at not supporting this organization founded on idealistic hopes and dreams.

Well not anymore. In a brief and entertaining 93 minutes, Ami Horowitz and Matt Groff, writers, producers, and directors of the documentary, U.N. Me, take the viewer on a fascinating, disturbing, and often humorous ride through the corruption, criminal activity, ineffectual bureaucracy, and profound uselessness of an institution that was initially created to fight the bad guys and address the problems related to war and peace. As Horowitz, also the star of the film, explains, "In the aftermath of World War II, the leaders of the world created the UN to ensure global security and protect human rights."

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/...#ixzz22g4xzXqA

[Odysseus]

When I was in grade school, I was given a UNICEF collection box every year with marching orders to solicit donations from family, friends and neighbors. My parents always had me toss the box in the garbage explaining that the United Nations was an anti-Semitic organization and we would not support its projects.

Decades later, my children were still sent home from school every year before Halloween with a UNICEF collection box and instructions to take it along while trick-or-treating. Like my parents, my initial reaction was to forbid my children from collecting money for the U. N. It was not just the anti-Semitism emanating from the organization that caused this visceral reaction. It was my awareness of the corruption and dysfunction that permeated that institution that infuriated me every time I drove by the headquarters on the East River, passed a diplomat's car double parked wherever it chose in Midtown Manhattan, or got stuck in traffic delays due to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once again coming to New York to address the General Assembly. But that was difficult to explain to my children as well as adults who questioned my evident callousness at not supporting this organization founded on idealistic hopes and dreams.

Well not anymore. In a brief and entertaining 93 minutes, Ami Horowitz and Matt Groff, writers, producers, and directors of the documentary, U.N. Me, take the viewer on a fascinating, disturbing, and often humorous ride through the corruption, criminal activity, ineffectual bureaucracy, and profound uselessness of an institution that was initially created to fight the bad guys and address the problems related to war and peace. As Horowitz, also the star of the film, explains, "In the aftermath of World War II, the leaders of the world created the UN to ensure global security and protect human rights."

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/...#ixzz22g4xzXqA

We used to get the UNICEF boxes, and my dad gave me the same explanation and I was happy to toss them in the trash.

[noonwitch]

I never received the UNICEF boxes at school.


I did get them at church, however. Our youth group used to go "trick or treating" for UNICEF about a week after Halloween. Most people we asked gave us some change.

Remember, I was a preteen attending a UCC church in the 70s. Although I am critical of some things about the UN, UNICEF does some good work in the world for children.