There are those who talk...

... bitch, moan, engage in lame flames.

Then there are those who do.

Interestingly enough it is the people who do that change the world. People like Rafiq Phillips, Charl Norman and the awesome okes at Muti and Afrigator who have jumped in to to raise awareness about autism and to support Gerhard Pieterse, Executive director of Autism Western Cape in his effort to raise funds for R1 million for autism. What Norman and Phillips are doing will become an SEO case study.

Smart guy Pieterse, he set up to have himself 'detained' and 'imprisoned' in order to show what autism is like. You can read all about this and watch the video by going to Pieterse's Facebook page. This has come in for criticism from the naysayers, but when you do something bold and controversial people will always complain. I reckon as the father to an autistic child Pieterse pretty much knows what the experience of autism is all about, although there are autistic people who object to the campaign creative.

But back to Phillips, Norman and Muti. The first time Phillips got on my radar it was because he was doing some or other thing to help a charity or cause. He's like that. He's a doer. A young guy at the top of his game who's giving back. Growing the world while he's growing himself. Norman's another young mover and shaker who's making a difference.

My view is when people make a difference they need to be applauded. They need to be supported. The tall poppy syndrom that's going on in this social media community is counter productive, disingenous, plain stupid and does nothing to grow the world. It's enough already.

Let's celebrate people who're rocking the world. Let's applaud the doers and and do what we can to help them achieve their dreams, help others and help build a better world.

Kudo's to Pieterse, Phillips, Norman and the okes at Muti and Afrigator (Stopforth, Duarte, Hartman, Stii, 'Thakadu'/Newey). You rock!

Other people/sites supporting the initiative include FNB's new online strategist Andy Hadfield, award-winning blogger ChrisM's imod, funky designer Nomad-One, Vincent Hoffman and online creative hot spot MoralFibre, as well as blogs like FeistyFemale (cool coverage here), LavaInk customised clothing, social media maverick Stopforth, Roxilla (some other good causes too), Yasser Buchana. This list will grow and grow and grow thanks to efforts by Phillips, Norman, Muti and Afrigator.  

Comments

[Mandy de Waal]

@Anon: Nothing wrong with that economic model. Imagine if all transactions were done that way. That the exchange included some form of altruism. If that was the case we wouldn't have the corporate corruption and greed we currently face in the world.

[Anon]

@Mandy: I'm not suggesting it's wrong to gain by being charitable. I *am* suggesting that generating content about a charity, which you then benefit from, is not praiseworthy. It's a transaction, like buying bubble gum at a cafe: you don't praise the customer for donating 50c to the cafe because they're getting something in return.

[Mandy de Waal]

@Thakadu - brilliant initiative. Great to see social marketing working for such a great cause.

@Chris M: Bloggers have a bigger reach than other mediums? Don't know if this is strictly true - particularly given the access disaster we've had with Telkom. Broadcast currently has much greater reach and penetration.

@Anon: What does it matter if people benefit from supporting a good cause. Why does altruism have to be all sack cloth and ashes. I think if you can benefit yourself and do good work it's not at all bad.

@Vince: Nice one - really funky T-Shirt!

@Graeme - cool. Thanks for that.

[graeme]

Hi enjoyed the sqwizz at your 'portfolio' :)

[Vince]

Hi guys please check out & comment on the t-shirt made for #jail4bail @ http://snurl.com/3hnq1

Chris I do hope you don't include Moral Fibre in your list of those organizations who stand to gain personally / professionally from this call to raise finds. We have a habit of loosing more money than we make; and we almost like it like that. I think this charitable cause is an amazing opportunity to show that we truly do care.

[Anon]

I find it disappointing that we are applauding each other covering jail4bail. Let's be honest: most of the people mentioned in this post stand to gain personally or professionally by their contributions to this cause. Would we 'applaud' a news station for covering a charity event? I wouldn't -- a news station makes money by generating content.

How many of the posts/websites you link to even mention Gerhard Pieterse?

[Chris M]

It's been great to see so many local players supporting this initiative! We all know that the power of blogging has a reach further than most other mediums and using it for a good cause is top class!

[thakadu]

Thanks for the Kudos Mandy! and well done to Rafiq, Charl and of course Gerhard for initiating this.

[Mandy de Waal]

@Andy: Not sure - but good point - they should have a barometer up to show that.

[Andy Hadfield]

Anyone know how the actual fundraising portion is going?

[Mandy de Waal]

@Fred - thanks for that link. @Vince - great idea Vince - please add a link here once that is up.

[Vince]

Awesome thanks for the mention; Moral Fibre will hopefully printing two jail4bail shirts which will go on auction. They are going to be amazing and all proceeds will go to jail4bail.

I think I'm going to be eating like a prisoner for this :) haha

[Fred Roed]

Nice one Mandy!

Another interview with Gerhard on Ideate.co.za here: http://www.ideate.co.za/2008/06/19/1-min-with-a-superhero-gerhard-pieterse-from-autism-western-cape/

[Mandy de Waal]

Thanks for the comments guys. Great to see so many people supporting this cause. Really cool.

[Charl]

Thanks Mandy !

[Nic]

One more to add to the voices - SA Rocks blogged about Jail4Bail too! It is a very very worthy cause to be spoken about.

Good on everyone who's taken part and added their voices.