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Very interesting. Scott Neeson is on Reddit right now doing an IAmA, and he's getting a lot of comments...





I’m Scott Neeson, a former film executive who gave it up to start a charity in a Cambodian landfill

Hi Reddit, Scott Neeson here. A few months ago someone’s [post about me on TIL]() crashed my organization’s website, so I wanted to come in for a proper AMA. I’m writing from Cambodia, where I’ve been living for the past ten years after founding Cambodian Children’s Fund to help some of the country’s poorest families.


Before I ended up here, I was the president of 20th Century Fox International (and I had nothing to do with the cancellation of Firefly). I started in the film industry as a teen working with drive-in movie theaters in Australia before making my way to Fox. I worked on X-Men, Titanic and lots of other films. All told, I spent 26 years in the industry.


**Some links:**

Cambodian Children’s Fund:
http://www.cambodianchildrensfund.org

Donate here:
http://www.cambodianchildrensfund.org/m ... ation.html

My Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/scottneesonccf



...click link to read the questions people ask him and his answers...

QUESTION:

Wow I just wiki'd you and I just want to ask since you seem to be in a unique position as someone who lived "The American Dream" and found your way to Cambodia for a new lifestyle heavily revolving around philanthropy.

Given your experiences, what can you say is the biggest disparity you find between the two aspects of society (Cambodia and US/UK/AUS etc) and how can we help bring light to those less fortunate than us especially in a time when the glitz and glamour of Hollywood (as well as MANY other things) that overshadow the terrible things happening across the globe that often seem light years apart from where we currently are?

I don't know if this is a good question but thanks for the opportunity and your great work.



SCOTT NEESON:

That's a really good question. Cambodia is an exception because it's not just the poverty as there's a generation who went through the killing fields. There's a lack of a parental generation and the children here really need mentors and role models and to an extent we're trying to fill that grandparents in the community, who can explain what life was like in the decades before the Khmer Rouge. Phnom Penh was considering the "Jewel of the Orient" back then with great education and infrastructure.

On the other hand, there are values here that are sadly missing from our society. Give kids a stick and a ball and they'll think of four games. I hear from friends in the US that kids are detached from reality partly due to electronics. I was hoping sites like Facebook would make it a closer world and close the gaps of rich and poor, but it put up walls so people stay in gated communities amongst themselves. A wall was put up with just your friends.

This year, I want to get classrooms in U.S. schools in virtual classrooms with kids in Cambodia. I tried a beta test last year with some 7 year olds and some 7 years old in a wealthy NY school and the topic was "how I get to school." Our kids were saying was that their sister was lucky to have shoes, while a number of the U.S. kids had drivers. Those are the cultural, society and economic boundaries I'd like to see broken down. There are lessons to be on both sides.

Interestingly, after the exercise one of the 7 year olds said she felt sorry for the NY child “because her parents didn't care enough to take her to school. They had to pay someone.” That's my antidote for the likes of Facebook.

Regarding the American dream, for me it wasn't about glamour, glitz, Porsches, boats and material goods. The American dream got screwed up in the 1990s when it became about materialism and superficial stuff. For me it was about getting the freedom to do what I wanted to do. As I see it, I didn't give up the American dream. I embraced it.





And the latest, unanswered question:

How do you respond to allegations that your Child Protection Unit supervisor has little to no child protection unit experience or training? Do you accept that being a child protection specialist is actually a skilled profession that is not taught as part of general police training?

Given that you admit your Child Protection Unit supervisor has 'done his time' for various corruption and standover-related crimes, are you convinced that his personality has changed so dramatically that he would not use the position of power you have awarded him to the same ends?

Thanks for sharing, General. Interesting insights from Neeson. Looking forward his answer to the latest question.

Joon wrote:Thanks for sharing, General. Interesting insights from Neeson. Looking forward his answer to the latest question.

Yeah, I'll post it when he gets around to answering it...

Good reddit, thanks for sharing. This guy and his foundation seem to be on my personal radar a lot at the moment, so a good read.

General Mackevili wrote:And the latest, unanswered question:

How do you respond to allegations that your Child Protection Unit supervisor has little to no child protection unit experience or training? Do you accept that being a child protection specialist is actually a skilled profession that is not taught as part of general police training?

Given that you admit your Child Protection Unit supervisor has 'done his time' for various corruption and standover-related crimes, are you convinced that his personality has changed so dramatically that he would not use the position of power you have awarded him to the same ends?

I suspect the asker has already read Neeson's response to similar questions in other articles and that his interest is more in raising the question again than the answer.

^ That last question still goes unanswered.

General Mackevili wrote:^ That last question still goes unanswered.

Neeson probably smart enough not to feed the troll.

True. And I think I might know who the troll is, so he might have a clue too.