Voting Station

Ishmael Beah

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Advocate

The Resume

    (November 23, 1980- )
    Born in Mattru Jong, Sierra Leone
    Child soldier in Sierra Leone's civil war (1993-95)
    Works for the advisory committee of the children's division of Human Rights Watch
    Wrote 'A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier' (2007)

Why he might be annoying:

    He said he killed 'too many people to count.'
    He was addicted to amphetamines and 'brown-brown,' a mix of cocaine and gunpowder.
    An investigation by 'The Australian' indicated that his village was destroyed in 1995, not 1993 as he claimed, and that he was a soldier for only a few months, rather than the three years he described.
    He had claimed to have a photographic memory, which provided less wiggle room for explaining any discrepancies.

Why he might not be annoying:

    'Australian' reporter Peter Wilson admits, 'I'm sure he went through a terrible ordeal.'
    'A Long Way Gone' was chosen as one of Time's 10 best nonfiction books of 2007.
    He was a keynote speaker at the Global Young Leaders Conference (2007).
    He said, 'I live knowing that I have been given a second life, and I just try to live it the best I can.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 17 Votes: 52.94% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 10 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 12 Votes: 58.33% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 24 Votes: 79.17% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 9 Votes: 88.89% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 56 Votes: 69.64% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 17 Votes: 58.82% Annoying