KONY 2012

[sees_all1]

Spread awareness... then market products around this. I'm thinking (RED) all over again.

http://adage.com/article/news/costly-red-campaign-reaps-meager-18-million/115287/

 

Yeah! Let's all buy over priced items that will donate a percentage (like a tenth of a percentage) to AIDS or something, make ourselves feel good about it.

 

I think it's probably one of the more under-handed things corporations do, but the only way it's possible are through bleeding heart causes like this one.

[Flyingjj]

From what I understand, the products "marketed" with this campaign are posters, stickers, buttons, and t-shirts to raise awareness of the campaign. Except for maybe the t-shirts, it seems completely different from the (red) campaign.

[Ouchy]

The only thing that annoy's me about this is that yesterday, people wouldn't have given two shits about kids in Uganda. Now that it's become big, they are all jumping in on the bandwagon and supporting it. I know you can argue that they didn't know that this was happening before, but still.

[Carl]

The only thing that annoy's me about this is that yesterday, people wouldn't have given two shits about kids in Uganda. Now that it's become big, they are all jumping in on the bandwagon and supporting it. I know you can argue that they didn't know that this was happening before, but still.

 

It's nice to play things off like that, isn't it?

 

This is a normal person that began this campaign, through social networking it has spread wide-and-far. It's 10 years of effort to get this far, not something that was thought up over night to try get some "Fad" going. People are supporting this for the right reasons. Perhaps one issue can be tackled at a time?

 

And just because the person who made the video is American, and is trying to get Americans to back him, doesn't mean it's only appealing to Americans. Hopefully governments around the world will cop on and try and do something about it.

[Zaaps1]

Action is better than talk and all I see is talk here.

 

Hold on to your post until the Facebook group does something.

 

 

I'm not going to wait nearly 2 months for superficial proof to tell people that a cause is worth believing in.

 

I can call the fact that people said they are going superficial proof as it hasn't happened yet either. It's just another cause that's floating around like finding a cure for cancer and animal abuse.

 

Go ahead and hold reservations, that's fine. But to not try is to fail. And looking beyond the scope of a present crisis, it is to fail to accept that each one of us has the power to change history. I think we as a public are too used to hearing empty promises or see our efforts fall apart. But to accept that we are powerless is to submit to tyranny.

 

Actions are better then words. Nobody is saying anyone is powerless. I'm just saying that this is another hype that will be forgotten within a week.

 

Also of worthy note, the cited Facebook group is not the only one. It is one of many and is likely concentrated in my regional area. Imagine that for each region there is likely another one. There are many more supporters than the example suggests.

 

I would assume it's not seeing as this fad reached tif. I have one in my local area but I don't believe anything special will come out of it.

 

 

 

It's been done before just recently

 

It's not about hype. It's about manifest destiny.

 

Can you explain the bolded part and I'm wondering if you even understand the meaning "manifest destiny" because it doesn't make any sense how you just used it.

 

Went to bed, so I'm a little late on the ball here, but manifest destiny means more than the American idea of continental expansion in the 1800s/early 1900s.

 

It means that a people will act on a powerful inheritance and create an impact they have been set up to make.

 

This is why I think it is different this time around. People have been given a very clear, very powerful stimulus to make use of the ultimate weapon of our age. Even if Kony did not exist, the tide of history would eventually make this tool a driving force. Kony, at the moment, is just the catalyst that will bring it to the forefront.

[The_Gabe]

The only thing that annoy's me about this is that yesterday, people wouldn't have given two shits about kids in Uganda. Now that it's become big, they are all jumping in on the bandwagon and supporting it. I know you can argue that they didn't know that this was happening before, but still.

 

It's nice to play things off like that, isn't it?

 

This is a normal person that began this campaign, through social networking it has spread wide-and-far. It's 10 years of effort to get this far, not something that was thought up over night to try get some "Fad" going. People are supporting this for the right reasons. Perhaps one issue can be tackled at a time?

 

And just because the person who made the video is American, and is trying to get Americans to back him, doesn't mean it's only appealing to Americans. Hopefully governments around the world will cop on and try and do something about it.

 

I'm sorry Carl, but this ignorance is being help. DO YOU FREAKING THINK THAT GOVERNMENTS WEREN'T DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THIS [bleep]ING ISSUE BEFOREHAND? Have you ever heard of the freaking United Nations and the Peacekeeping mission in Uganda? Have you ever realized that it existed for the reason to combat the Lord's Resistance Army? Have you ever realized that it was put in place NOT to violate the sovereignty of Uganda while trying to eliminate Kony? Have you ever realized that this issue has been around for the a while and having the public support it will do absolutely nothing to the real task?

 

Just because you finally heard about an issue doesn't mean it wasn't being addressed already.

 

Action is better than talk and all I see is talk here.

 

Hold on to your post until the Facebook group does something.

 

 

I'm not going to wait nearly 2 months for superficial proof to tell people that a cause is worth believing in.

 

I can call the fact that people said they are going superficial proof as it hasn't happened yet either. It's just another cause that's floating around like finding a cure for cancer and animal abuse.

 

Go ahead and hold reservations, that's fine. But to not try is to fail. And looking beyond the scope of a present crisis, it is to fail to accept that each one of us has the power to change history. I think we as a public are too used to hearing empty promises or see our efforts fall apart. But to accept that we are powerless is to submit to tyranny.

 

Actions are better then words. Nobody is saying anyone is powerless. I'm just saying that this is another hype that will be forgotten within a week.

 

Also of worthy note, the cited Facebook group is not the only one. It is one of many and is likely concentrated in my regional area. Imagine that for each region there is likely another one. There are many more supporters than the example suggests.

 

I would assume it's not seeing as this fad reached tif. I have one in my local area but I don't believe anything special will come out of it.

 

 

 

It's been done before just recently

 

It's not about hype. It's about manifest destiny.

 

Can you explain the bolded part and I'm wondering if you even understand the meaning "manifest destiny" because it doesn't make any sense how you just used it.

 

Went to bed, so I'm a little late on the ball here, but manifest destiny means more than the American idea of continental expansion in the 1800s/early 1900s.

 

 

 

It means that a people will act on a powerful inheritance and create an impact they have been set up to make.

 

And it's a foolish way to look at it.

 

This is why I think it is different this time around. People have been given a very clear, very powerful stimulus to make use of the ultimate weapon of our age. Even if Kony did not exist, the tide of history would eventually make this tool a driving force. Kony, at the moment, is just the catalyst that will bring it to the forefront.

 

Why do people always assume it's going to be any different that any other causes? It's not. It's a powerful stimulus because people will forget about it soon enough like they do with the rest of the issues and go back to their own lives. This problem's been around for long before this and will be around long after. Being on the internet or campaigning for it will do absolutely nothing.

[Azvareth]

While it's a great thing to bring Joseph Kony's atrocities to light, there are some things you should know about the Invisible Children group before you spend money on them, or begin spamming "KONY 2012" everywhere.

 

http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

 

I do not doubt for a second that those involved in KONY 2012 have great intentions, nor do I doubt for a second that Joseph Kony is a very evil man. But despite this, I'm strongly opposed to the KONY 2012 campaign.

KONY 2012 is the product of a group called Invisible Children, a controversial activist group and not-for-profit. They've released 11 films, most with an accompanying bracelet colour (KONY 2012 is fittingly red), all of which focus on Joseph Kony. When we buy merch from them, when we link to their video, when we put up posters linking to their website, we support the organization. I don't think that's a good thing, and

I'm not alone.

 

Invisible Children has been condemned time and time again. As a registered not-for-profit, its finances are public. Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production. This is far from ideal, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they haven't had their finances externally audited. But it goes way deeper than that.

 

The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money funds the Ugandan government's army and various other military forces. Here's a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan People's Liberation Army. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People's Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them, arguing that the Ugandan army is "better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries", although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn't been since 2006 by their own admission.

 

Still, the bulk of Invisible Children's spending isn't on funding African militias, but on awareness and filmmaking. Which can be great, except that Foreign Affairs has claimed that Invisible Children (among others) "manipulates facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRA's use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony a brutal man, to be sure as uniquely awful, a Kurtz-like embodiment of evil." He's certainly evil, but exaggeration and manipulation to capture the public eye is unproductive, unprofessional and dishonest.

 

As Christ Blattman, a political scientist at Yale, writes on the topic of IC's programming, "There's also something inherently misleading, naive, maybe even dangerous, about the idea of rescuing children or saving of Africa. [] It hints uncomfortably of the White Man's Burden. Worse, sometimes it does more than hint. The savior attitude is pervasive in advocacy, and it inevitably shapes programming. Usually misconceived programming."

 

Still, Kony's a bad guy, and he's been around a while. Which is why the US has been involved in stopping him for years. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has sent multiple missions to capture or kill Kony over the years. And they've failed time and time again, each provoking a ferocious response and increased retaliative slaughter. The issue with taking out a man who uses a child army is that his bodyguards are children. Any effort to capture or kill him will almost certainly result in many children's deaths, an impact that needs to be minimized as much as possible. Each attempt brings more retaliation. And yet Invisible Children supports military intervention. Kony has been involved in peace talks in the past, which have fallen through. But Invisible Children is now focusing on military intervention.

 

Military intervention may or may not be the right idea, but people supporting KONY 2012 probably don't realize they're supporting the Ugandan military who are themselves raping and looting away. If people know this and still support Invisible Children because they feel it's the best solution based on their knowledge and research, I have no issue with that. But I don't think most people are in that position, and that's a problem.

 

Is awareness good? Yes. But these problems are highly complex, not one-dimensional and, frankly, aren't of the nature that can be solved by postering, film-making and changing your Facebook profile picture, as hard as that is to swallow. Giving your money and public support to Invisible Children so they can spend it on supporting ill-advised violent intervention and movie #12 isn't helping. Do I have a better answer? No, I don't, but that doesn't mean that you should support KONY 2012 just because it's something. Something isn't always better than nothing. Sometimes it's worse.

 

If you want to write to your Member of Parliament or your Senator or the President or the Prime Minister, by all means, go ahead. If you want to post about Joseph Kony's crimes on Facebook, go ahead. But let's keep it about Joseph Kony, not KONY 2012.

 

~ Grant Oyston, [email protected]

 

Grant Oyston is a sociology and political science student at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada. You can help spread the word about this by linking to his blog at visiblechildren.tumblr[dot]com anywhere you see posts about KONY 2012.

[obfuscator]

While it's a great thing to bring Joseph Kony's atrocities to light, there are some things you should know about the Invisible Children group before you spend money on them, or begin spamming "KONY 2012" everywhere.

 

http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

 

I do not doubt for a second that those involved in KONY 2012 have great intentions, nor do I doubt for a second that Joseph Kony is a very evil man. But despite this, I'm strongly opposed to the KONY 2012 campaign.

KONY 2012 is the product of a group called Invisible Children, a controversial activist group and not-for-profit. They've released 11 films, most with an accompanying bracelet colour (KONY 2012 is fittingly red), all of which focus on Joseph Kony. When we buy merch from them, when we link to their video, when we put up posters linking to their website, we support the organization. I don't think that's a good thing, and

I'm not alone.

 

Invisible Children has been condemned time and time again. As a registered not-for-profit, its finances are public. Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production. This is far from ideal, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they haven't had their finances externally audited. But it goes way deeper than that.

 

The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money funds the Ugandan government's army and various other military forces. Here's a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan People's Liberation Army. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People's Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them, arguing that the Ugandan army is "better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries", although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn't been since 2006 by their own admission.

 

Still, the bulk of Invisible Children's spending isn't on funding African militias, but on awareness and filmmaking. Which can be great, except that Foreign Affairs has claimed that Invisible Children (among others) "manipulates facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRA's use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony a brutal man, to be sure as uniquely awful, a Kurtz-like embodiment of evil." He's certainly evil, but exaggeration and manipulation to capture the public eye is unproductive, unprofessional and dishonest.

 

As Christ Blattman, a political scientist at Yale, writes on the topic of IC's programming, "There's also something inherently misleading, naive, maybe even dangerous, about the idea of rescuing children or saving of Africa. [] It hints uncomfortably of the White Man's Burden. Worse, sometimes it does more than hint. The savior attitude is pervasive in advocacy, and it inevitably shapes programming. Usually misconceived programming."

 

Still, Kony's a bad guy, and he's been around a while. Which is why the US has been involved in stopping him for years. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has sent multiple missions to capture or kill Kony over the years. And they've failed time and time again, each provoking a ferocious response and increased retaliative slaughter. The issue with taking out a man who uses a child army is that his bodyguards are children. Any effort to capture or kill him will almost certainly result in many children's deaths, an impact that needs to be minimized as much as possible. Each attempt brings more retaliation. And yet Invisible Children supports military intervention. Kony has been involved in peace talks in the past, which have fallen through. But Invisible Children is now focusing on military intervention.

 

Military intervention may or may not be the right idea, but people supporting KONY 2012 probably don't realize they're supporting the Ugandan military who are themselves raping and looting away. If people know this and still support Invisible Children because they feel it's the best solution based on their knowledge and research, I have no issue with that. But I don't think most people are in that position, and that's a problem.

 

Is awareness good? Yes. But these problems are highly complex, not one-dimensional and, frankly, aren't of the nature that can be solved by postering, film-making and changing your Facebook profile picture, as hard as that is to swallow. Giving your money and public support to Invisible Children so they can spend it on supporting ill-advised violent intervention and movie #12 isn't helping. Do I have a better answer? No, I don't, but that doesn't mean that you should support KONY 2012 just because it's something. Something isn't always better than nothing. Sometimes it's worse.

 

If you want to write to your Member of Parliament or your Senator or the President or the Prime Minister, by all means, go ahead. If you want to post about Joseph Kony's crimes on Facebook, go ahead. But let's keep it about Joseph Kony, not KONY 2012.

 

~ Grant Oyston, [email protected]

 

Grant Oyston is a sociology and political science student at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada. You can help spread the word about this by linking to his blog at visiblechildren.tumblr[dot]com anywhere you see posts about KONY 2012.

 

Great post. But because this guy doesn't have a tear-jerking video, no one will pay attention.

[Danqazmlp]

The above pretty much proves my thoughts that while awareness is a good thing, this campaign is nothing great, and will do no good.

 

Should we not be campaigning to stop the violence, not a single man?

 

And what about the other war-torn countries?

[Riku3220]

The above pretty much proves my thoughts that while awareness is a good thing, this campaign is nothing great, and will do no good.

 

Should we not be campaigning to stop the violence, not a single man?

 

And what about the other war-torn countries?

Or how about people living in first world countries without homes or food?

[Furah]

Shouldn't we be focusing on the Lord's Resistance Army instead of what I can only assume is pawn for a corrupt faction? Although, I don't see a way to go about pleasing the Ugandan people. Their choices are either the corrupt group in power, a corrupt group fighting for power, or a group chosen by, and brought in from, foreign countries.

[obfuscator]

Shouldn't we be focusing on the Lord's Resistance Army instead of what I can only assume is pawn for a corrupt faction? Although, I don't see a way to go about pleasing the Ugandan people. Their choices are either the corrupt group in power, a corrupt group fighting for power, or a group chosen by, and brought in from, foreign countries.

Kony is the leader of the LRA. Focusing on him and the LRA are one and the same.

[Vex]

http://www.economist.com/node/14177583?story_id=14177583&source=hptextfeature

 

Americas got some liberating to do.

[Range_This11]

While it's a great thing to bring Joseph Kony's atrocities to light, there are some things you should know about the Invisible Children group before you spend money on them, or begin spamming "KONY 2012" everywhere.

 

http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

 

I do not doubt for a second that those involved in KONY 2012 have great intentions, nor do I doubt for a second that Joseph Kony is a very evil man. But despite this, I'm strongly opposed to the KONY 2012 campaign.

KONY 2012 is the product of a group called Invisible Children, a controversial activist group and not-for-profit. They've released 11 films, most with an accompanying bracelet colour (KONY 2012 is fittingly red), all of which focus on Joseph Kony. When we buy merch from them, when we link to their video, when we put up posters linking to their website, we support the organization. I don't think that's a good thing, and

I'm not alone.

 

Invisible Children has been condemned time and time again. As a registered not-for-profit, its finances are public. Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production. This is far from ideal, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they haven't had their finances externally audited. But it goes way deeper than that.

 

The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money funds the Ugandan government's army and various other military forces. Here's a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan People's Liberation Army. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People's Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them, arguing that the Ugandan army is "better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries", although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn't been since 2006 by their own admission.

 

Still, the bulk of Invisible Children's spending isn't on funding African militias, but on awareness and filmmaking. Which can be great, except that Foreign Affairs has claimed that Invisible Children (among others) "manipulates facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRA's use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony a brutal man, to be sure as uniquely awful, a Kurtz-like embodiment of evil." He's certainly evil, but exaggeration and manipulation to capture the public eye is unproductive, unprofessional and dishonest.

 

As Christ Blattman, a political scientist at Yale, writes on the topic of IC's programming, "There's also something inherently misleading, naive, maybe even dangerous, about the idea of rescuing children or saving of Africa. [] It hints uncomfortably of the White Man's Burden. Worse, sometimes it does more than hint. The savior attitude is pervasive in advocacy, and it inevitably shapes programming. Usually misconceived programming."

 

Still, Kony's a bad guy, and he's been around a while. Which is why the US has been involved in stopping him for years. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has sent multiple missions to capture or kill Kony over the years. And they've failed time and time again, each provoking a ferocious response and increased retaliative slaughter. The issue with taking out a man who uses a child army is that his bodyguards are children. Any effort to capture or kill him will almost certainly result in many children's deaths, an impact that needs to be minimized as much as possible. Each attempt brings more retaliation. And yet Invisible Children supports military intervention. Kony has been involved in peace talks in the past, which have fallen through. But Invisible Children is now focusing on military intervention.

 

Military intervention may or may not be the right idea, but people supporting KONY 2012 probably don't realize they're supporting the Ugandan military who are themselves raping and looting away. If people know this and still support Invisible Children because they feel it's the best solution based on their knowledge and research, I have no issue with that. But I don't think most people are in that position, and that's a problem.

 

Is awareness good? Yes. But these problems are highly complex, not one-dimensional and, frankly, aren't of the nature that can be solved by postering, film-making and changing your Facebook profile picture, as hard as that is to swallow. Giving your money and public support to Invisible Children so they can spend it on supporting ill-advised violent intervention and movie #12 isn't helping. Do I have a better answer? No, I don't, but that doesn't mean that you should support KONY 2012 just because it's something. Something isn't always better than nothing. Sometimes it's worse.

 

If you want to write to your Member of Parliament or your Senator or the President or the Prime Minister, by all means, go ahead. If you want to post about Joseph Kony's crimes on Facebook, go ahead. But let's keep it about Joseph Kony, not KONY 2012.

 

~ Grant Oyston, [email protected]

 

Grant Oyston is a sociology and political science student at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada. You can help spread the word about this by linking to his blog at visiblechildren.tumblr[dot]com anywhere you see posts about KONY 2012.

THANK YOU!

 

I've taken a few courses in African history to know better than to believe this garbage. Relationships between different groups and countries in Africa are extremely complex. There is no "right" side to stand behind.

[Flyingjj]

If you investigate further, you'll find that information does not tell the whole truth either. Take finances, for example. Clicking the link to the financial report and actually reading it shows that although only 32% went to "direct services" a large portion of income went to operating the organization (not including salaries). Direct services was also the single largest expenditure for the organization.

 

That being said, I am no longer sure where I stand on this issue. I am going to research further.

[Furah]

Shouldn't we be focusing on the Lord's Resistance Army instead of what I can only assume is pawn for a corrupt faction? Although, I don't see a way to go about pleasing the Ugandan people. Their choices are either the corrupt group in power, a corrupt group fighting for power, or a group chosen by, and brought in from, foreign countries.

Kony is the leader of the LRA. Focusing on him and the LRA are one and the same.

 

Not really, he's replaceable.

[obfuscator]

Shouldn't we be focusing on the Lord's Resistance Army instead of what I can only assume is pawn for a corrupt faction? Although, I don't see a way to go about pleasing the Ugandan people. Their choices are either the corrupt group in power, a corrupt group fighting for power, or a group chosen by, and brought in from, foreign countries.

Kony is the leader of the LRA. Focusing on him and the LRA are one and the same.

 

Not really, he's replaceable.

Sure, in the same context of Hitler being replaceable as the leader of the Nazis.

[miracleman58]

The only thing that annoy's me about this is that yesterday, people wouldn't have given two shits about kids in Uganda. Now that it's become big, they are all jumping in on the bandwagon and supporting it. I know you can argue that they didn't know that this was happening before, but still.

 

Thats the whole reason something like this works.

[Zierro]

I thought it was a noble cause until I saw the prices for the "awareness kits".

 

I am going to research further.

 

Good luck. The internet already exploded and scattered into sects of unwavering vigilantism and determined skepticism.

[obfuscator]

Good luck. The internet already exploded and scattered into sects of unwavering vigilantism and determined skepticism.

 

Doesn't it always...

[Riku3220]

What group do I fit in if I'm aware of the fact that Kony needs to be stopped but I know this KONY 2012 COVER THE NIGHT is complete bullshit?

[Range_This11]

The group of people who aren't gullible and realize that supporting a cause by pushing the "Like" button or "I'm attending" button does absolutely nothing to change anything in this world.

[Hobgoblinpie]

I'd be more inclined to actually give a shit if the creator of the video knew the difference between being famous and infamous.

[Kimberly]

Shouldn't we be focusing on the Lord's Resistance Army instead of what I can only assume is pawn for a corrupt faction? Although, I don't see a way to go about pleasing the Ugandan people. Their choices are either the corrupt group in power, a corrupt group fighting for power, or a group chosen by, and brought in from, foreign countries.

Kony is the leader of the LRA. Focusing on him and the LRA are one and the same.

 

Not really, he's replaceable.

Sure, in the same context of Hitler being replaceable as the leader of the Nazis.

 

Or in the same way Osama was for Al Qaeda?

 

The group of people who aren't gullible and realize that supporting a cause by pushing the "Like" button or "I'm attending" button does absolutely nothing to change anything in this world.

 

The same thing happened with the bullshit SOPA logos, signatures, tags, stickers, and so on.

[obfuscator]

 

Or in the same way Osama was for Al Qaeda?

 

Similarly. But even then, Osama was more of a figurehead than a practical leader. Kony is both.

 

The same thing happened with the bullshit SOPA logos, signatures, tags, stickers, and so on.

 

I'd so that was a little bit of a different situation as the issue was affecting the internet itself - so the activism that took place on the internet was more meaningful.