To make things clear, I think it's ok to spread a certain awareness all over the world by using social media etc. I don't have a problem with that but the scary part is that there are people who are following this campaign without thinking and that only because they either saw this on television (like once), heard it from friends or watched a 30 min. long video. Further research is necessary if you're supporting something that will possible have an impact on the world/a country. Let's just say we have another campaign like this in about 2 months. Let's call this campaign 'Help Person A 2012'. Now, person A has been working in a country for years to get rid of corruption. Corruption is a very common thing in the country he's working, the government is corrupt etc. (or at least, so he says) so he says to us 'this needs to stop'. Now, we're in May 2012 and Person A knows of the Kony 2012 campaign and knows that this is a way to persuade people/make people aware of a certain cause. He decides to make a video just like the Kony 2012 video and this too gets viral. He gets a lot of followers, people suddenly are interested in fighting corruption saying that it should be stopped. Over the years, this little campaign resulted in the fall of the corrupt government. The people of the country are now choosing a new leader and guess who's candidate? Person A. Person A promises to bring prosperity to the country. The people already trust him 'cause he was the one who made the previous, corrupt government fall. Person A gets chosen as the new leader. Little do the people know that Person A only wants power. He's not interested in fighting corruption, he's interested in overthrowing the current government and make himself leader. Person A first does things for his country to actually bring prosperity and the people love him. No way he would turn his back on the people he clearly loves. Now, Person A is in need for more power and decides to take action. He claims that the oil resources of their neighbouring country are actually theirs. Therefore, their neighbouring country is actually stealing some of their prosperity. This turns into war. This is a very exaggerated example of course but it's not like something like this has never happened before. Some people will doubt the intentions of Person A but they will still go with it 'cause you know, what can HE possibly do wrong knowing his past actions? Just to show what can be the result of following something blindly. Again, I am not accusing "Invisible Children" of anything, I'm actually accusing the majority of the people who are blindlessly follwing something they probably don't know a thing about. A 30 min. long video cannot put Uganda's situation in its full context. If you wanna help the country (or any other country for that matter) in an effective and efficient way, then you have to do more research and not just put your trust in the research/intentions of f.e. "Invisible Children". If you blindly support a cause like that, then you're not supporting the cause. In that case, you're supporting the ideal of helping others (which is pretty one-dimensional thinking to say the least). I'm not being the expert on Uganda 'cause I know for a fact that I didn't know a thing about Uganda's situation the day before yesterday. But that's just one of the reasons I'm staying on the sidelines. I've never heard about Invisible Children, nor have I ever heard about Kony. Therefore, I'm not fit to support this cause just because I don't know a thing about it. Edit: About the photo of them holding the AK-47's and RPG's: they say it's supposed to be a joke so uhm, yeah.. Haha?
As is everyone a quasi investigative journalist who smears the leader of an awareness campaign as money-hungry, power-seeking or shady without anything legitimate to back those statements up. Must be his glasses. Just a note: This is Serious Chat. Please provide some substantive discussion instead of just barging in with snarky comments. That does nothing to lead to civil debate.
Without watching the Kony video or getting into Invisible Children's less than completely honest past, what makes Kony different from your atypical African warlord that calls for military intervention?
His soldiers are children that he abducted, forcing them to kill their parents. if they declined, they were mutilated and/or killed.
LinkinPark0394, this is why government sucks. It's not a device used for the people. It's a device used on the people. This leads to corrupt individuals seeking this power. They use many different ways to deceive people. So you are right to ask these questions.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2012/mar/08/kony-2012-what-s-the-story?intcmp=122 That link is a great resource for anyone who's interested in the topic. Lots of different opinions, both positive and negative, from people in the know, and it's constantly being updated.
Believe it or not, Somalia's quality of life has improved since their government collapsed. I don't know why you keep using that straw man.
So, military intervention would pit a "professional" military against children? Ain't that just peachy..
Funny that you're making this about the children when the entire focus of the campaign is to save the children. I think you're misunderstanding "military intervention". The US government sent in 100 consultants to support the local army's attempts and intelligence gathering techniques to capture Kony. InvisibleChildren is using portions of their donations to rehabilitate child soldiers and schools to further the educational development of Uganda's youths. It seems tto me you're inferring that the US is about to start bombing targets and using violent, aggressive tactics. As for whether Kony is any different from other African dictators and corrupt leaders, you need to start somewhere. What else do you suggest, to not do anything out of fairness to other countries' plights?
Unfortunately, I can't provide any substantive discussion since I didn't know anything about the subject before watching the video. So yeah, I guess a snarky remark is all I've got this time..
If we're talking about our government, no, they shouldn't do anything. Alliances or foreign aid always leads to feuds and entanglements that we have no business being involved in. If we're talking about our society, we should do whatever we want. A willingly helpful society doesn't lead to trouble. It's when the government acts on behalf of the country that brings trouble. "Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto." - Thomas Jefferson "It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world." - George Washington
http://facecrooks.com/Internet-Safe...ign-read-this-before-sharing-their-video.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-deibert/joseph-kony-2012-children_b_1327417.html I'll just leave these here.
This one basically repeats exactly what you posted originally in this thread, from that Tumblr account, to which I replied with InvisibleChildren's response, which you have conveniently ignored. The sad thing is if the author had done any research and actually read IC's explanations for their transparency score and BBB standing, you wouldn't be spreading misinformation. This link completely misses the point of the campaign, which is to bring Kony to justice first and foremost, and stop his murderous reign across Africa. It's not going to fix Uganda overnight (that wasn't even a specified goal), but keeping Kony on the run and increasing awareness will likely limit his effectiveness, lead him to make mistakes and hopefully end in his capture. It's a symbolic victory in the pursuit to disarm the LRA. I see a lot of people poking holes in this but nobody coming up with better solutions.
I couldn't watch the video till the end because I didn't feel it, as I'm in my own troubles in life. But from what I've seen I had time to do my own questions already... I didn't like the interview with the crying guy. Something just felt forced there by the interviewers in the part where he does the same question a hundred times. And then, 30000 people condemned to those criminals... and they are still not the majority? You give me a gun and tell me to shoot my mom, I'll gladly shoot you first and see what happens, if you know what I mean. It sounds rude and harsh and I don't care because it is the truth. Is good to help others, but not when the other side is submitted by illogical reasons. Gosh, I cannot even imagine what I'd do by thinking my wife to be raped, I'd probably rip off the skin of the motherfucker who wants that before he even thinks that, and I think most if not everyone agrees to do the same, in every nation, because those things happening are the ruin of our soul, the point of no-return to destroy a human's mind, so why to kill the parents -or maybe allow the wife to be raped- without dropping a bullet in the head of the criminals instead of the loved ones.
No offense meant, but this really made no sense, and reflects your blatant ignorance of the situation. Are you actually insinuating the interview with the teenage Ugandan boy was scripted or forced? Wow. It's 30,000 children over many years. They are forced at gunpoint to do these unspeakable things. They are also children, meaning they are impressionable and easily manipulated and intimidated into doing things. If you're too lazy and apathetic to even finish the video, it's incredibly reckless of you to form those opinions and assumptions. I'm astonished, really.
Here's a video of the CEO of Invisible Children responding to criticism. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trendin...ildren-ceo-kony-2012-film-goes-224212065.html