KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.
This is a short doc, running just under 30 minutes, for those interested.
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I just finished watching this through facebook and was going to make a thread about it, I think what they are doing is amazing and using different forms of media and social networking to achieve thier goal of getting Kony put away for his crimes against humanity.
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He's been evading capture for 7 years. What are a person in Whales, Canada, and voyaging towards Jupiter going to do about a man who can't be caught by professionals?
I understand getting outraged by things like this, but there is literally nothing a "normal" person can do about it. There's tons of things that wreck me emotionally going on in the world every day but it does me no good to add to my worry meter (trust me, it's full enough trying to pay the bills!) about them because they are completely out of my control.
I'll give you the best advice I can give about changing the world: Think Globally, act Locally.
The group Invisible Children has been going for 10 years and in this decade they have done allot of good in Africa, like building schools, an early warning system etc Its all in the video. The point of the video is to get Kony's name "famous" so the governments pay attention to what the people are saying. You say what can I do from Wales, just spreading the word/his name is helping the cause IMO and I havent contributed any money to the cause as of yet but we (me and my wife) give to allot of charities in different ways.
The group Invisible Children has been going for 10 years and in this decade they have done allot of good in Africa, like building schools, an early warning system etc Its all in the video. The point of the video is to get Kony's name "famous" so the governments pay attention to what the people are saying. You say what can I do from Wales, just spreading the word/his name is helping the cause IMO and I havent contributed any money to the cause as of yet but we (me and my wife) give to allot of charities in different ways.
That is wonderful and people who are able to support this cause should.
However, it's not going to bring this guy to justice or people like him, for that matter. Your post seemed to read as if it would.
It's amazing how viral it's got and how much publicity has uproared. Exposing innocent kids to guerilla warfare in third-world countries needs to be stopped. These kids deserve to have the right education, to be healthy, to be disease-ridden, and not live in fear every day. It might seem impossible but even one person can change the world, just look back at all the great figures in history. It may be hard, and it may take a long time, but if you're willing you can make a difference. Let's put an end to Kony!
Of course this man is vile and hateful and what he's doing needs to be stopped. But before getting swept up in this I'd encourage anyone to get the full story here and here. Always good to get every possible perspective so you can make your own judgement.
The documentary is extremely touching. I saw it for the first time yesterday on Facebook. The thing is though, I keep seeing on my newsfeed "Stop Kony 2012" (or the like) as people's statuses. It is devastating what this guy is capable of but I believe enough is enough. You only can go so far until something gets played out. True it's good to support a cause, but continuously shoving something down people's throats won't make it any better.
Of course this man is vile and hateful and what he's doing needs to be stopped. But before getting swept up in this I'd encourage anyone to get the full story here and here. Always good to get every possible perspective so you can make your own judgement.
I take back what I said, stop Kony and this d-bag organization. Give your money to a reputable non-profit instead.
And, Tripod, what you're doing is not going to get this guy captured considering international authorities haven't been able to get him for 7 years...just sayin'.
Invisible Children boss Ben Keesey hits back at Kony video critics
The organisation behind a video calling for the arrest of Ugandan militia group leader Joseph Kony has defended the way its high-profile campaign has been presented, amid questions over how its activities are funded.
Speaking exclusively to Yahoo News!, Ben Keesey, the CEO of San Diego-based Invisible Children, hit back at claims that the non-profit group had offered an oversimplified picture of the situation in a 30-minute video that has racked up more than 46m YouTube views since it was posted just four days ago.
In the video filmmaker and co-founder of Invisible Children Jason Russell travels to northern Uganda, urging those watching to help make Kony "famous".
Kony heads up the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) - a rebel group notorious for kidnapping children and forcing them to fight.
The campaign has seen a huge wave of support on Twitter and Facebook, with tweets about Kony under hashtags #Kony2012 and #stopkony becoming global trending terms.
But critics have said the video oversimplifies the situation, creating an illusion that posting messages on social media could have a meaningful impact on a long-standing human rights crisis.
Kony is believed to have long since fled Uganda for South Sudan or the Central African Republic and is now believed to have only a few hundred followers.
Keesey told Yahoo News!: "Invisible Children has been telling the story of the LRA since 2003. We were really proud of the film.
"A lot of people in academia have had a hard time understanding how Invisible Children's message has resounded with so many people.
"Using a narrative that isn't overly complex as some of the other journals and pieces about the LRA is helpful."
Invisible Children's public financial records have also been heavily scrutinised since the Kony video went viral. The balance sheet for 2011 indicates that only 32 per cent of the money raised last year went towards charity work, with the rest ploughed into staff salaries, film production and travel costs.
Keesey claimed 37% of Invisible Child's expenditure in 2011 was dedicated to direct action on the ground.
He explained: "General donations follow a roughly one-third, one-third, one-third category.
"The first third is the creation of film and the documenting of the atrocities and the digital media that we use to display that.
"The second third is the movement - the mobilisation of the international community, the advocacy both at the international level and the domestic level... and the grass-root tours we do.
"Then the third section is the direct work on the ground."
Tom Cargill, assistant head of Africa program at Chatham House, a British-based think tank, said: "It's not a new message but it's done very well in attracting a lot of attention very quickly.
"Its aim is obviously to influence U.S. policy ahead of the (U.S. presidential) election but I'm not entirely sure it's going to do that. Even if they do put more resources into finding Kony, he's proved very adept at evading attempts at capture before."
The campaign is supposed to culminate on April 20, when Russell urges supporters of the movement to "blanket every street, every city."
Ok here's the thing. No one is arguing about Kony being a total ****. The issue is with this ridiculous organization. First of all, the video doesn't even mention the leader Kony replaced to better the area, let alone any other leaders who do the same exact things, so they're aiming at a pawn. They also don't say why the LRA exists (it was started to combat Museveli, the leader he replaced who was way worse than him), so it seems there's a Castro-type situation. Another interesting fact is that Kony hasn't even been active in Uganda for 2-3 years. EDIT: SIX years.
Why do they not realize that Africa is essentially on the brink of Civil War? A lot of their donation money goes towards lobbying, and combined with the fact they're looking to make allies in Africa to help bring Kony down, it is safe to assume their bribing of the wrong people will lead to a full-on war in Central Africa. This brings up another thing, the invisible children guys have posed in a picture with the Sudan army, who have done the same **** Kony did, so what exactly are they really trying to do? I'm not saying blood money but hey, that's crazy suspicious.
This "non-profit" (paying themselves before helping the cause) organization is feeding off people's laziness in a digital age through this movement. That's why all your Facebook friends who usually post stupid pictures and talk about partying suddenly care about Ugandan politics. They don't understand the fragility of what they're working with at all. Our government has known about it for ten years and all of the sudden it's a big to-do. I would strongly suggest no one support this organization, but alternately suggest spreading the word about the situation. I'm certainly not alone in the criticism of this, more people need to do their research.
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Last edited by wintertriangles; 03-10-12 at 01:16 PM.
You know what I find funny? How [eople keep regarding it as a scam when it really isn't a scam. If it were a scam, would Barrack Obama have sent troops to help? Would Kony be the #1 international criminal? Would all of those senators and government officials have lied on camera? Would Jacob just have made all of that ...stuff up about being kidnapped and his brother being decapitated? Granted, some of the money raised isn't going STRAIGHT to Uganda, but it is being spent on the making of more products for more people to buy.
You know what I find funny? How [eople keep regarding it as a scam when it really isn't a scam. If it were a scam, would Barrack Obama have sent troops to help? Would Kony be the #1 international criminal? Would all of those senators and government officials have lied on camera? Would Jacob just have made all of that ...stuff up about being kidnapped and his brother being decapitated? Granted, some of the money raised isn't going STRAIGHT to Uganda, but it is being spent on the making of more products for more people to buy.
No-one is saying they made it up. The only thing in contention here is the way Invisible Children is using their donations, and the quality of their methods in comparison to other organisations trying to help the same cause.
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