Unless you’re living in a paper bag, you’ve at least heard of Kony 2012. If you haven’t watched the video, it is worth seeing, regardless of what opinion you form, and you will more than likely not agree with its entire message. Is it propaganda? Of course. By definition propaganda is information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc. Their purpose is to get Kony.
The film was nine years in the making and is slick, compelling and very powerful. And if you watched the video and didn’t know much or anything about the LRA or Joseph Kony, you probably felt emotional, sad and perhaps outraged - that would be a normal response. And if you know about the LRA, it is still thought-provoking.
Clearly, this campaign has gotten my attention and I've been furiously researching it.
If Invisible Children can get people, especially young people, sensitized to and thinking about important global issues (despite the questions raised about the organization - all of which they've addressed thus far) then power to them. I know that if *any* group devoted to a cause were able to raise the same level of awareness, it would be considered a great success - and no one would criticize it for doing so. Strangely, it is this campaign’s massive success that inspired so much criticism.
Frankly, when I researched the organization's financials (which are all publicly available), and understood their mission and their unique approach, I was satisfied. But even if I weren’t - the fact that at least 70 million people, primarily young people (many of whom had little or no idea of Kony or the conflict in Africa) are now engaged and interested in doing something about it is pretty priceless.
The message isn’t "forward this/click on this" and you will have done your part - but if viewing and clicking is the first step towards getting involved, then kudos again.
Here’s a video from Invisible Children addressing many of the critics' accusations that you might find helpful http://vimeo.com/38344284
During the last couple of days I've posted some recommended viewing and reading on my facebook page - there is a lot of information out there which you can find easily - it is being debated everywhere.
Why Kony and not Syria, or sex trafficking, or cancer, or imprisoned youth? Because this is something with which the creator has a personal connection. Like any social cause, once you truly realize what you’re fighting for, you don’t give up till you win the fight. He has one goal - stop kony.
Jason Russell began the campaign after he and his friends met a young child soldier while on a trip to Uganda and they made a promise to him that they would help him and others like him. He is trying to keep that promise. Good for him.
Oh, and an aside, calling for the prosecution of one of the UN’s most wanted men on charges of crimes against humanity is not supporting military intervention. Does IC support military involvement? I don't know - probably. Could there be a peaceful way to end what's happening? Perhaps not.
Yes, the conflict in Africa is a VERY complex issue - there is no question. And in interviews I have seen with Mr. Russell he absolutely encourages viewers to do their own research. He isn’t suggesting that you simply blindly support the cause before investigating the facts. He recommends that you DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH and make an informed decision. And the critics should do the same. His video presents what he has found and what he wants to share with us.
He admits that the video oversimplifies the situation, but he was trying to get our attention - and he did. The fact that so many watched a 29 minute video when the average YouTube video is about 4 mins 12 seconds tells me he created a compelling message; 29 minutes was certainly a stretch when considering the average viewer's attention span. He couldn't possibly have explained everything and succeeded in getting viewers to stay engaged for the duration.
Most healthy teenagers and adults are unable to sustain attention on one thing for more than about 20 minutes at a time - people are generally capable of a longer attention span when they are doing something that they find enjoyable or intrinsically motivating - so it seems the video is just that. He tugs at our emotions, he wants us to get upset, get involved, do something. However he did it, it worked - as a minimum, we are taking notice and we are engaged - that was his objective.
And now, because of the explosion of the video far beyond expectations, Invisible Children is taking heat. If they’d only gotten 500,000 hits, their original target, we probably wouldn’t be discussing the issue now - but we are. Kudos. Can’t we agree that they are trying to do a good thing??? Yes, there could be consequences we hadn't considered - but no one ever anticipated that this would take off the way it has.
I was upset by this criticism “The LRA is much smaller than previously thought. It does not have have 30,000 or 60,000 child soldiers. The figure of 30,000 refers to the total number of children abducted by the LRA over nearly 30 years.” Someone explain this to me - does this make it any less important???
And this quote really stuck in my craw “It is the right message but it's 15 years too late, " said Col. Felix Kulayige, a Ugandan military spokesman. “If people cared 15 years ago, then thousands of lives would have been saved and thousands of children would have stayed at home and not been kidnapped." Is the implication that we shouldn’t bother prosecuting those responsible because it is in the past?? If we'd had facebook 15 years ago perhaps it would have made a greater impact - but we didn't - but Mr. Russell is using it now in a way that seems positive.
Controversy about the video and the Invisible Children organization aside:
Kony is accused of kidnapping and forcing as many as 66,000 children to fight for the LRA, or to become sex slaves, and of forcing the displacement of more than 200,000 people in a northern area of the country.
Keep in mind that Kony has been criminally indicted by the ICC (*and* that the ICC can *only* charge for crimes committed SINCE ITS FOUNDING in 2002 - Kony became the LRA's leader in 1986/87 so essentially he gets a pass on his first 15 or 16 years of terror). Kony has remained at the TOP of the ICC's most-wanted list.
The LRA's crimes are significant and transnational. Just because Kony has left Uganda doesn’t make him any less wanted, or any less dangerous. The LRA is still active. In December 2009 the LRA massacred at least 321 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The deaths were verified by the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch. Victims were hacked or battered to death, and survivors were made to carry loads for their attackers. At least eighty children of both sexes were captured, the boys as fighters, the girls to be sex slaves for the LRA members.
Kony is allegedly criminally responsible for thirty-three counts on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility:
Twelve counts of crimes against humanity (murder; enslavement; sexual enslavement; rape; inhumane acts of inflicting serious bodily injury and suffering); and,
Twenty-one counts of war crimes (murder; cruel treatment of civilians; intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population; pillaging; inducing rap; and forced enlistment of children).
But in all these cases there has not been a strong enough international effort to pursue him.
It isn’t all that unusual for people to get behind a charitable cause without doing all their research -- it is also popular to condemn causes which get so much rapid attention. It is good that this has received attention and we are responsible to have an informed opinion.
The video and the ensuing debate has everybody - supporters and critics alike - discussing, fact-finding, debating and talking about an issue that a week ago certainly wasn’t of interest to such a large and diverse audience and not in the awareness of a large percentage of those viewers. It has stirred debate - and that isn’t a bad thing. We're talking about it. That's a start.
I don’t know what the answer is, but if our kids are less interested in Kim Kardashian’s love life and watching funny cat videos and more interested in learning about important global issues, and feel outraged by crimes against humanity, I think we’re headed in the right direction. And this event has made me view social media as more than just a "time suck".
Maybe Kony isn't your priority - and that's up to you. But I hope that doesn't mean that you can just file it away in your mind as something that doesn't concern you.
I never thought they'd catch Whitey Bulger, nor did I think I'd live to see that day that they found Bin Laden - maybe there's a chance that Kony 2012 will meet their deadline - and that wouldn't be a bad thing, would it?
What do you think?
