Sorry, but kids getting involved in political movements that they probably have no idea about is not the way forward.
http://jezebel.com/5891269/think-twice-before-donating-to-kony-2012-the-meme-du-jour Think Twice Before Donating to Kony 2012, the Charitable Meme du Jour I admit that I instinctively hated the Kony 2012 Campaign as soon as I watched 15 seconds of the effort's new viral video, produced by non-profit Invisible Children, which pledges to make extremely evil Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony famous, "not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice." Okay, to be perfectly honest, I was skeptical before I even pressed play, since no less than 15 of my Facebook friends had posted about the video, beseeching everyone to "stop tweeting" and pay attention to the video's 30 minute message. Fine, I thought, clicking on the video and wondering why the people who usually bombarded me with cat memes and status updates about getting high and eating McDonalds were suddenly fervent supporters of Ugandan children. "Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come," proclaims the video, which was uploaded yesterday and already has over four million views on YouTube. That idea is to make Kony, who has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, into a household name. The video profiles Jacob, a Ugandan boy whose brother was killed by Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, which routinely abducts children and turns them into soldiers — but it also cuts away from his story to scenes of non-profit members showing adorable blonde kids photos of "the bad guy" to make sure Americans don't get too bored with the facts. The video is upfront about being an experiment in viral media — the directors are actively taking advantage of the fact that "there are more people on Facebook than there were on the planet 200 years ago" and that "humanity's greatest desire is to belong and connect." But the self-satisfied voiceover and slick editing reminded me of the most obnoxious Kickstarter-funded documentaries I've been asked to support. Is that truly a reason not to get behind a worthy cause? Not really. Still, I was glad to learn that I'm not the only person who wanted to understand the issue more thoroughly before donating to the non-profit or even sharing the video around. Invisible Children's critics — all of whom are, thankfully, more informed than I am about Kony and the LRA — all agree that Kony is an evil man and that those involved with Invisible Children have good intentions. But here are some reasons to be skeptical that go beyond hating the video's conceit: Dubious Finances From "Visible Children": "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. Exaggerated Claims From Foreign Affairs magazine: In their campaigns, such organizations [as Invisible Children] have manipulated 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. Support for Military Intervention From "Visible Children:" The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports 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. These books each refer to the rape and sexual assault that are perennial issues with the UPDF, the military group Invisible Children is defending. Marketing Tactics From Yale Professor Chris Blattman: "[The video] feels much the same, laced with more macho bravado. The movie feels like it's about the filmmakers, and not the cause. There might be something to the argument that American teenagers are more likely to relate to an issue through the eyes of a peer. That's the argument that was made after the first film. It's not entirely convincing, especially given the distinctly non-teenage political influence IC now has. The cavalier first film did the trick. Maybe now it's time to start acting like grownups. … There are a few other things that are troubling. It's questionable whether one should be showing the faces of child soldiers on film. And watching the film one gets the sense that the US and IC were instrumental in getting the peace talks to happen. These things diminish credibility more than anything. "Invisible Children is staffed by douchebags" (A woman after my own heart.) From Vice: "Now when I first watched the Kony 2012 video, there was a horrible pang of self-knowledge as I finally grasped quite how shallow I am. I found it impossible to completely overlook the smug indie-ness of it all. It reminded me of a manipulative technology advert, or the Kings of Leon video where they party with black families, or the 30 Seconds to Mars video where all the kids talk about how Jared Leto's music saved their lives. I mean, watch the first few seconds of this again. It's pompous twaddle with no relevance to ****ing anything." Look: I wish I knew more about what's going on in Uganda, and I don't want to hate on Kony 2012 just because I'm a cynic. But it took me about the same amount of time to read up on this criticism as it took me to watch the video itself. That's still under an hour, about the same time it takes to watch an episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I recommend doing the same before you get behind any cause. It's awesome to hear my Facebook friends say they feel "empowered" by sharing the video — but remember that charity isn't really about you feeling empowered, is it? If Kony 2012 inspired you to donate money to the region, check out these charities, all of which received four star ratings on Charity Navigator: AMREF USA, Doctors Without Borders, and Water.org.
I guess you'll hear about it or see it soon. Well it has been getting talked about quite a bit online and if you used social networking you would probably see it there.
Social Networking?? You mean like conversing with people and stuff. How do you think the bad AIDS spread?
No offence, but what a stupid statement!! It's exactly the right time to get people interested/educating them on such issues ... when you're forming your ideas, opinions, morals, standards! Get them involved now and hopefully take on this interest when they grow up and become adults! Usually, by the time you reach adulthood, you have so much other ****e to deal with you can't be arsed! These types of movements are what social networking should be used for rather than peopel updating what they had for luch! Educate the masses at the touch of a return key!
"According to YouTube statistics, the Kony video is most popular with young women aged 13 to 17 and men aged 18 to 24." Say no more.
You're right, these kids should watch this 30 minute video and go out with their bumper packs to raise awareness about some war criminal thousands of miles away? Don't be so ****in silly! During the troubles lots of other people including a lot of Americans decided to pick a side about a conflict they really had no idea about. They contributed support, including financial that in turn funded more deaths.
Yeah, let them live in their own wee bubble only knowing about what's happening in their own wee town! What a great idea! It's said a lot of Amercian kids (and adults for that matter) don't even know what events are affecting the country the live in! Now, if a facebook campaign gets thousands of them interested in something happening across in another continent - is that not a good thing? Then, maybe a % of these thousands of kids may become interested in wider politics/world affairs, again, is that not a good thing? Without this campaign, it's possible that this situation would continue to be ignored ... the US goverment have now sent in advisors to help the Ugandan army try and capture him. So, without this campaign, thsi situation might not have been known to many people outside of Central Africa and would contine to be ignored by US politicans. Would you rather people where ignorant to it? So, if this schmaltz youtube video educates people on problems in Africa (maybe if the start reading aout it they will stumble across info on Somalia, Sudan. Mugabe etc) ... would that be a bad thing or would it be worth it?
If only the plantationers had been shown a "30 minute video", they might've changed their mind and nobody would've been killed
The senate passed a bill 3 years ago involving the capture of this guy. He has been sought after for even longer. But we should give kids one side of the story and let them hit the streets to protest about something they know nothing about.
One of the top stories on BBC. Some video is floating around documenting how bad this guy is and he needs to be brought to justice. Intends to pull on the heart strings of people but the group behind it seem a little shady. A charity that spends most of their money making documentaries and would prefer military action against this fella. So far I have seen dozens of Facebook pals fall for this bollocks
Oh for **** sake ... I'm not repeating myself again with the same points I've made previously! I've gave you my opinion! You ****in paddies love a good arguement!
