Have you guys seen the KONY 2012 thing?

Novemberrocks · March 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc&sns=em

It's a long youtube video (27 mins). I don't know why I haven't heard about this before.

KayRI · March 2012

I kept seeing it pop up on Facebook and Twitter yesterday, but haven't been able to bring myself to watch a 27 minute video. A house in our neighborhood had a gigantic KONY banner hanging from its porch last night, but I still have no idea what the heck it's all about.

BobLoblaw · March 2012

I watched some of it. Heartwrenching. I guess there are some not-nice things behind the charity, though.

Novemberrocks · March 2012

Bethie, I was wondering about that. I am always fascinated by grassroots campaigns and the guy sounds really scary. Of course I linked to it before reading any criticisms because I'm an emotional FBer. And really, at the end of the day, the guy is just plain bad.

BobLoblaw · March 2012

Novemberrocks:
Bethie, I was wondering about that. I am always fascinated by grassroots campaigns and the guy sounds really scary. Of course I linked to it before reading any criticisms because I'm an emotional FBer. And really, at the end of the day, the guy is just plain bad.

Oh lord, no question. When the kid started crying over his brother, I couldn't watch anymore.

AngieP900 · March 2012

Yeah, me thinks there is a scam abound.

I am a sucker for children's charities these days too.

L_Woods · March 2012

I used to work for them. I can try and asnwer questions, but I'll be honest and admit that I'm tired of fighting about why they don't suck, but really, the point is to get people to know about Kony, and do what they wish with it. If they want to support a cause (any cause) to get him stopped, great. If they don't, that's fine too. If it inspires them to do something to change a different part of the world, great. It's not about money. It's about helping people and making people aware of the world outside of them.

Mamasaurus · March 2012

When I first saw it, I wanted to send for the action pack right away. Then I looked into it a bit more and found that there are other groups doing the same thing who use more of the money they bring in to directly help people--IC's awareness films apparently cost a lot to make, and groups that don't do this spend a lot more of their money on direct aid. Do a bit of googling and decide for yourself which of the several charities involved in this cause is helping in the way that you want.

FallinAgain · March 2012

I know nothing of it other than FB posts warning about it.

_Fenton · March 2012

Source on all things KONY2012sketch: http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

The interviews and information are completely outdated, as they were done in 2004-2006. Invisible Children is also a questionable charity; apparently a relatively small portion of the money they raise actually goes to programs in Africa, even by their own admission. (http://invisible.tumblr.com/post/18929372614/thank-you-for-reading-this-and-doing-further)

I posted this on FB today:

http://davidsangokoya.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/selling-old-newspapers-shouldnt-be-profitable-invisible-children-and-kony-2012/

Also interesting:

http://geopoli.net/archives/369

In a youtube recording, the founder of Invisible Children spoke to an audience at Jerry Falwell?s Liberty University. In the video he declares IC?s inspiration to be Jesus Christ and reveals that while ?most people view us (Invisible Children) as a non-profit, a charity? they ?view [them]selves as a business, as a company.?

ETA: L_Woods, I appreciate your sentiment of "why get mad at people that are just trying to help?" but when the first solution is to push the US to give weapons and aid to the Ugandan government which is also doing a lot of the same things as Kony, there is a huge risk of making the problem worse and inciting new violence.

lindsayll · March 2012

Thanks for the links, Fent. Clicking through one of them landed me here and I thought it was an excellent analysis:

http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/elizabeth-dickinson/trouble-stopkony

L_Woods · March 2012

I disagree that IC is doing what you've said, Fent. And my sentiment wasn't what you interpreted it as, but I don't do a very good job of expressing myself these days. The point of the entire organization is to make people aware. To make them think of something outside of themselves. Not "they're just trying to help!1!" not "the government is awesome!11!!" not any of that. It truly is "hey! wake up! there's stuff going on that you might care about!" Whether it's Kony or not.

Anyway, I'm not here to fight, or to defend or to say anything other do what you think makes sense, in whatever way you think makes sense with whatever organization that makes sense, for whatever cause (home or abroad) that you think makes sense.

[Collective You, not a specific person in this post or elsewhere]

_Fenton · March 2012

Well, the goal of propaganda (even well-intentioned propaganda) is to make people aware. But then you're supposed to do something, or pressure the gov't or another group to do something. IC isn't spending all that money just to make people feel sad and guilty and then go back to their lives.

Novemberrocks · March 2012

I don't know. I've read the criticisms and I understand that this is old news and obviously more complicated than one sociopath, but the fact remains that until this morning, I hadn't heard of Kony, and that YouTube video prompted me to do Internet research on the topic and learn much more about it. Which is a good thing. Yeah, yeah, I understand the arguments about paternalistic US involvement and maybe it's too little too late, but maybe not. I also think that any good deed done by the haves can be considered paternalistic and condescending. At the end of the day, I will know more about Kony than I did when I woke up, and I'll decide how to use that information. I would call that a successful campaign.

Have you guys seen the KONY 2012 thing?

Re: Have you guys seen the KONY 2012 thing?

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