KONY 2012

DiscoVolante

If you have 30 minutes to spare, watch this

If you don't have 30 minutes to spare, still watch it.

It is time.

jamesh101

This is incredible! The most inspiring thing I have ever seen. Come on everyone, join the fight.

Sandy

Amazing! Watch the video and join the cause.

Germanlady

Just seen it. There is even a gathering on April 20 in our city.

WillardWhyte

very important cause...I hope the US Government does more to help out. I hope this guy is arrested and some sort of hope is restored to those kids and their families. This is why I have been showcasing the Superman shield for people to have a sense of hope and justice in this cruel world.

JWESTBROOK

Send in Seal Team 6. That is literally their only job. To take out international criminals. You take out the leader and the dominoes fall. Thats as much as the US government has to get involved. Or, the very least. We could do more, but we could at least grant the people the gift of Kony's death.

nick_007

So I'm sitting at in a cafe near in the lobby of my building as I open this thread when a guy walking by me goes: Yeah dude this Kony stuff is everywhere! Spread the word!

All this to say I guess word is really getting around considering I first heard of this less than a day ago.

commandbond007

it crazy....all over facebook, forum, etc....the word has been spread......think the video should be translated into different language for those who can't understand english

Dr_Metz

There are more important things than some Ugandan terrorist. Nobody cared about him before this viral crap, and I still don't.

Volante

Something very interesting I found in a blog post about the whole Kony thing:

"Little do people know that the founders of 'Kony 2012' have military links, and this subject, or movement to establish US forces in Uganda, an oil rich country, conveniently arises just as the US are finishing up their ‘war’ in Iraq, another oil rich country.

Oh, and how China, currently the US biggest worry in overtaking them as the superpower of the world has had forces there for years now, and have been providing resources in exchange for oil.

Funny how this ‘movement’ is based around US military interventionism. The people of the US/World would object the US moving into Uganda without a reasonable excuse, what better than a viral campaign to gather up support?

Why not go after General Butt Naked (Yes, that’s his name) of Liberia, who is known to sacrifice children daily? Oh. There’s nothing to benefit from by entering Liberia, of course.

Also, Kony hasn't actually been in Uganda since early 2006. And US military forces have been in Uganda for years now under AFRICON and have tried several times to kill Kony, only to fail and then suffer severe backlash for what as essentially the unprovoked slaughtering of innocent people in Uganda?
Why do we want to send MORE troops to a country where the man they are hunting doesn't even reside there?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Keep buying your 30c bracelets and convince yourself you're part of the movement for 'change'. The Ugandan government is more corrupt than nearly any other African nation. I'm sure they would love some US forces to help them maintain power in exchange for a little oil. Everyone wins."

0BradyM0Bondfanatic7

JWESTBROOK said:
Send in Seal Team 6. That is literally their only job. To take out international criminals. You take out the leader and the dominoes fall. Thats as much as the US government has to get involved. Or, the very least. We could do more, but we could at least grant the people the gift of Kony's death.

Taking out the "leader" does nothing. The dominoes don't fall. A new person takes the leadership role and fights harder to get back at those responsible for the death of his predecessor. It is a never-ending cycle of killing that will never end. Did you see how terrorism completely ended when Bin Laden was killed? No?! Good, because I didn't either.

0BradyM0Bondfanatic7

Beautifully put together film. It disgusts me to hear what the man has done. He needs to be stopped, but those ready to be martyrs in his place will need stopped too. It is bittersweet. Do we risk the lives of thousands to kill one who will be replaced in the same form? These are the things that actually make me happy to have been born in the US.

Virage

The guy must be stoped...

However what's mentioned in this film could lead to WW3!!!!!

Dr_Metz

Volante said:
Something very interesting I found in a blog post about the whole Kony thing:

"Little do people know that the founders of 'Kony 2012' have military links, and this subject, or movement to establish US forces in Uganda, an oil rich country, conveniently arises just as the US are finishing up their ‘war’ in Iraq, another oil rich country.

Oh, and how China, currently the US biggest worry in overtaking them as the superpower of the world has had forces there for years now, and have been providing resources in exchange for oil.

Funny how this ‘movement’ is based around US military interventionism. The people of the US/World would object the US moving into Uganda without a reasonable excuse, what better than a viral campaign to gather up support?

Why not go after General Butt Naked (Yes, that’s his name) of Liberia, who is known to sacrifice children daily? Oh. There’s nothing to benefit from by entering Liberia, of course.

Also, Kony hasn't actually been in Uganda since early 2006. And US military forces have been in Uganda for years now under AFRICON and have tried several times to kill Kony, only to fail and then suffer severe backlash for what as essentially the unprovoked slaughtering of innocent people in Uganda?
Why do we want to send MORE troops to a country where the man they are hunting doesn't even reside there?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Keep buying your 30c bracelets and convince yourself you're part of the movement for 'change'. The Ugandan government is more corrupt than nearly any other African nation. I'm sure they would love some US forces to help them maintain power in exchange for a little oil. Everyone wins."

I love you, Volante. I like it how people seemed to ignore what you said, which ties into what you say in your last paragraph.

Volante

There's actually a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with guns. Standing behind them is a section of the Sudanese army. The Sudanese government's leader is the number 2 most wanted on the same list that Kony made as number 1.

If you are the second most evil person in the entire continent of Africa, behind someone who kidnaps children for use in a militia, you must be pretty evil. And the people running a charity trying to bring down Kony are posing with this guy's men? Something's not right.

0BradyM0Bondfanatic7

KONY 2012 #1 trending topic on Yahoo. Up to 26 million + views!

Volante

I previously copy and pasted over a blog criticising the US Government's involvement in all this. It was a bit cloak and dagger, but here's an even better one that talks about the charity itself. The charity only donates 31% of what they receive, support the Ugandan government's army (which itself has recruited or assisted in the recruiting of child soldiers) and has been pretty heavily criticised by a lot of other charities.

http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/18920717928/thedailywhat-on-kony-2012-i-honestly-wanted-to

Don't get me wrong, Kony is a despicable man. But what's happening in Uganda isn't isolated to Kony. This happens throughout other war-torn regions of Africa. The video might raise awareness about Kony, but the problem exists outside of him. End child slavery and child soldiers. But making facebook statuses and lining the pockets of a few 'charitable people' isn't the best way.

Dr_Metz

Volante said:
There's actually a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with guns. Standing behind them is a section of the Sudanese army. The Sudanese government's leader is the number 2 most wanted on the same list that Kony made as number 1.

If you are the second most evil person in the entire continent of Africa, behind someone who kidnaps children for use in a militia, you must be pretty evil. And the people running a charity trying to bring down Kony are posing with this guy's men? Something's not right.

I also find it weird a video with this subject matter could get so many views in only a few days. There are so many videos about things like this, so why is this one getting all the views? There are also a lot of "viral marketing" campaigns like this, yet this one someone fully works, and it's about something most people around the world wouldn't care about normally. "Something's not right" indeed.

Cipher

I'm a bit ambivalent about this. It's hard to argue with trying to bring down a war criminal like Kony. There's also the fact that the publicity that this campaign has generated is finally opening people's eyes to atrocities that have been largely ignored by most media outlets in developed countries for far too long. That said it's going to take a hell of a lot more than a social media campaign to fix Africa's problems and there's a real danger that this will just become another meme that will be mostly forgotten in a few weeks.

0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 said:
He needs to be stopped, but those ready to be martyrs in his place will need stopped too. It is bittersweet. Do we risk the lives of thousands to kill one who will be replaced in the same form?

But if Kony is brought down there's a good chance the LRA will collapse. According to this article the LRA may be down to as few as 200 fighters. Also, the thing with Kony and the LRA is that it doesn't appear to have an underlying ideology - it seems to be mostly about allowing Kony and his cronies to maintain their warlord status and keep them out of jail. This lack of a rallying cause is why the LRA relies on kidnapped child soldiers and raiding villages. So, unlike Al Qaeda for example, there isn't going to be a long queue of people lining up behind Kony to martyr themselves for the cause.

Volante said:
There's actually a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with guns. Standing behind them is a section of the Sudanese army. The Sudanese government's leader is the number 2 most wanted on the same list that Kony made as number 1.
And the people running a charity trying to bring down Kony are posing with this guy's men?

The founders of Invisible Children have explained the story behind that photo here. They were at LRA - Ugandan peace talks being mediated by Sudan and the Sudanese army was guarding the camp. They posed for an ironic photo after they had interviewed some of the Sudanese soldiers for one of their films. I don't think that qualifies as supporting or being in cahoots with the Sudanese govt.

RC7

A seemingly liberal organisation effectively campaigning for military intervention. Doesn't ring true to me I'm afraid and I don't buy using a child who looks barely three years of age as a catalyst for propaganda. Kony is a terrible human being but cashing in on idiots who think social media is the be-all and end-all of our existence proves nothing. Things are not as black and white unfortunately.

thelivingroyale

Volante said:
Something very interesting I found in a blog post about the whole Kony thing:

"Little do people know that the founders of 'Kony 2012' have military links, and this subject, or movement to establish US forces in Uganda, an oil rich country, conveniently arises just as the US are finishing up their ‘war’ in Iraq, another oil rich country.

Oh, and how China, currently the US biggest worry in overtaking them as the superpower of the world has had forces there for years now, and have been providing resources in exchange for oil.

Funny how this ‘movement’ is based around US military interventionism. The people of the US/World would object the US moving into Uganda without a reasonable excuse, what better than a viral campaign to gather up support?

Why not go after General Butt Naked (Yes, that’s his name) of Liberia, who is known to sacrifice children daily? Oh. There’s nothing to benefit from by entering Liberia, of course.

Also, Kony hasn't actually been in Uganda since early 2006. And US military forces have been in Uganda for years now under AFRICON and have tried several times to kill Kony, only to fail and then suffer severe backlash for what as essentially the unprovoked slaughtering of innocent people in Uganda?
Why do we want to send MORE troops to a country where the man they are hunting doesn't even reside there?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Keep buying your 30c bracelets and convince yourself you're part of the movement for 'change'. The Ugandan government is more corrupt than nearly any other African nation. I'm sure they would love some US forces to help them maintain power in exchange for a little oil. Everyone wins."

Wow. Great post, lots of facts that people should know before they hop right onboard with this.

SaintMark

I find that Robert Mugabe chappie in Zimbabwe a far more evil person. And that country is loaded with treasure..............Why haven't we invaded that country?

6of1

Here's a piece by Ugandan blogger Musa Okwonga (see blogs.independent.co.uk/author/musaokwonga/ for more info) on the issue of Kony and Invisible children. Make of it what you will but one thing is for sure here, Okwonga is a lot closer to the action and the actual state of affairs than most of us here would seem to be.

Everyone agrees that this a hugely important issue, but Invisible Children’s methods have come in for searing criticism; most scathingly, they have been attacked as “neo-liberal, do-good Whiteness”. Elsewhere, Foreign Affairs has provided some important context on this matter, in relation to Uganda’s strategic importance to the USA. I would also recommend the Twitter feed of Laura Seay, who was moved to comment this morning that “[Solomme Lemma] is tweeting links to great community-based organizations working in Northern Uganda. Give there if you really want to help.

I understand the anger and resentment at Invisible Children’s approach, which with its paternalism has unpleasant echoes of colonialism. I will admit to being perturbed by its apparent top-down prescriptiveness, when so much diligent work is already being done at Northern Uganda’s grassroots. On the other hand, I am very happy – relieved, more than anything – that Invisible Children have raised worldwide awareness of this issue. Murderers and torturers tend to prefer anonymity, and if not that then respectability: that way, they can go about their work largely unhindered. For too many years, the subject of this trending topic on Twitter was only something that I heard about in my grandparents’ living room, as relatives and family friends gathered for fruitless and frustrated hours of discussion. Watching the video, though, I was concerned at the simplicity of the approach that Invisible Children seemed to have taken.

The thing is that Joseph Kony has been doing this for a very, very, very long time. He emerged about a quarter of a century [ago], which is about the same time that Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni came to power. As a result the fates of these two leaders must, I think, be viewed together. Yet, though President Museveni must be integral to any solution to this problem, I didn’t hear him mentioned once in the 30-minute video. I thought that this was a crucial omission. Invisible Children asked viewers to seek the engagement of American policymakers and celebrities, but – and this is a major red flag – it didn’t introduce them to the many Northern Ugandans already doing fantastic work both in their local communities and in the diaspora. It didn’t ask its viewers to seek diplomatic pressure on President Museveni’s administration.

About ten minutes into the video, the narrator asks his young son who “the bad guy” in Uganda is; when his young son hesitates, he informs him that Joseph Kony is the bad guy. In a sense, he let Kony off lightly: he is a monster. But what the narrator also failed to do was mention to his son that when a bad guy like Kony is running riot for years on end, raping and slashing and seizing and shooting, then there is most likely another host of bad guys out there letting him get on with it. He probably should have told him that, too.

I don’t think that Invisible Children are naïve. I don’t think that President Obama was ever blind to this matter either: his own father, a Kenyan, hails from the Luo, the same tribal group that has suffered so much at the hands of Kony. My hunch – and hope – is that they see this campaign as a way to encourage wider and deeper questions about wholly inadequate governance in this area of Africa.

Sandy

6of1 said:

Here's a piece by Ugandan blogger Musa Okwonga (see blogs.independent.co.uk/author/musaokwonga/ for more info) on the issue of Kony and Invisible children. Make of it what you will but one thing is for sure here, Okwonga is a lot closer to the action and the actual state of affairs than most of us here would seem to be.

Everyone agrees that this a hugely important issue, but Invisible Children’s methods have come in for searing criticism; most scathingly, they have been attacked as “neo-liberal, do-good Whiteness”. Elsewhere, Foreign Affairs has provided some important context on this matter, in relation to Uganda’s strategic importance to the USA. I would also recommend the Twitter feed of Laura Seay, who was moved to comment this morning that “[Solomme Lemma] is tweeting links to great community-based organizations working in Northern Uganda. Give there if you really want to help.

I understand the anger and resentment at Invisible Children’s approach, which with its paternalism has unpleasant echoes of colonialism. I will admit to being perturbed by its apparent top-down prescriptiveness, when so much diligent work is already being done at Northern Uganda’s grassroots. On the other hand, I am very happy – relieved, more than anything – that Invisible Children have raised worldwide awareness of this issue. Murderers and torturers tend to prefer anonymity, and if not that then respectability: that way, they can go about their work largely unhindered. For too many years, the subject of this trending topic on Twitter was only something that I heard about in my grandparents’ living room, as relatives and family friends gathered for fruitless and frustrated hours of discussion. Watching the video, though, I was concerned at the simplicity of the approach that Invisible Children seemed to have taken.

The thing is that Joseph Kony has been doing this for a very, very, very long time. He emerged about a quarter of a century [ago], which is about the same time that Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni came to power. As a result the fates of these two leaders must, I think, be viewed together. Yet, though President Museveni must be integral to any solution to this problem, I didn’t hear him mentioned once in the 30-minute video. I thought that this was a crucial omission. Invisible Children asked viewers to seek the engagement of American policymakers and celebrities, but – and this is a major red flag – it didn’t introduce them to the many Northern Ugandans already doing fantastic work both in their local communities and in the diaspora. It didn’t ask its viewers to seek diplomatic pressure on President Museveni’s administration.

About ten minutes into the video, the narrator asks his young son who “the bad guy” in Uganda is; when his young son hesitates, he informs him that Joseph Kony is the bad guy. In a sense, he let Kony off lightly: he is a monster. But what the narrator also failed to do was mention to his son that when a bad guy like Kony is running riot for years on end, raping and slashing and seizing and shooting, then there is most likely another host of bad guys out there letting him get on with it. He probably should have told him that, too.

I don’t think that Invisible Children are naïve. I don’t think that President Obama was ever blind to this matter either: his own father, a Kenyan, hails from the Luo, the same tribal group that has suffered so much at the hands of Kony. My hunch – and hope – is that they see this campaign as a way to encourage wider and deeper questions about wholly inadequate governance in this area of Africa.

Thanks for sharing this with us, it's a very interesting blog post indeed and a much closer look at all of this.

Volante

Volante said:
There's actually a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with guns. Standing behind them is a section of the Sudanese army. The Sudanese government's leader is the number 2 most wanted on the same list that Kony made as number 1.
And the people running a charity trying to bring down Kony are posing with this guy's men?

Cipher said:
The founders of Invisible Children have explained the story behind that photo here. They were at LRA - Ugandan peace talks being mediated by Sudan and the Sudanese army was guarding the camp. They posed for an ironic photo after they had interviewed some of the Sudanese soldiers for one of their films. I don't think that qualifies as supporting or being in cahoots with the Sudanese govt.

No, but considering they support other Ugandan military groups who are just as bad as Kony, just are supported by the government, I'd say they're a bit dodgy. Plus, there's the whole "only donate 31% of what they receive" bit that kind of turns me off their charity.

DiscoVolante

I have to admit I hopped on this too quickly too. The cause is good, but like you say @Volante there are a few suspicious factors too, and the fact that they donate less than a third of the money is one of them.

Still. It's a very good and informative movie that raises awareness of a terrible yet common truth.

Cipher

Volante said:
No, but considering they support other Ugandan military groups who are just as bad as Kony, just are supported by the government, I'd say they're a bit dodgy.

A fair point. But co-operating with the Ugandan govt and military is pretty much the only option of stopping the LRA at the moment. The Sudanese govt support Kony, South Sudan only came into existence last year while the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic are far less stable and poorer than Uganda (admittedly because of civil wars not helped by Ugandan interference). Unfortunately its a case of choosing the lesser of two evils.

Volante said:
Plus, there's the whole "only donate 31% of what they receive" bit that kind of turns me off their charity.

To be fair that 31% figure is a bit misleading. Apart from development work in North Uganda one of Invisible Children's main aims is to raise awareness of the issue of child soldiers. They spend a lot of their budget on speaking tours, publicity campaigns and film/media to do that. They've given a breakdown of their budget here and here (see their IRS charitable organisation 990 tax forms). Personally, I would give my money to other groups that focus and spend more on providing aid and assistance where its needed, but IC doesn't appear to be some massive rort or scam.

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