I suggest for those that don't know about this campaign then to watch the above video, if you already know about it I'd suggest watching it anyway.
In summary the KONY2012 campaign has one objective - to capture and sentence Ugandan Lord Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony for the abuse, rape, and murder of countless children. Despite being #1 on the worldwide most wanted list, little effort was being made to ensure his capture until one man set up the group Invisible Children Inc with the sole intent of capturing the leader of the guerrilla group.
quote
Joseph Kony (born 1961 in Odek, Uganda) is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments throughout Uganda. The LRA say that God has sent spirits to communicate this mission directly to Kony. Directed by Kony, the LRA has earned a reputation for its actions against the people of several countries, including northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Sudan. It has abducted and forced an estimated 66,000 children to fight for them, and has also forced the internal displacement of over 2,000,000 people since its rebellion began in 1986. As a result, in 2005 Kony was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court at the Hague, but has succeeded in evading capture since.
Their campaign is to make this invisible man visible simply by making him famous. 99% of the world don't know who Joseph Kony is and they want to change that. The idea behind KONY2012 is to make sure enough people know about Kony and what he's doing so that U.S. Military forces can remain in Uganda throughout 2012 and ensure the capture of this man. In doing such they have got 20 of some of the most famous people in the world such as singer Rihanna and Millionaire Mark Zuckerberg behind the project, making him as well known as they can.
Question to you guys is, do you really care? Do you agree with what's being done by Invisible Children Inc? Knowing what you now know about this, would you do anything to change it?
This isn't a thread to get you all on board with the idea, of course, merely to educate and to find out how many people are for, against or really don't care about the action being taken.
Thread Recap (last 10 posts from newest to oldest)
KONY 2012 is pretty much dead now, but I felt like posting.
I think Invisible Children, just like Susan G. Komen foundation, is bullshit. Its goal is only to "raise awareness", and donating money to them only helps them line their pockets.
The CEO makes $417,000 a year from running a non-profit. So she's profiting from donated money since the money isn't appearing out of no-where. Therefore it is not a nonprofit. Seems a bit shitty that money people have donated has just gone straight into her pocket.
May 22, 12 at 5:29pm
hiigaran
iirc,they said that the money would be used to support the ugandan armies...which imo is worse than doing nothing.
May 22, 12 at 4:36pm
nnnddd101010
hiigaran Like I said, they're goal is to spread awareness about Kony, so donating to them as opposed to another charity that works in Africa/Uganda would not be as helpful.
May 22, 12 at 1:52pm
hiigaran
any charity will keep some money for themselves. thats how they remain alive. the issue here was whether or not that money would be put to good use, or even end up in the right hands
May 21, 12 at 8:56pm
nnnddd101010
KONY 2012 is pretty much dead now, but I felt like posting.
I think Invisible Children, just like Susan G. Komen foundation, is bullshit. Its goal is only to "raise awareness", and donating money to them only helps them line their pockets.
Mar 09, 12 at 3:55pm
Ben73
I saw a good post on facebook this morning.
Some one was basically saying, you people watch a youtube video and share it on facebook and you think you are all activists and are saving the world. If you really care why don't you donate 6 months of your time and thousands of dollars and actually make a difference. I bet most of you so called activists couldn't even point out Uganda on a map
They continued to rave about a few more things. I think that it is true.
Most people are jumping on the bandwagon to make themselves look good. But they really doing nothing at all to help in any way, shape or form.
Mar 09, 12 at 2:41pm
Saga
Before I post here, let me state that I have heard of Uganda, but not of Kony himself until two days ago.
Honestly I didn't give much importance to all this (still don't). You could say I am against what Kony is doing, yes, but that's as far as I would go.
Once things like this go viral, I treat them with a grain salt. Honestly when people started "inviting" me to Kony events and posting that all over Facebook I though it was just a silly fad.
Well, it's not a "silly" fad per se, but people are not rationalizing a thing about it. They think Invisible Children are some sort of gods and people who just watched the video are going donkey nuts saying Invisible Children are "saints" and similar praising.
Knowing that people wouldn't see another side of the story, I decided to investigate a bit on my own, and I found this article called Kony 2012: Why I am Opposed to the Campaign.
It's a great read, and basically, it states that:
quote
People supporting KONY 2012 probably don’t realize they’re supporting the Ugandan military who are themselves raping and looting away.
I still don't care about this campaign but I think that everyone who is going nuts saying "kill *bleep*ing Kony NOW" should read that now. I'm not saying Kony is a good guy: He's a "bad" guy, of course, but the Ugandan Military are not exactly Angels from Heaven either, and therefore Invisible Children supporting a military that has many of Kony's "habits" doesn't make them look any good.
People should read all possible articles if they are going to "strongly" support something. Myself? Like I said, I just don't care because whether it's true or not something legit will be done about it sooner or later anyway by the people who care more than enough to do more than just post on Facebook or tweet on Twitter.
Mar 09, 12 at 9:58am
tekmosis
A lot of people can't even point out Uganda on a map, let alone know what Country it's even in. I think this girl puts it into perspective.
Just because you watch a video an Hit the "I support button" it don't make you an activist.An just because you go around putting stickers everywhere don't mean your making a change.People think by stoping one man all problems will be solved they won't. Because right after you take him out there's a hundred more men waiting to fill his shoes. If you really want to make a change you need to help there government gain better control of their nation. If not there is no point to any of this because as long as the nation is weak the people have no one to protect them. The Kony thing has good intentions but good intentions aren't enough. If people really want to make a change like they all claim, then they need to realize there is much more work that needs to be done then just taking one man out.[b][/b]
Precisely my line of thinking. You have to stop the trade to stop the slavery. Stopping Kony will only put one bad man out of many behind bars. And sharing a video on facebook certainly will do nothing to help it.
Not to mention child soldiers have been a problem in many other nations, even during publicized conflicts like Afghanistan and Iraq. Why Kony gets special attention is beyond me. Hell, most of the people sharing this don't even know where Uganda is.
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