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| Kony | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 7 2012, 03:23 AM (498 Views) | |
| meh | Mar 7 2012, 03:23 AM Post #1 |
1st Lieutenant
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Just in case you haven't seen the video. Its gone viral like hell, all across Facebook, Reddit, my Univeristy, etc. Please don't tell me that any of you are falling for this misguided message. |
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| Al Araam | Mar 7 2012, 04:57 AM Post #2 |
Demigod of Death & Inactivity
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Well, I certainly have an abundance of thoughts on this particular video but, in order to set us off on the right foot, care to specify what that exceptionally ambiguous statement regarded? It was, after all, a half hour long piece of propaganda.
Edited by Al Araam, Mar 7 2012, 04:58 AM.
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| meh | Mar 7 2012, 09:27 AM Post #3 |
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1st Lieutenant
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Essentially, the video calls out for people to rally and make this man named Kony famous. Kony is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army in Central Africa, a rebel movement that is responsible for many thousands of deaths. By making him famous, people will become aware and seek an end to his life or his capture. The point is to use popular support to increase the process of his removal I wrote this out in response to some Facebook links, so its not perfect or even decent for that matter: Wait a minute, before any of you start to get excited, please keep some things in mind: 1. By supporting this organization, you would be supporting an organization that advocates direct military intervention. Sure, that's a great idea. Let's ignore the past several decades of US military intervention and send our military to fight a small terrorist group in a jungle. OH WAIT. 2. This organization refuses to submit to financial overview. Only 32% of their funds go to actual charity. Sure, they spend a bit to raise awareness, but they have also been accused of distorting facts and lobbying Congress. Look at some International Organizations that rate certain charity and awareness groups like this. Invisible Children scores very low, especially when it comes to transparency. 3. The LRA isn't active in Uganda anymore. By supporting and casting awareness on to Uganda, it would be like supporting and aiding Mexico to kill or capture a drug cartel leader in Guatemala. 4. Killing Kony isn't something that would be easy. The ICC put out warrants for Kony's arrest or capture in 2006. It would takes years to do so. Even if we manage to find him and capture/kill him, his movement will not stop. Did killing Osama stop Al Qaeda? 5. The situation in Uganda is far more complex than this video makes it out to be. For the starters, the Acholi people, the ones in North Uganda, originally supported Kony and the LRA, simply because they opposed the rise of Museveni, the President of Uganda, and his party. The LRA also stood with resistance movements such as UNLA, UPDA, and Alice Lakwena. People also forget that Museven's party, the National Resistance Movement, and the Ugandan military has roughly killed and displaced just as many or more people than the LRA has ever done. Their own government reported that over 1000 deaths a week were occurring in their "mandated camps." Not to mention that the Ugandan government has committed many many human rights violations. These are the same guys who tried to pass legislation that gave the death penalty to those who were HIV-positive or performed sexual acts of a homosexual nature. The Ugandan government is the last ones we should be supporting. 6. Foreign aid has actually drastically ruined the Ugandan Economy. http://www.worldpress.org/Africa/2074.cfm Now don't get me wrong, this awareness campaign is inherently good. They are just extremely misguided in their portrayal of the situation in Uganda and Central Africa. The only good thing this video did was to inform people about the LRA. Trust me, no situation in Africa is this simple or clear cut. EDIT: This is only with a couple hours or so researching this, so there could be major holes or something of the other. Edited by meh, Mar 7 2012, 09:42 AM.
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| Porcu | Mar 7 2012, 01:08 PM Post #4 |
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes."
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Interesting stuff meh, thanks for posting. |
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| meh | Mar 7 2012, 01:28 PM Post #5 |
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1st Lieutenant
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It gets even deeper though. I can't confirm it, but I've heard that some small American churches attempt to donate to the LRA because of the simple fact that they fight Muslims in South Sudan. But I do know for a fact that Rush Limbaugh has criticized Obama for "targeting Christians" in Africa. He practically defended the LRA without even understanding it at all. |
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| The Authority of the Grand Moff | Mar 7 2012, 04:59 PM Post #6 |
2nd Lieutenant
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I wasn't aware that Rush Limbaugh has ever shown any understanding about anything. I have to agree that while I appreciate and applaud the general point about trying to bring awareness to what is undeniably a tragic situation, in practice these things always get boiled down to basic levels so that people can jump on the bandwagon of "Oh look I'm vaguely aware about [insert foreign crisis here] aren't I just the most awesome person ever?!" Hell, the "Invisible Children" documentary came out in 2003 and last time I checked, people are still being slaughtered in Darfur. People pretended to care about it for six months or a year or so because everyone else was doing it--"Oh, yeah, Darfur, isn't it sad?"--and then moved on to whatever else people were pretending to care about. I used to work with a nonprofit dedicated to the issue of AIDS in Africa, and whenever we'd go to a high school to talk to the kids, there'd be all sorts of initial enthusiasm--classes would hold fundraisers, students would come to our meetings--and this lasted at best maybe a month and then, of course, they stopped raising money and they stopped showing up at our meetings because they had their "I worked for a nonprofit" for their resumes and moved on to being, well, high school kids. Which is fine, because if we spent all of our time worrying about problems around the world we wouldn't have time to enjoy our lives, and we never judged the kids for this--cause that's just human nature. In reality--and in a sense our own roleplaying gives us a better insight to these things than most--there is no such thing as a "simple problem" in the world, and there is never a "simple solution" for it. |
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| Al Araam | Mar 7 2012, 07:34 PM Post #7 |
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Demigod of Death & Inactivity
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I can't speak to the overall goals of the organization, as I haven't really thought about Invisible Children since I saw their first documentary years ago, but I don't believe the video advocated direct military involvement. As far as I could tell, they were just advocating the deployment of additional military advisors as well as more military aid. Given that there have been advisors in-country for quite some time already, it's debatable how impact much deploying additional military personnel in an advisory role will have. Your first point seems to be the most salient. Advocating that the US continue acting as the global police should always be a controversial, although Invisible Children has strong motives not to even hint that's what the video is advocating. Furthermore, given US demographic information as well as the voting habits of young people in the US, I have to question whether it's efficacious to target this awareness campaign at them. I suppose my real problem with Invisible Children is their lack of pragmatism. The values dissonance of being a true idealist in a world like ours must be absolutely overwhelming. Edited by Al Araam, Mar 7 2012, 07:36 PM.
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| Tristan da Cunha | Mar 7 2012, 09:12 PM Post #8 |
Science and Industry
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I certainly admire the white guy's passion for literally hounding Kony with all his spirit and passion and wanting to bring upon the head of Kony what he considers righteous justice. But what about all the other wrongdoers of the earth, the warlords and despots and presidents, even Kony's enemy Museveni, the warlord-president of Uganda? Museveni should be getting down on his knees and singing the highest praises to his god or gods that this white man was emotionally overwhelmed by the young black boy who was a victim of Kony and not a victim of Museveni. For if this passionate and undeniably talented white man by coincidence met a victim of Museveni instead, and thereby overcome by emotional reaction, then perhaps we will be watching "Museveni 2012" videos instead of "Kony 2012" videos. Idealism is easy if you focus all your energy upon the life of just one man, and profess glorious indifference toward all the other injustices of the world and ignore all the other contexts and all the other sins. And you will then be willing to sacrifice the truth of those other contexts and those other sins, in order to achieve your singular goal. For the rest of us who are not activists or not even "slacktivists" I say it can be argued that cynicism and misanthropy are the highest form of idealism: pan-idealism and, by definition, pan-disappointment! Edited by Tristan da Cunha, Mar 7 2012, 09:43 PM.
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| Al Araam | Mar 7 2012, 09:45 PM Post #9 |
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Demigod of Death & Inactivity
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I'm not sure if "pan-disappointment" is accurate. An idealist faced with how the world really works is disappointed. A cynic faced with how the world really works is not surprised in the least. |
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| Telosan | Mar 7 2012, 09:47 PM Post #10 |
The Foremost Intellectual Badass
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This. While I didn't know this initially, about 3 minutes into it's video I was skeptical and ran off to do some research. The video never once mentions what Kony's aims are and just claims that he maintains an army more or less because he feels like it. |
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| Tristan da Cunha | Mar 7 2012, 09:59 PM Post #11 |
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Science and Industry
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Perhaps for a cynic who was born a cynic, but not for an idealist whose conceptions are being shattered and will be reborn into the dubitable nirvana, the cynic's nirvana. |
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| meh | Mar 7 2012, 11:20 PM Post #12 |
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1st Lieutenant
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As far as I know, and according to some articles I have read, they do in fact support military intervention. http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/get-kony-goes-viral-questions-raised-about-charitys-social-media-blitz-20120308-1ulnk.html http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com.nyud.net/ http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/120307/kony-2012-campaign-criticized-dumbing-down-conflict |
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| The Authority of the Grand Moff | Mar 8 2012, 01:33 AM Post #13 |
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2nd Lieutenant
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A quality article explaining what's wrong with "Kony 2012" Or there's just this: Posted Image Yup, those Invisible Children guys are exactly the sort of people I think can resolve this crisis. Edited by The Authority of the Grand Moff, Mar 8 2012, 01:42 AM.
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| Al Araam | Mar 8 2012, 04:45 AM Post #14 |
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Demigod of Death & Inactivity
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Thanks for clarifying that. As I said, that certainly was not even implied in the video. I have no doubt its omission was a deliberate, tactical choice, as there is a good reason one does not commonly associate charity organization with warmongering. Furthermore, one would think the campaign currently underway in Afghanistan, as well as the one just barely completed in Iraq, would have given the American public their fill of anti-insurgent operations, but evidently Invisible Children sees those conflicts as little more than a warm-up for fighting guerrillas in Uganda. I doubt the individuals behind Invisible Children, for all they seem to enjoy brandishing assault weapons, would be amenable to the idea of enlisting so they can be shipped off to Uganda to fight in the war they have been advocating. As always, the dirty work is rarely done by those with the convictions. Edited by Al Araam, Mar 8 2012, 04:46 AM.
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| meh | Mar 8 2012, 11:24 AM Post #15 |
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1st Lieutenant
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The best part about that picture, is that those are members of the Sudan Liberation Army, one ones responsible for numerable atrocities. I believe that the IC actively defends them though. |
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| The Authority of the Grand Moff | Mar 8 2012, 12:05 PM Post #16 |
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2nd Lieutenant
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This is another great article that points out that there are better AND easier ways to help out the needy in Africa that people just forget about |
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| Al Araam | Mar 8 2012, 01:09 PM Post #17 |
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Demigod of Death & Inactivity
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Invisible Children's response to the media shitstorm the videos have touched off can be found here. What confuses me the most is this: - Kony hasn't been in Uganda for 6-7 years, nor is there any indication he plans to return - Invisible Children's programs realistically have absolutely nothing to do with catching Kony - In light of these facts, they made a 30 minute video about catching Kony (???) I honestly cannot come up with a good reason why they might do this. They're either a) under the false impression that providing scholarships and the like will lead to Kony's arrest or, more likely, they're b) intent on deceiving people into believing they're doing things which they are not. I don't know which would be worse. Edited by Al Araam, Mar 8 2012, 01:29 PM.
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| meh | Mar 8 2012, 01:31 PM Post #18 |
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1st Lieutenant
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Reddit had a good breakdown of the finances they're trying to claim. But still, they have done some good in the past. They aren't some evil NGO trying to trick people or scam them. Still, there are far better organizations to donate to. Instead of helping and supporting an NGO that only uses 32% of its finances for actual charity work, why not support an NGO that uses 90-95% of its finances for charity. Edited by meh, Mar 8 2012, 01:36 PM.
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| Al Araam | Mar 8 2012, 02:18 PM Post #19 |
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Demigod of Death & Inactivity
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I suppose what pisses me off is that a video that makes sweeping, imprecise reference to an African rebel group that hasn't been a true threat for almost a decade now succeeds in getting an entire nation hot and bothered. Sure, they're responsible for the murders of tens of thousands of innocent people over the past three decades. It's a tragedy. Don't get me wrong. Meanwhile, however, almost three thousand people in Sub-Saharan Africa die of malaria every day, the vast majority of them children. So the LRA's projected death toll in their three decade campaign of terror is eclipsed in less than a week and a half. That's bad enough even if one doesn't realize that malaria is treatable at a cost per person that is essentially non-existent. So pardon me if the idea of a groundswell of support for a cause which, in comparison to the society-rending problems that the region faces, is essentially a non-issue. It's about maximizing utility, and this isn't how it's done. Edited by Al Araam, Mar 8 2012, 02:18 PM.
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| Aghaba | Mar 8 2012, 03:01 PM Post #20 |
Sergeant
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Posted Image /Thread |
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| meh | Mar 8 2012, 04:02 PM Post #21 |
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1st Lieutenant
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Reddit didn't really eat it up though. They've come out fairly skeptical of the video. Its been Facebook and Twitter where this exploded. |
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| Porcu | Mar 8 2012, 05:17 PM Post #22 |
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"Work is the curse of the drinking classes."
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Heard a story about this on NPR this afternoon and was very disappointed with their effort/reporting. |
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| Rhadamanthus | Mar 8 2012, 05:57 PM Post #23 |
Legitimist
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As a rule of thumb, I always assume that the group is trying to achieve direct military involvement unless they make 100% sure to clarify otherwise. And even if they do, they probably still want direct military involvement but don't think they can achieve it. |
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| Aghaba | Mar 8 2012, 06:41 PM Post #24 |
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Sergeant
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Yeah, a few things are off, but I lol'd. |
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| Al Araam | Mar 8 2012, 07:23 PM Post #25 |
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Demigod of Death & Inactivity
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Clearly, I wasn't cynical enough about the motivations of political groups. It won't happen again. :lol: |
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11:34 AM Jul 13