KONY 2012

[mrdii]

I agree with DJ Snaps. This is one aspect of middle class culture I really despise, the notion of "Doing my bit" by actually doing very little.

As mentioned, child soliders/rape in Africa is not new. In fact, about 2 years back I remember a good Ross Kemp documentary in the Congo which was brutal. It's very saddening, and of course these people are monsters. Furthermore, it's good to highlight bad people for educational purposes.

BUT - Why does this have take a video to get the masses talking? A similar thing happened about a year back on facebook which was like "Change your picture to a cartoon to raise awareness of cancer" or something. Millions changed their pictures...but did anything happen?

I mean, why can't people just donate to charity's in private instead of ramming it down peoples throats? Why can't we condemn evil acts without telling the world? And most importantly - why do we still follow everyone else?

The people probably mean well and some may think their making a big difference, but donations would be much more effective. It can be summed up by the Japan flooding reactions "Give these people your money, not your prayers". Better yet, do both!

As good a cause the Kony documentary is, it's yet another example of how many sheeps belong in our society.

[grillis]

need bill hicks' opinion tbh, video makes it look like a kind of pyramid/multi-level marketing scheme at the end

[particle-jim]

I wonder why this has been blocked on facebook?
http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

Hello CIA

[grillis]

lol

[cityzen]

This is one aspect of middle class culture I really despise, the notion of "Doing my bit" by actually doing very little.

I fail to see what being middle class has to do with it.

[magma]

The majority of people will *always* be sheep. It's in our nature. It's how, as a species, we can get thousands or millions of people working under a single idea for a shared cause. You'll never reach a point where everyone spends their spare time reading and researching the ills of the world - it's just not how we work. But the Internet has facilitated some amazing things recently... "sheep power" is being harnessed by more than just military and religious leaders nowadays... this can only be a good thing, surely?

Assuming your opinion is better or more righteous because you reached it the hard way is rather silly. The fact is, that no matter how easy it was to find out, people weren't petitioning their governments en masse about this sort of thing prior to the viral Internet... now they are. The semantics are irrelevant.

[faultier]

"sheep power" is being harnessed by more than just military and religious leaders nowadays... this can only be a good thing, surely?

i see where your enthusiasm for such an initiative comes from, and obviously, yes it is a good thing to raise awareness on such issues, but did you read this: http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

in this particular case, it does look like "sheep power" is once again being harnessed for slightly less charitable purposes than the ones described in the video

edit: another interesting read on the topic: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/03/ ... questions/

[Muncey]

I wonder why this has been blocked on facebook?
http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

Hello CIA

Lol i posted this earlier.. nobody seemed to see it. I think everybody should read it. There is always two sides to every story, the annoying thing about this is they make a video and make it touch all (most) of us and we instantly assume its a good cause (im not saying it isn't). But that is where it stops, the video is enough for most people.. and its frustrating because people are spreading this but then doing fuck all else, just sharing a video. Nobody is the least bit interested in doing any form of proper research for themselves, how can people really pretend they care when they can't be assed to do a small bit of research by themselves.

Another thing i find funny is the guns. Africa isn't very well known for making guns. The western world make these guns and sells them to these 3rd world countries and then expects them to use them in a good way, when they misuse them we turn up and just start shooting everybody. Heres a gun, dont use it for evil.. or we will shoot you in the face. This is basically what people want, Kony dead... for misusing guns and power in a country that is pretty fucked. Im all for rebuilding a country thats as fucked as them, build schools, hospitals ect ect. But spending a huge chunk of money to find one man? That won't solve a lot. The people against Kony 2012 aren't against their reasoning for doing it.. they're just against the way they're doing it and the way the money is being spent.

I'm not saying I'm against it btw.. i'm just trying to give some reasons why people are against it.. seeing as 90% of people are too lazy to research themselves.

[jameshk]

....WINNER

[gnome]

I wonder why this has been blocked on facebook?
http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

Hello CIA

Lol i posted this earlier.. nobody seemed to see it. I think everybody should read it. There is always two sides to every story, the annoying thing about this is they make a video and make it touch all (most) of us and we instantly assume its a good cause (im not saying it isn't). But that is where it stops, the video is enough for most people.. and its frustrating because people are spreading this but then doing fuck all else, just sharing a video. Nobody is the least bit interested in doing any form of proper research for themselves, how can people really pretend they care when they can't be assed to do a small bit of research by themselves.

How much research do you do when people tell you there are starving kids in Africa? Or that breast cancer is on the rise? Or that downs syndrome can stop people having a fulfilled life?

You see when people tell you that there is injustice or pain being experienced by a group of people we don't automatically go "WAIT let me research it incase you have lied about it to get my money" That isn't the natural response.

Did you find this link yourself Muncey or have you "reposted" it the same way everybody else has? Also how much further research have you put towards the subject? The arguments within that blog are poor at the very most. Of course military action is required. You aren't going to be able to have peace talks with a man like this, that has already been proven. Saying that only 32% of their income went to is an attempt to deface this charity. Giving $8,000,000 to a cause is ALWAYS a good thing.

I have watched people all day post this shit article and watched as many people have changed their minds with regards to Kony. Why? because this blog post tries to make it seem that miltary action is somehow barbaric. Or that because there have been reports of rape and looting from the Ugandan army they are suddenly not allowed to control what goes on in their own country.
In the end the problem is that children are being abducted and forced to fight and kill by a man who is only out for power in his country. This charity have clearly been working hard and making good progress to resolve this issue. They get public attention and the first thing that happens is everyone begins to dismiss them because another source has told them too.

[Neptune]

I think the most important thing here is raising awareness, because it's more likely that something can be done to help, however small. For example, when everyone was changing their facebook profile pictures to cartoon characters (which I thought was to raise awareness for child abuse), me and a few other people I know (and hopefully more) donated some money to NSPCC. It may not be millions of pounds, but it's something. And hopefully it helped someone.

By no means is this a bad thing. it may not develop at the rate we want, but it's getting there.

[jigglypuff]

This is one aspect of middle class culture I really despise, the notion of "Doing my bit" by actually doing very little.

I fail to see what being middle class has to do with it.

i had a feelign something like this would creep up.. to be honest i probably would of said the same thing a couple of years ago... but this has nothing to do with whats in vogue for petty class squabble. I think its a good thing people are taking part in something like this because its the same people who probably have hundreds of photos of themselves in expensive clothing, only caring about their own needs and wants. so for people to be able to think about people suffering else where in the world is one step in the right direction..

[Muncey]

I wonder why this has been blocked on facebook?
http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

Hello CIA

Lol i posted this earlier.. nobody seemed to see it. I think everybody should read it. There is always two sides to every story, the annoying thing about this is they make a video and make it touch all (most) of us and we instantly assume its a good cause (im not saying it isn't). But that is where it stops, the video is enough for most people.. and its frustrating because people are spreading this but then doing fuck all else, just sharing a video. Nobody is the least bit interested in doing any form of proper research for themselves, how can people really pretend they care when they can't be assed to do a small bit of research by themselves.

How much research do you do when people tell you there are starving kids in Africa? Or that breast cancer is on the rise? Or that downs syndrome can stop people having a fulfilled life?

You see when people tell you that there is injustice or pain being experienced by a group of people we don't automatically go "WAIT let me research it incase you have lied about it to get my money" That isn't the natural response.

I watched the video and it fascinated me that I'd never heard of the guy that was at the top of the ICC most wanted list. So I did research out of curiosity. But if i was going to share and tell others to share a video then yes i would do some research and not assume that all the knowledge i need is to be spoon fed to me by some video. I, and others, at no point have said this is a bad cause or bad mouthing it. I'm simply saying its frustrating that people and discussing this and sharing it and saying what a terrible thing it is but have only watched a 30 minute video. That video should, like it did me, cause you to take a general interest in it and find out more about it. When you do read into it more you do see that they probably aren't the ideal choice to donate money to, but because of huge popularity now they will gain a lot of the donations.. but equally they've raised huge interest in another charities too.

They're doing a great thing and its a great video. I just dislike the way everybody has jumped on the bangwagon, claiming it to be really important and really caring about it but they can't even take a general interest and do a few google searches.

Also yeah I passed on that link because someone else passed it on.. i wasn't saying it was a bad thing people sharing it.. people sharing the video caused me to watch it and caused me to read articles and other information on it.

If I was going to donate, support and share a charity which claimed downs syndrome can stop people having fulfilled lives (im not sure what that chairty would actually be doing haha) then yeah i'd read into a bit more.

Again, its not a bad thing people just watching that one thing and donating or sharing, it is good. But it's just frustrating how people think thats a huge personal accomplishment for themselves that they done that.. but really they don't care about the cause that much to look into it further than a 30 minute video.

I have watched people all day post this shit article and watched as many people have changed their minds with regards to Kony. Why? because this blog post tries to make it seem that miltary action is somehow barbaric. Or that because there have been reports of rape and looting from the Ugandan army they are suddenly not allowed to control what goes on in their own country.
In the end the problem is that children are being abducted and forced to fight and kill by a man who is only out for power in his country. This charity have clearly been working hard and making good progress to resolve this issue. They get public attention and the first thing that happens is everyone begins to dismiss them because another source has told them too.

I don't think anybody is changing their minds about it, which is the common feeling when people bad mouth Invisible Children... people just assume you are against the cause. I think its more to do with the fact there a shit loads of organisations and charities doing the same thing but different methods ect. Invisible Children is quite clearly top dog in that group, by a pretty huge margin. But does that mean they're the best and the money will be best spent with them? Of course not, people are just giving alternatives and reasons, with sources, to back that up. It's all trying to help i don't see why so many people are being hostile about saying there are other options to help. Either way it's all positive.

[isiahfire]

Couple of thoughts on the matter at.. http://www.pycsessions.com/2012/03/editorial-kony-2012/

[gnome]

Yeah I agree with you Muncey now I understand what you're trying to say.

[Genevieve]

i see where your enthusiasm for such an initiative comes from, and obviously, yes it is a good thing to raise awareness on such issues, but did you read this: http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/
/

GOD. I knew there was a good reason I remained skeptical. I didn't think large scale military intervention and international cooperation on this was a good idea anyway. It's never a good idea to heavily politicize an issue like this. Also keep in mind that government could've used the capture of Kony as an example of why military foreign invention is a good idea and rile up the people. 'Oh yeah, that one guy in that one country you know nothing about? He's like Kony. LET'S GET HIM, USA USA!'

If you wanna do this, collect cash, hire a small team of former marines or whatever, ask for the permissions of the local government to capture the guy (but don't involve them), and solely focus on apprehending Kony and the leadship. Let other organizations or the local governments deal with the kids. Use the rest of the money to help the populations in those areas to help fend for themselves (like they're doing with the radio broadcast, kudos for that!)

But even then, shit can go wrong. 'Cause, you know, the situation is fucked up, don't get me wrong. But right now, the situation is predictable. That's more than I can say about thousands of traumatized kids with guns and no parents and no leadership.

[AxeD]

Kony used to be in my charades team, he's actually really nice.

[Muncey]

Yeah I agree with you Muncey now I understand what you're trying to say.

Haha, sorry for not being clear.. i tend to ramble and not actually get to the point, ever. Its why i'm awesome at reaching my word count for uni assignments but its filled with dogshit.

Out of interest did anybody else try find that ICC top wanted list? In their video it was a huge list and they scrolled quickly through loads of names to prove how high on the list Kony is.. all i could find was 4 people. One i think was the Congo president who basically did the same as Kony.. no surprise Kony is apparently hiding out in Congo.

[knell]

need bill hicks' opinion tbh, video makes it look like a kind of pyramid/multi-level marketing scheme at the end

I was indeed swayed by the emotions, etc, being from africa and all...

but near the end, I just kept wondering... who's making all the posters/stickers/bracelets? this only lead to more and more questions about profit motivation.

so conflicted on this now...

[Genevieve]

Does it matter if it's motivated by profit if it's getting the job done? I agree that them being untruthful about what they spend their money on is fucked up, but if WHAT is done and THE WAY IT'S done is something you agree with, who cares if profit is the main motivation?

I'm against Invisible Children for my own reasons, but is your disdain for capitalism more important than the mistreatment of these children?