KONY 2012

If you have not taken the time to do so, take 30 minutes and watch this video:



Over 27 million views in 2 days. Prime example of the power of social media to raise conciousness.

You should probably learn a little more about the Ugandan situation...

"It would be great to get rid of Kony. He and his forces have left a path of abductions and mass murder in their wake for over 20 years. But let's get two things straight: 1) Joseph Kony is not in Uganda and hasn't been for 6 years; 2) the LRA now numbers at most in the hundreds, and while it is still causing immense suffering, it is unclear how millions of well-meaning but misinformed people are going to help deal with the more complicated reality.

First, the facts. Following a successful campaign by the Ugandan military and failed peace talks in 2006, the LRA was pushed out of Uganda and has been operating in extremely remote areas of the DRC, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic -- where Kony himself is believed to be now. The Ugandan military has been pursuing the LRA since then but had little success (and several big screw-ups). In October last year, President Obama authorized the deployment of 100 U.S. Army advisors to help the Ugandan military track down Kony, with no results disclosed to date."...

..."Award-winning Ugandan journalist Angelo Izama is among those not thrilled:


"To call the campaign a misrepresentation is an understatement. While it draws attention to the fact that Kony, indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in 2005, is still on the loose, its portrayal of his alleged crimes in Northern Uganda are from a bygone era. At the height of the war between especially 1999 and 2004, large hordes of children took refuge on the streets of Gulu town to escape the horrors of abduction and brutal conscription to the ranks of the LRA. Today most of these children are semi-adults. Many are still on the streets unemployed. Gulu has the highest numbers of child prostitutes in Uganda. It also has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis.

If six years ago children in Uganda would have feared the hell of being part of the LRA, a well documented reality already, today the real invisible children are those suffering from "Nodding Disease". Over 4000 children are victims of this incurable debilitating condition. It's a neurological disease that has baffled world scientists and attacks mainly children from the most war affected districts of Kitgum, Pader and Gulu."

Along with sharing the movie online, Invisible Children's call to action is to do three things: 1) sign its pledge, 2) get the Kony 2012 bracelet and action kit (only $30!), and 3) sign up to donate."



http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/07/guest_post_joseph_kony_is_not_in_uganda_and_other_complicated_things

Have you actually watched the video? It explains the situation quite well. They explain the timeline and that Kony is no longer in Uganda, but has retreated into the jungles to the northwest. The main push of the video is to make this man famous so he will have no where to hide and will not be able to just pop up and continue his campaign of terror. The video talks about the US advisors and the need for them to remain long enough to get the job done. I didn't just see this video and post it without any further research. I have read several articles critical of the invisible children campaign. They seem to either be critical of the way they spend their funds or they are critical of the meddling in african affairs. I think their effectiveness in their spending is evident when they have gotten this issue pushed to the front of american conciousness and gotten young people engaged in this issue. They released this particular video 2 days ago and as of this posting, the youtube version has received over 40 million views. So Kony is not currently terrorizing children in Uganda, so what? The damage has been done and he should not be free to slink away, maybe to return later. He has to be brought to justice. It also shows current efforts on the ground in africa like an early warning radio communications network that warns remote villages of the LRA's movements.

Fatbass, take the 30 minutes to watch the video. If anything, you will see a great example of the kind of format that will get kids engaged in world issues. One of my friends from work said her 14 year old son, who cares about video games and little else, watched it and cried. He is sharing it with his friends. He is thinking about the world around him, maybe in a way that he never has before. The power of social media is re-shaping the world faster than we can imagine.

I watched it 3 days ago and spent about 3 hours on Reddit following various links to learn more. It seems that it's a noble thing to do but the concensus I gathered from real Ugandans was that they have much bigger problems than Kony at this time.

Continue. I won't get in the way.

Here is some more info
http://reason.com/blog/2012/03/09/the-con-of-kony-2012

Quote :

While Invisible Children has noble intentions to bring justice and closure for those victimized by the L.R.A., Kony 2012 could have a similar fate to another botched advocacy campaign in eastern Africa. In 2010, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank financial regulation act. Thanks to activists, the law included a provision that forces companies in the United States to disclose where they obtained their metals and minerals in the Congo. The Economist explains the motivation:

The intention behind the law was good. Congolese militias and rogue army units, whose members rape and murder with abandon, finance themselves through mining and extortion from miners. The law tries to shame big buyers, such as Apple and Motorola, who use Congolese coltan, into dealing only with bona fide suppliers. But the effect has been to frighten them away from Congo altogether.

As a result, the disclosure requirement became a de facto embargo on Congolese mining. This has been disastrous for that nation's already troubled economy. Some Congolese mines have seen output plummet by 95 percent, while anywhere from tens of thousands to upwards of two million Congolese miners have lost their jobs. Meanwhile, militia leaders have formed smuggling networks and bribed officials to bypass the disclosure requirement. In addition, since American demand has dropped, morally flexible Chinese firms have invested heavily in these mines, obtaining commodities at huge discounts.

Sometimes, doing nothing is better than doing something.

Quote :

Hell isn't merely paved with good intentions; it's walled and roofed with them. Yes, and furnished too.
Aldous Huxley

I don't doubt the intentions of very many people, but intentions, when enacted on flawed actions and ignorance of the Laws of Nature, often have results that make situations worse than they would be if nothing were done. The minimum wage, welfare, wars of intervention are just a few of the many disastrous well intended actions that have/do make situations worse.