Quote:
Originally Posted by wolverinewolfweiselpigeon
I'm glad to see a thread on this, as it's a movement I'm becoming quite passionate about. I've read probably over a hundred articles in the time since the video was posted, both in criticism and defense of Invisible Children. I always read things critically (and I've been encouraging everyone I've had conversations with to do the same), and when looking at both sides of the arguments at hand I've come to the conclusion that it's something I personally want to get behind. Absolutely, 100%.
As the author said in one article I read earlier today, whenever there's something that goes viral like this and something that a large percentage of the population eagerly gets behind, there will always be an equally large amount of people just waiting to shit all over it. No matter who is right in any given case, there will always be people waiting for their chance to burst someones proverbial bubble.
I waited to donate money until after I had done research about the finances of Invisible Children and despite the criticism against them I felt that they are using their funds in much the same way that I would. I'm a poor college student, and I'm not about to give my money away to anything I find to be remotely sketchy.
I feel like a lot of people are getting caught up in aspects of the video that are not necessarily relating to the bigger picture. Much of the criticism toward IC relates to the fact that the war is not in Uganda, but I felt that the video made that pretty clear... the point was not to raise awareness about a war in Uganda, it's about keeping people interested in Kony and the LRA so that the efforts made so far in regards to Kony's arrest are not revoked or withdrawn. The military advisers from the US that are currently in Central Africa will be pulled out if the issue does not remain a prominent thing to both the powers at be and, consequently, to the public. IC has been trying to get the US government to commission military aid for nearly a decade now, if the window closes and Kony is not arrested this year than a lot of their efforts will have gone to waste.
I think the video was great in that it reminds the general public that there are important things to care about, and no matter how hokey or overly-sentimental it may be, I think it's reminding young people that they have a voice and that they should use it. That being said, I certainly have my own criticisms of the movement and my own list of annoyances in regards to IC and the video itself, but in my opinion it's more important to have this incredible spark of interest in activism, whether it's used in regards to the Kony 2012 campaign or elsewhere.
I would love to talk more to people who are interested or curious about this, either publicly or through PM.
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1 - IC support the Ugandan Military, not the ugandan people.
2 - Kony has been on the run since 2006
3 - Obama increased US military aid in 2008 already, long before this video was released.
4 - There are plenty of warlords in africa who will step in to fill the void kony will leave.
The solution to africa's problems isn't to continuously raise awareness of individual issues, its to continuously raise awareness of the fact that Africa is a continent that is largely ****ed from top to bottom. The countries there have corrupt regimes, the people there are poor and under-educated, and the are plenty of very bad people with an awful lot of local power, if not global power.
Stopping Kony won't solve anything, and IC's campaign is very likely to make things much worse. The campaign is reckless and steps need to be taken in more ways than creating a figurehead for hatred and encouraging further violence.
As far as I'm concerned, the best thing we can do for africa is wait and help in smaller, more measured ways. Especially since the warlords that run large portions of africa have enough raw man(child)power to seriously damage any attempt at large scale international intervention. The technological and tactical superiority of an army can't and doesn't compensate entirely for the fact you're facing an enemy that massively outnumbers you. Sure, you'll hit them harder than they can hit you, but they're GOING to get their shots in before you manage to beat them down entirely.