I found out who Joseph Kony was last night. The more I watched it, the angrier I got. Anger at this living embodiment of evil, anger at the fact that he was allowed to run rampant for 20 years, anger that I never heard about this before.
The film is intensely personal in nature, and it makes no apologies for that. It is the nature of projects like these to be driven by passion first, and you notice it right from the beginning when the director talks about himself and his motivations for starting this project.
Against my better judgement, I quickly got on board the KONY2012 bandwagon, sharing the video with an enthusiastic fervour. Then the cold hard truth started to slowly come in, and the enthusiasm slowly turned to that old familiar feeling of cynicism.
What I should’ve done after watching the film was to do my own research and find out more about this campaign. Thing is, if I did, I wouldn’t be thinking long and hard about the campaign, the agenda behind it and the methods being used to achieve its goal. It would’ve been just another point I would’ve deconstructed, trolled, made fun of and pushed aside at the end of the day.
In the end, it’s good that it happened that way it happened.
Stopping Joseph Kony is more than just a well-produced film or a global campaign. It’s something that must be done, plain and simple. For me personally, the film did what it set out to do: it informed me. It made me learn something new. At the end of the day, that is the fundamental goal of KONY2012: to inform.
I guess, in a way I felt slightly cheated because I was completely taken over by the theatrics of it all. The message is potent enough as it is, and I would’ve liked the facts to be given to me straight up. Then again, I understand why the video was made in such a way. I wasn’t exactly the target demographic to begin with.
People need the slick editing and the chants and the inspiring music. It’s not so much a film as it is a call to action. The people need to feel the rush, that urge to slam your fist on the table, stand up and say “This shit ends NOW!”
In that sense, the film (and the campaign, to a larger extent) succeeds tremendously.
For most of us, all we know how to do is talk. We debate and question and critique, but at the end of the day all we do is talk (or type, but you get the idea). Jason Russell decided to stop talking and do something about what he sees as a crime against humanity. For that alone, I hope he achieves what he sets out to do. The path he’s set out may not be as smooth as he want it to be, but it’s a path nonetheless. The cynics and the skeptics will deconstruct KONY2012 and go over each detail, which is what should be done for the sake of accountability and transparency. But it’s also a known fact that spending so much time in the details keeps you away from seeing the big picture.
The founders of KONY2012 are using social media and the mob mentality for an amazing cause. It’s not a fool-proof plan, it might not be a solid one, but it’s a plan that pulls the people together for one common goal. Right now, that’s as good as it gets.
I may not fully support KONY2012, but I unequivocally support the end-goal: Joseph Kony must be stopped. He must be captured and tried. He must be made to answer for his sins. The film is an important piece in educating people about Kony, but it shouldn’t be the only one. You need the points AND the counter-points to truly understand the scope of what’s at stake here.
In the end, we must form our own conclusions. I saw a comment somewhere in Kotaku earlier today: “the Internet is a cold, cold place.” It is, if we truly want to be. We must question, we must debate. But sometimes, we must also remember to take a step (or two, or even three) back, and look at the whole journey.
Neil Gaiman (yes, THE Neil Gaiman) has compiled a set of links that paints a bigger picture of Joseph Kony, LRA and Uganda.
Justice in Conflict has provided another perspective behind the KONY2012 video and campaign.
Invisible Children, the controversial organization behind KONY2012, has released an official statement that addresses many of the legitimate concerns raised in the above write-ups.
…and these reads should be a good starting point.
http://seet.weebly.com/1/post/2012/03/concerning-kony-2012.html
You should give this a read, especially point number 4. Forcibly removing Kony might be worse. He is right now the lesser of two evils.
I’m glad that you are expanding your knowledge about my country and glad that the world has finally taken notice but not with an organisation like Invisible children.
If you walk on the street and ask people what they think about NGO’s in general, the opinion is the same…profit making scheming people hiding behind the cover of humanitarian work. A majority of these so-called humanitarians never even travel to the northern districts but are instead bar hopping in Kampala.
The LRA war has been going on since I was born.Then, we had no international support; it was Ugandans supporting other Ugandans just like the way Rwandans were ignored when the genocide was occurring and still then it was Ugandans helping out Rwandans. For the world to take notice now after close to 26 years to be honest sickens me but heck when you are part of the population of school children who donate and visit the IDP’s,you get frustrated with the world and the government as well so forgive me for not jumping for joy over the trend.
Many don’t even know what they’re supporting. Buying a kit from Invisible children? Pssh..come down here and get your hands dirty and not line the pockets of these CEO’s.
I’m not mad at you at all, your intentions are genuine but for the people who seem to be jumping the bandwagon for a few retweets and a jump up the populatirty totem pole, I’m not amused and that is why I don’t care for the video, the organisation but care for my people.
You took the words right out of my mouth (thoughts, whatever). You know for one that I wanted to blog about this but I refrained from it because I’m still emotionally driven about this. I may write about it eventually, but right now it’s too fresh in people’s minds.
I never fashioned myself to be a humanitarian or a social activist. Hell, even I get annoyed with people who claim to be one when all they do is just sit behind their RM2k smartphones, tweeting/Facebooking/blogging about it. And it’s true what the previous commenter said: you want to help, go down there and get your hands dirty. But even saying that and agreeing to the notion, I am ashamed to admit that I don’t have the mental and emotional courage to do such a thing.
I could only stay where I am and pray and hope for the best (although many might say praying won’t do shit)
I started sharing the video because I thought it was the right thing to do. I wasn’t jumping on a bandwagon or anything. But also, it was my own downfall that I didn’t research on the issue much further. I wish I did.
From a PR and advertising standpoint: the campaign did what it set out to do – get people talking about it.
I refuse to be a cynic, but I should have not been too optimistic about it. It was, after all, too good to be true. I refuse to be like the cynics who start criticizing and insulting those who had no idea and only had the best intentions in mind.
I still think Jason Russell had some good intentions in him to want to do this. And maybe he thinks this was the best way he knows how. But it could have been clouded from the money he started to see. And don’t blame the people who donated. They most likely had no idea and there’s no reason for cynics to insult them as they had good intentions.
I agree,the marketing campaign did fulfill its purpose but at what cost? You have a director telling someone else’s story based on a hero complex and making the Ugandan people seem helpless and hopeless for 30 minutes. 25 years,folks. The dirty truth is that when all this was at its worst, Uganda was ignored and left to fend for herself and now when we are looking to rebuilding, we apparently still have night commuters and child soldiers.
But that’s not even the tip of this issue really. Misinterpretation brings out the shortcomings of this campaign. When you get Brits stuffing their faces with crisps in front of their TV’s calling us patronizing and backward for not hailing a good cause.
Then you beg to ask Jason Russell,is this the story you wanted to tell?