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Kony 2012Follow

#1 Mar 08 2012 at 9:53 PM Rating: Excellent
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Pretty much everyone who knows of Joseph Kony knows he's a dick and that the world would be a better place without him (well, Limbaugh disagrees, but meh, that's him). But the problem, historically, has been a lack of awareness about his Lord's Resistance Army and how it was created by kidnapping children and turning them into soldiers through the use of drugs, intimidation, and brainwashing. Kony 2012 is an almost 30-minute documentary about one of the "rescued" child-soldiers. It's become an overnight viral hit, amassing millions of views and shares in a couple of days. The documentary was shot by Invisible Children, a charity whose purpose is:
1. To raise awareness about the LRA and its activities.
2. To gain support for the capture and trial of Joseph Kony
3. To help the recovery of the areas affected by the LRA in Africa

Of course, as soon as the documentary came out, a ton of criticism came with it. The most common I've seen:
1. The numbers are supposedly misrepresented; for example, the 30,000 children kidnapped and press-ganged into the LRA are over the course of 30 years, not recently (although my co-worker, from Uganda, tells me that the LRA still does night-raids into the country to grab children). The number of LRA members still active today is likely in the low thousands, if not hundreds.
2. The LRA (and likely Kony) have not been in Uganda since 2006. IC openly admits this, but as their efforts for arrest mostly involve the Ugandan government and army, they've taken a lot of flak. Also, the Ugandan army and government commit a ton of abuses anyway, which IC decries, but still claims it's necessary to have local help to get the man arrested.
3. Some critics claim that IC is calling for US military intervention (although I couldn't find this on their website), which obviously isn't thrilling to a country tired of foreign wars. Obama sent 100 military personnel over in October to help in the hunt for Kony, but no luck yet.
4. Ugandan bloggers and activists claim this is racist; that it seems like "the white man's burden" to come help the "poor Africans," and that IC has boiled down a complex ethnic conflict to "Joseph Kony = bad. Get him and ignore the rest of the situation!"

I've seen other criticism that's more of the conspiracy right-wing side, the most prevalent being "Obama is heading this as an effort to distract from the election; he's only going after the LRA because they're purported Christians!" Smiley: rolleyes

Anyone else seen the documentary or have experience with the situation? Obviously it's nothing new; the conflict's gone on for the better part of three decades, and the LRA is, by most reports, weaker now than ever. Since 2006 Kony's been on the run. What do you think: do-gooders trying to rid the world of evil, or an activist group trying to capitalize and raise its income while chasing a windmill that's practically blown itself over?



Edited, Mar 8th 2012 10:54pm by LockeColeMA
#2 Mar 09 2012 at 12:26 AM Rating: Decent
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Someone in one of my honor societies hijacked the mailing list for this ****, which was bad enough.

A quick Google search for Kony 2012 will pull back page after page of results talking about how everyone except the treehuggers, including reporters and bloggers from Uganda, think this is a bad idea and little more than a fundraiser for IC.

Yes, Kony is bad. But what is IC going to do?

Give money to Uganda? They do understand that the current leadership in Uganda is guilty of many of the same war crimes, don't they?

Send US troops? Didn't Obama send in a special forces team awhile ago?

So the point of raising awareness on this is...?
#3 Mar 09 2012 at 2:17 AM Rating: Good

Quote:
So the point of raising awareness on this is...?


Screenshot


So I could post that again.
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#4 Mar 09 2012 at 3:54 AM Rating: Decent
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I first heard of this on 4chan /b/....am I doomed?
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#5 Mar 09 2012 at 5:44 AM Rating: Good
It's not a video about Kony, it's a video about the power of social media. I mean, it's about both, but the latter is the main reason for its success.
#6 Mar 09 2012 at 7:10 AM Rating: Good
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If there is a story here, it was lost on me.

I watched the video for about three minutes and all I learned is this guy has a kid that he likes to show off and that there are more people on facebook than existed on the planet two hundred years ago.

I have no problem using the media to educate, or promote or sensationalize stuff. If awareness of the issue can bring about positive change - great. If it provides some funding for a charitable organization that attempts to help kids - great. However I'd not want it to cause peoples/organizations/governments to become enraged to the point of further violence.



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#7 Mar 09 2012 at 7:25 AM Rating: Excellent
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Uganda's a mess. This is not news.

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#8 Mar 09 2012 at 8:11 AM Rating: Good
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Religion of peace, my ***.

Wait, what...?
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#9 Mar 09 2012 at 8:52 AM Rating: Good
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Only experience with Uganda I have is with gate guards. Nice people that don't seem to believe in showers.
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#10 Mar 09 2012 at 9:39 AM Rating: Excellent
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Raolan wrote:
Give money to Uganda? They do understand that the current leadership in Uganda is guilty of many of the same war crimes, don't they?

If you gave a shit about anything, you'd move to Uganda and win a democratic election to be leader and institute drastic reforms, bettering the lives of the Ugandan people.
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#11 Mar 09 2012 at 11:06 AM Rating: Decent
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Jophiel wrote:
Raolan wrote:
Give money to Uganda? They do understand that the current leadership in Uganda is guilty of many of the same war crimes, don't they?

If you gave a shit about anything, you'd move to Uganda and win a democratic election to be leader and institute drastic reforms, bettering the lives of the Ugandan people.


Good thing I don't give a **** about anything then, or I'd be forced to go to random places and force my way of life on people who haven't asked for it.
#12 Mar 09 2012 at 11:13 AM Rating: Excellent
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If you won a democratic election then, by definition, the people would have asked for it and it wouldn't be forced.

Now stop making excuses and get to work.
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#13 Mar 09 2012 at 11:25 AM Rating: Excellent
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Kids these days. Tsk tsk. Can't even summon the motivation to bribe their way to victory in an election, murder their opposition, wear a bunch of fake medals, have a harem of underage slave brides, steal foreign aid, and commit genocide.

They all just want to sit on the couch all day playin' their Nintendos and talkin' on their Myspaces.
#14 Mar 09 2012 at 11:30 AM Rating: Excellent
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Eske Esquire wrote:
Can't even summon the motivation to bribe their way to victory in an election, murder their opposition, wear a bunch of fake medals, have a harem of underage slave brides, steal foreign aid, and commit genocide.
Sounds like my SimCities.
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#15 Mar 09 2012 at 11:48 AM Rating: Excellent
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lolgaxe wrote:
Eske Esquire wrote:
Can't even summon the motivation to bribe their way to victory in an election, murder their opposition, wear a bunch of fake medals, have a harem of underage slave brides, steal foreign aid, and commit genocide.
Sounds like my SimCities.

Sure you weren't playing Shogun?.
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#16 Mar 09 2012 at 1:54 PM Rating: Good
There's an anime with this plot, only the warlord is in Afghanistan.
#17 Mar 09 2012 at 4:47 PM Rating: Decent
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LockeColeMA wrote:
What do you think: do-gooders trying to rid the world of evil, or an activist group trying to capitalize and raise its income while chasing a windmill that's practically blown itself over?


Why does it have to be one or the other? The world is full of bad guys doing bad things fighting with other guys doing similarly bad things. It's also full of bad causes piggybacking on good causes. Oversimplifying things into a "bad vs good" context is usually not only not accurate, but likely to result in a hell of a lot of unintentional side effects.
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#18 Mar 09 2012 at 5:02 PM Rating: Excellent
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gbaji wrote:
LockeColeMA wrote:
What do you think: do-gooders trying to rid the world of evil, or an activist group trying to capitalize and raise its income while chasing a windmill that's practically blown itself over?


Why does it have to be one or the other? The world is full of bad guys doing bad things fighting with other guys doing similarly bad things. It's also full of bad causes piggybacking on good causes. Oversimplifying things into a "bad vs good" context is usually not only not accurate, but likely to result in a hell of a lot of unintentional side effects.

Hence why I didn't make it a poll. Tell us what you really think, gbaji Smiley: nod
#19 Mar 09 2012 at 6:36 PM Rating: Good
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LockeColeMA wrote:
Hence why I didn't make it a poll. Tell us what you really think, gbaji Smiley: nod


Ok! Smiley: tongue

I think that Kony is a "really bad guy"(tm). And all the other really bad guys in the area point to him and say "go after him, cause he's really bad! Oh... And give us some money and guns to help us fight this really bad guy". Then, if historical patterns hold true, when the guys we've helped fight Kony start doing really bad things (which really means that our media actually notices and reports this to the public), suddenly we'll have to withdraw our support for the "new really bad guys" we've been helping out. Then, they'll be all "why aren't you helping us anymore?!". Then, since their badness has become the latest shiny-whirly thing, sanctions and whatnot will follow. And they'll be like "WTF?!". And then someone will inevitably post pictures of Obama shaking hands with these new really bad guys and use it to argue that the US is really responsible for all the really bad stuff going on around there anyway. Cause look at our president all friendly with them and whatnot!


Kinda doesn't change, does it?

Edited, Mar 9th 2012 4:37pm by gbaji
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#20 Mar 09 2012 at 6:46 PM Rating: Default
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kinda got the current situations roles reversed but ya pretty much textbook.
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#21 Mar 09 2012 at 6:51 PM Rating: Excellent
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gbaji wrote:
And then someone will inevitably post pictures of Obama standing outside a free AIDS clinic with these new really bad guys and use it to argue that the US is really responsible for all the really bad stuff going on around there anyway.

Smiley: nod
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Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#22 Mar 09 2012 at 6:55 PM Rating: Excellent
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Jophiel wrote:
gbaji wrote:
And then someone will inevitably post pictures of Obama standing outside a free AIDS clinic with these new really bad guys and use it to argue that the US is really responsible for all the really bad stuff going on around there anyway.

Smiley: nod


Actually, it was a reference to the photos of Bush Sr and Rumsfeld shaking hands with Hussein, but I suppose you could go several directions with it.
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#23 Mar 09 2012 at 6:57 PM Rating: Good
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I'm more amused at how blindly you walk into the same pits you accuse everyone else of falling into Smiley: smile
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Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#24 Mar 09 2012 at 6:59 PM Rating: Excellent
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Jophiel wrote:
gbaji wrote:
And then someone will inevitably post pictures of Obama standing outside a free AIDS clinic with these new really bad guys and use it to argue that the US is really responsible for all the really bad stuff going on around there anyway.

Smiley: nod


They want Obama to give them aid, not AIDS.
#25 Mar 09 2012 at 7:17 PM Rating: Decent
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Jophiel wrote:
I'm more amused at how blindly you walk into the same pits you accuse everyone else of falling into Smiley: smile


I suppose if you need to turn this into a "me against gbaji" thing, whatever. I was more just talking about how those pits get dug in the first place. But by all means turn this into a partisan argument if you want.
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#26 Mar 09 2012 at 8:22 PM Rating: Good
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Oh, no need. My point was adequately made Smiley: smile
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Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
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