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If you've had a pulse the last few days you've probably seen someone posting this video:



Background: there's a conflict that has been raging in Uganda for years - the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) headed by Joseph Kony, waging brutal warfare on Uganda using children, turning them into killers. Yeah, it's messed up shit.

However, this video has been passed around the internet so much, it raises 2 issues that bother me:

1. Slacktivism - this idea that if you "share" "tweet" or "like" something you are somehow helping the cause and doing a great thing. It makes people give themselves a pat on the back for literally doing nothing. If you want to get active, donate, sign petitions, idk...actually GO TO AFRICA and work on the cause.... don't change your facebook profile pic to a cartoon character to "prevent child abuse"

2. Invisible Children Inc - This is the company that produced the video. They raised almost 9 million last year. Only 31% of it went directly to helping "the cause". The other 69% went to travel, employee compensation, oh and "making movies" which is what they do to "raise awareness"

http://thedailywh.at/2012/03/07/on-kony-2012-2/

They have pretty bad ratings by many non-profit organization watchdogs....enough that it's disconcerting.

I can see the argument...they aren't primarily focused on fixing the issue, they are primarily focused on "raising awareness" about the issue through their making movies and marketing them. To that end, they seem to be doing quite well (if my facebook feed riddled with Kony 2012 is any indication).


I just am uncomfortable with the whole thing. It seems we're in a culture of "oh look how bad this situation is! Here lemme make a movie about it, or here lemme tweet about it!" while most people don't do anything to change it. They do these things because it makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside. I'm sure I've been guilty of the same before.

Further Reading:

http://jezebel.com/5891269/think-twice- ... me-du-jour

IDK - maybe I'm just being skeptical and negative about the whole thing - thoughts?

What little I've read makes me think that this is none of our business. It's tribalism at its worst. This Kony fellow may be a complete bastard (and probably is), but I doubt he's any worse than the complete bastards he's trying to kill. As is typical of us, we "pick a side," slap a bad guy label on anyone effective who isn't on that side, and ignore any and all of the atrocities committed by those on the side we've picked. We expect people who live outside the US in radically different circumstances to behave according to our norms, and are somehow shocked when teenagers in third world countries are involved in military/guerrilla actions. These people are decades behind us in a lot of the ways that count, and you could have found an American teenager in much the same position during the American Civil War.

This very slick marketing campaign smells funny to me. It's like someone is looking for enough public outrage to justify sending troops to places where we have no obvious interests.

Your Pal,
Jubber

AKA "The Gun"
AKA "ROFeraL"

World Renowned Mexican Forklift Artiste

Their idea to help stop a war crime-committing general is to pour weapons into the country and arm the war crime-committing government.

RETIRED.
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Pretty much this. It's interesting that when you go to the Invisible Children web site, they have pictures of themselves with the Ugandan army holding all sorts of high powered weapons. I know - let's stop bloodshed and injustice by making more bloodshed!



Also this is the best one of the articles I've read on the subject so far:

http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2012 ... kony-2012/

Explains exactly why the entire platform of these filmmakers is flawed.

, PEOPLE are using this to get attention, its now popular to care about the rest of the world....for now.
I give it 2 weeks.
Also dont donate to invisible children the money that doesnt go to themselves they give to the Uganda Military which in turn rapes and murders people just like Konys army...
I had an awesome picture to go with this, but it seems my comp cant upload so heres a link to it on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... =1&theater

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/887 ... all/page57
greatest thread in the history of the interwebs.

The way I look at it is, it's none of our business. We're spreading ourselves too thin as is. I'm sure other countries are tired of us sticking our noses all the way up their assholes. YAY RAISE AWARENESS! So that we can start another war on terror etc etc etc.

Civil war is civil war is civil war.

this sums it up quite nice, along with every "next big thing" that people "care" about.

You talk as if propping up bad governments is something Amerika doesn't usually do.

The only way this is different is that the conflict affects Amerika in no way shape or form. Best option here is to wait for this to die down and hope this slacktivism loses steam in a couple weeks. I expect it will and will be legitimately surprised if pressure continues mounting.

To paraphrase the American government during the Rwanda debacle (1994): "We don't give a shit because there are no American interests there. We'll look apologetic once the dust settles, though. That way we're still the good guys."

And before one of you wiseasses points it out, I'm already well aware that Clinton was president at the time.

If destruction exists, we must destroy everything.
Shuruppak Yuratuhl
Slaad Shrpk Breizh

all singing all dancing crap of the world.

I love you Tehra lol

I don't know the real context of that hipster with an AK picture, but I want to punch that smarmy fuck in the face.

If destruction exists, we must destroy everything.
Shuruppak Yuratuhl
Slaad Shrpk Breizh

Those are the three founders of the charity.

They seem to ignore the fact that by supporting the Ugandan Army they are supporting a warlord's army that routinely used child soldiers in the exact same way they are complaining about now.

Dvergar /
Quisling

Why's everyone hatin on this dude