Kony 2012
- Thread starter Quiet
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Thank you! Great Links. A very controversial issue indeed.
I dont think that Invisible children has posited a viable solution to this complicated issue. I think they do valuable work in Uganda but I dont think they are going about 'catching' him the right way, or approaching the situation in general in a very productive way.
The most important thing they are doing is spreading the word in a way thay is understandable and digestable to westerners. Making people aware and showing them they can change the world if they want to.
I think they are trying to touch people by connecting and normalising (using the film makers own child in the video), and getting people to be interactive (wristbands, posters)
Very interesting approach, and perhaps perfect for our current digital, individualistic and consumeristic age
Yeah. If nothing else, I'm glad that the video is helping to get people out of the ignorance bubble.
- Dec 29, 2009
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Well its "a start the ball rolling" which I hope turns into a landslide. Despite some concerns over this charity, if the result is that Kony is stopped and brought to justice it'll be a good day for Ugandan children.
My son showed me the YouTube video, I'd never heard about this before. It does make me wonder why the mainstream media hasn't covered it ?
I just hope its a success.
My son showed me the YouTube video, I'd never heard about this before. It does make me wonder why the mainstream media hasn't covered it ?
I just hope its a success.
From what I understand, Kony's forces are around 250 strong, at the most right now. It's great that people care about the problem but in order for these war torn places in Africa to increase their standards of living and stop fighting, they need to do it themselves. Invisible Children doesn't really mention the efforts by Ugandan activists, they just say it's the first world's imperative to save the region. Yeah, that worked out real well in the 1800s when European nations tried to take it over so that they could save Africa from itself.
It's cliched, but you can't just keep giving a man a fish. One of the greatest success stories of third world countries battling poverty and war is Botswana. They opened their borders to immigrants and trade after obtaining independence from Britain in the late 60s and their real wage rate has been growing faster than every other country since then. They're moving to eliminate poverty in that country and haven't had war there for a while, and they did it all by themselves. Giving aid is a short term solution to a long term problem.
People all over the world are living in their own little self protective bubbles. People are not heartless, they are just ignorant, lazy and fearful. Awareness of these issues forces people to think about and talk about these things. Thats half the battle in our world- ignorance.
If enough people think that an issue is important and are willing to take action- something will be done. That is how revolutions are born. Just people caring about things, communicating and taking action.
These children deserve to have their story heard.
Unfortunately because the situation is complex and multifaceted, 'cathing Kony' and American Military intervention are not real solutions to the overall problem. In many ways American Military intervention could further worsen the situation. This situation is born in a very complicated political, social, environmental and financial climate. There are vast oil resources in Uganda. The entire region that the nation is a part of is unstable. There is much we dont know about the situation that we do not hear about from mainstream news.
But at then end of the day something needs to be done. The more people that know about the issue and talk about it the better. We share this world together. We share the worlds problems together.
I hope that if I had been unfortunate enough to be born in the 'wrong' place someone would stand up for me.
Now don't knock "social activists", they won't hurt anything. I bet most people on this board (myself included) didn't even know Kony's name before the video. Now they do -- big time. This is a good thing.
Botswana is awesome. I've read a little about it and would like to understand more about how they run things.
Kony is all over NPR as well.
Also, from an interview with the videographer on NPR re Kony (http://www.npr.org/2012/03/08/148246568/u-s-spent-two-decades-on-kony-before-viral-video):
I get the feeling pretty much everyone worldwide is in agreement that Kony is atrocious and must go. Refreshing agreement.
Botswana is awesome. I've read a little about it and would like to understand more about how they run things.
Kony is all over NPR as well.
Also, from an interview with the videographer on NPR re Kony (http://www.npr.org/2012/03/08/148246568/u-s-spent-two-decades-on-kony-before-viral-video):
KELEMENoffenberger's role is to translate all this attention into policy recommendations. But what he and others are suggesting is actually what the U.S. is already doing.
POFFENBERGER: This isn't an issue where we're outraged that our government hasn't been doing anything. It's an issue that we're outraged about what's going on and encouraging our government to keep up the good work. And we think that with the progress that's made, that this attention can help actually see this issue resolved. That it's possible to see Kony arrested this year; that it's possible to help these communities who've been suffering these attacks.
I get the feeling pretty much everyone worldwide is in agreement that Kony is atrocious and must go. Refreshing agreement.
Kony isn't there, though. I read he left Uganda in 2005, but that the Uganda government is still searching to arrest him and other LRA members.
Why do you suppose the video did not include that information?
This link is one way to look at it : http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/kony-2012/
It offers some perspective about Invisible Children, the organization that made the video.
The video did have somewhat of an emotional affect on me, though. But there is more to it than that..
Why do you suppose the video did not include that information?
This link is one way to look at it : http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/kony-2012/
It offers some perspective about Invisible Children, the organization that made the video.
The video did have somewhat of an emotional affect on me, though. But there is more to it than that..
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What exactly is it that people are hoping awareness of the issue will do to destabilize it?
It doesn't really matter what issue it is that awareness is being raised about. What matters is the wider picture people develop as they assimilate more information.
A single post or thread on an internet forum might not change someones perceptions but a build up of information does
The world is full of Public Relations and marketing and brands and 'brand image' and media bias and propaganda and dogma because different parties are jostling to create the perceptions people hold of the world
Different groups have different aims they are trying to achieve and in order to do so they have to win the battle for 'hearts and minds'
Every article you read in a magazine or paper has been scrutinised and chosen to be in alignment with that publications agenda. They would say it is in order to be in alignment with their readership but the reality is that their readership are shaped by what they read not the other way around. All they have to do is create an image that will fit with their target audience
The internet has revolutionised the way people receive information which is why governments work so hard to try and control it
So yeah one story on an internet forum might not have a perceptible impact but many stories on many forums read by many people does have an impact
This means that each individual can play a part in that process.
Peoples perceptions change all the time. As we grow up many of us are told that santa claus is real and so is the tooth fairy. Then we get older and wiser and we realise that authority figures have been lying to us.
We grow up some more and we find more authority figures lying to us but the internet exposes lies all the time
Each individual has certain world shaping powers before they even do anything out of the norm whether it is using their democratic vote or voting with their feet or using their consumer power to vote with their money.
That means that different groups invest huge amounts of time, money and energy ensuring that people vote and spend the way that they want them to. The actions of one person has little impact, but the actions of many does.
So posting stories or info on the internet, where many people will read is on the spectrum of social activism. Its not earth shattering like standing between the home of a palestinean family and an Israeli bulldozer or caring for sick children in a third world slum but it's on the spectrum
The reality is that people will not change the world until a certain amount of awareness has developed and the internet is a good way to do that
Arguably its especially important for awareness in the west because our governments have a massive impact on countries elsewhere especially in the third world
From what I understand, Kony's forces are around 250 strong, at the most right now. It's great that people care about the problem but in order for these war torn places in Africa to increase their standards of living and stop fighting, they need to do it themselves. Invisible Children doesn't really mention the efforts by Ugandan activists, they just say it's the first world's imperative to save the region. Yeah, that worked out real well in the 1800s when European nations tried to take it over so that they could save Africa from itself.
It's cliched, but you can't just keep giving a man a fish. One of the greatest success stories of third world countries battling poverty and war is Botswana. They opened their borders to immigrants and trade after obtaining independence from Britain in the late 60s and their real wage rate has been growing faster than every other country since then. They're moving to eliminate poverty in that country and haven't had war there for a while, and they did it all by themselves. Giving aid is a short term solution to a long term problem.
Botswana exports: diamonds, oil, gold, uranium etc which the first world buys so the first world is heavily involved however you cut it
The US also has military interests in Botswana and is willing to open its cheque book to get what it wants
The debt many third world countries are in is forced onto them by the first world at the point of a gun
Its not a case usually of the west giving a country a fish because as you've already mentioned the western powers stole much of the resources during the imperialist era and much of the aid now comes with interest (eg loans from the IMF)
Banking seems to be a growth area in Botswana but if they follow the wests neoliberal methods then their banks will soon be as insolvent as ours (kept alive by squeezing money out of the taxpayer through 'austerity')
I agree with you that these countries should be left to get on with things but they will not be left alone by neo-imperialist powers whether western or eastern who have an eye to a larger geo-political agenda
The way i see it the world is largely affected by big corporations. The boundary between these big corporations and government has become completely blurred.
Some people believe that to be one definition of fascism
The only way of subverting such influence is by people power which can be done a number of ways large and small
People can either change the way in which power is exercised through system change or they can apply pressure which forces compromises from the government.
For example there are two large campaigns in the UK at the moment. One is to stop the governments (the tory partys biggest funders are the financial sector) privatisation of the National Health Service. Another campaign is to stop the cutting of public sector pensions (austerity measures) through industrial strike action.
There was a massive strike of 2 million people but some unions have now buckled and the next strike will have 700,000 strikers.
What i expect governments to do about it is seek ways to control the perceptions of the public, gain greater control of the internet, militarise and privatise the police, increase surveilance and do away with laws that protect the rights of the public
However enough people could bring about system change or compromise from the government and really history has been a tug and pull between labour and the capitalist class
Kony sounds like a criminal and worth pursuing but to be honest i think his crimes pale in comparison to the effects of western neo-imperialism.
People like Kony are usually the symptoms of imperialism so the question isn't what are western governments going to do, but what are the western public going to make the western governments do?
[MENTION=1871]muir[/MENTION], people aren't going to see the Kony thing that way. They are going to see it as; here's the big bad guy lets push our government into military action against him. Most people won't go as far as to delve into any actual underlying issues. They want a villain.
Thanks for this link.
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What I don't understand, and perhaps someone can explain this, is the ability of Invisible Children to galvanize so much money and effort and disregard the problems associated with what they are doing. I don't mean to sound naive, but there is not a single fibre of my being that can relate to operating in this way. It's not that I believe all organizations and persons act with integrity, wise vision, and common sense. However, I cannot imagine them being unaware of the issues within the video they made or ignorant about their ill-approach... And I just don't understand setting a worldwide media campaign that is so blatantly inaccurate/flawed otherwise...
I think you're absolutely right
I think that he is a side show; i don't want to take the wind out of the sails of this campaign however because i think this kind of people power has implications beyond Kony
The kind of awareness this campaign is drumming up is pretty impressive but I see Kony as a symptom of a larger problem
If for example you were a government health inspector trying to get to the bottom of a food poisoning case in order to stop the poisoning (ok this is a bit of a random analogy but bare with me) then you wouldn't go around giving medical care to the victims as that would just be treating the symptoms of the problem. To stop the problem itself would require finding out what the root cause of the poisoning was and then stop that so that no more people got poisoned.
There was a part in the video in the OP where the narrator said something like 'if we stop this problem then we stop it for all time'. But that's not true. If you kill or capture Kony there will be more Konys for as long as the conditions that produced him continue to exist.
So to stop the spread of poison requires finding the source of it and stopping that
However this kind of campaigning is increasing communication amongst people and awareness of issues.
However the root cause, i believe, is the current corporate dominated system as these are the entities that shape the economic and environmental conditions that enable this sort of criminal behaviour
The imperial actions of the west both past and present has shaped Africa and continues to shape Africa
These problems in Africa are largely symptomatic of the corporate fascist problem that is also the same problem that is causing the economic hardship and unemployment in the west
Its all linked and efforts to thwart it are being diffused over so many different campaigns when really people need to strike at the heart of the problem
Great question. Its been on my mind since i watched the video too. I havent been able to do enough research on the charirty to make an informed statement.
But here are some of the things that have been going through my head:
-Invisible Children are ignorant of the complex situation because they have become completely focused on a small manisfestation of a much larger problem
-Invisible Children dont want to offend the Ugandian governemnt or perhaps other powerful vested interests
-Invsible Children really do believe in the misguided solutions and military intervention because they are ignorant.
-Invisible Children is associated with a group that has powerful vested interests that wants to make a splash in Uganda, and exert control in that region in regards to resources and politics
-Invisible Children want to empower the people of Uganda and give them a common goal to bring them together. Overall the issue in Uganda and the region is very complicated and people are probably confused and divided. Coming together for a common purpose is a powerful thing, even if its only over a relatively 'smaller' problem. It shows people whats possible and gives them hope.
-Invisible Children understand the greater issues and have chosen not to focus on them, but on Kony instead so they can quickly galvanise people together. When situations are so far away and complicated, ignorant and selfish westerners dont know what to do even if they wanted to help. Putting a 'face' on the problem-Kony- gives everyone a common purpose and point to rally around. This is much more useful than apathy, being too overwhelmed to act or general igonarnce. This approach is better than confusing people with too much information and making them feel they are too small to ever be able to achieve anything anyway.
-Invisible Children are literally reaching out to and have the power to mobilise probably the most important generation in the history of the world. The children of the internet. Find a way to inspire these kids and we can change the world
I seriously dont understand. It is confusing. Im not prepared to judge them until Im better informed. I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt. If its true that they are ignorant, Im sure all the discussion that the video will create will enlighten them anyway.
The most important thing for me is for people around the world to become aware and not feel helpless. Each individual has so much power.The world is nothing but people. Everything else is an illusion that we buy into. If you can inform people and empower them, these structures, organisations, heirachies and eites have nothing on us. They can only use us along as we let them. They control us using our ignorance, fear, laziness, lack of self awareness and inablity and unwillingness to communicate with each other.
There is no reality except the ones that we individualy, and collectively, create and reinforce with our minds and consiousness. What we can achieve is only limited by what we think we know and believe. The internet is a metaphorical Tower of Babel. We can use the internet to educate ourselves and communicate. We can get information from many sources, not just the ones that are owned by the 1%. We can communicate with each other and brainstorm solutions to these problems. And then we can change our individual lives thereby changing the entire world. So many of the worlds problems are caused by the fact that westerners refuse to be self aware and live ethically. We choose to be ignorant to the problems around the world that we are all so heavily implicated in. If people in Western countries starting living ethically and sustainably the majority of the problems would be over in the world. The real villian is all of us, not Kony. We created Kony with our selfish, feaful, ignorant, lazy, greedy shit. Kony is our problem. If we can fix ourselves, we will fix Kony in the process.
Im all for young people in the western world acknowledging these problems and wanting to help. If they give a shit- that is the start. Misguided video or not. Theres so much dangerous crap that they are constantly brainwashed with anyway, I think that this video is going to cause more good than damage.
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I think this is an opportunity for social media to come of age and show a credible real world outcome. Not just influence on change, but leading it.
For me this could show how the people who access it, can help direct it to achieve an ethical goal. Obviously this is as much about the LRA as Kony, but personalising it helps fix peoples attention, and I think the tie in to the USA presidential race is a clever twist.
For all its faults, if it worked children in that region will be safer.
For me this could show how the people who access it, can help direct it to achieve an ethical goal. Obviously this is as much about the LRA as Kony, but personalising it helps fix peoples attention, and I think the tie in to the USA presidential race is a clever twist.
For all its faults, if it worked children in that region will be safer.