Kony 2012

[BipolarMike]

So far I fully back this campaign, but this is a very good point. Someone who knows more about this, please explain:

"Obviously Joseph Kony must be stopped, but what do Invisible Children do besides make bracelets & posters & send rich white kids to Uganda?"
-Random person on Twitter

[scorpiusdiamond]

It's not so straightforward...

[M1ke]

It's not so straightforward...

I see what you're saying, but history is won by small steps.

Helping an army of bad guys remove a really bad guy still seems like a small step towards a better world to me.

[october_midnight]

It's not so straightforward...

This. So fucking much this. Kony is not the only person doing this, many have before and many will after. Yes, it's awful...but it just shows the power of social media and the herdlke mentality it can cause. In a month this will be quickly forgotten. Just like how people on Facebook were changing their profile picture to a cartoon to 'raise awareness of child abuse' or their bra color to 'raise awareness of breast cancer'. Is there any fully grown adult who isn't aware of these things?

Spamming your Facebook or Twitter feeds won't do jack shit towards 'helping' anything. How about attend some rallies or even better, go over there and do something. Most of the people blindly posting this fucking video wouldn't hand a dollar to a homeless person on the street. Philanthropy isn't a hobby, it's a lifestyle.

[mfte]

Another infamous comic-esque bin laden like villain presented to the public. Everyone is outraged and applauds when the US sets up a permanent military presence in the heart of Africa. Control is taken and the American/Euro globalists and transactional corporations bust at nut at hundreds of no bid contracts and monopolies in the most resource rich continent in the world... but hey the video was nice... and this guy is 3x as evil as Bin Laden and Hussein combined right?

[october_midnight]

A good article on Invisible Children's horseshit.

And another.

[orestes]

I see what you're saying, but history is won by small steps.

Helping an army of bad guys remove a really bad guy still seems like a small step towards a better world to me.

Except this army is equally as culpable as Kony in acts of child soldiers, rape and much more.

[miss k bee]

A good article on Invisible Children's horseshit.

And another.

Just read that. Fight corruption with more corruption .... oh dear

[orestes]

Heh.

[Conan The Barbarian]

i got attacked on my facebook for my opinion on this and how people who dont give a shit about issues unless its bombed on their social site are sheep. and I tried to tell them how shady IC is and now I am suddenly a terrorist.

I cannot begin to describe how much I hate humanity.

[Leviathant]

This Kony thing sure went super-viral huh. It literally reminds me of witnessing a computer virus outbreak. I noticed someone mentioning it in the morning, and by the evening, it's fucking everywhere. And I really appreciate the information presented in this thread straight away. ETSers still deliver.

[burn.]

Invisible Children responds to the critiques

This is nice.

[M1ke]

Invisible Children responds to the critiques

This is nice.

The page could not be found.

[jessamineny]

The page could not be found.

Try this
http://s3.amazonaws.com/www.invisibl...critiques.html

[M1ke]

Try this
http://s3.amazonaws.com/www.invisibl...critiques.html

Thanks. That seems pretty reasonable to me.

[october_midnight]

Some interesting info at http://stopthescam.tumblr.com/ too.

[Harry Seaward]

It's cool that the Kony debacle is getting more attention, but it won't be solved by donating to some terrible "charity."

[sweeterthan]

I'm just a naive american with a fb account. This is my response to the skeptics:

if you watch the entire video, they clearly state the point is to use facebook and social media to get global awareness. Any charity where main goal of awareness is going to have high operating costs. PR isn't cheap and neither is going to Africa with expensive film equipment. The cynicism of the article posted is misleading. If you click thru to Charity navigator they give the organization an overall rating of 3/4 but the writer only points out the 2/4 for accountability. Which, if you do your own research, you'll find an article where they address the accountability rating saying its based on their board having 4 members instead of the 5 needed for a better rating with CN. The video also clearly states that Kony is no longer in uganda and that the LRA isn't nearly as powerful as it once was.

The US military has been accused of atrocities all over the world including rape and murder but does that negate the good they've done? Egypt's revolution has shown both the good and bad in their culture. Does the bad mean a revolution is pointless?

[miss k bee]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...over-film.html

[orestes]

I'm just a naive american with a fb account. This is my response to the skeptics:



The US military has been accused of atrocities all over the world including rape and murder but does that negate the good they've done? Egypt's revolution has shown both the good and bad in their culture. Does the bad mean a revolution is pointless?

But we're not talking about a revolution here. We're talking about a political coup, point and simple.

[Leviathant]

To be honest, I haven't even watched the video. I clicked through a few times, and each time it stopped, there was a scene with a little white boy or some hipsters, or shepard fucking fairey . (seriously fuck that guy). If I were actually allergic to marketing bullshit, I'd have hives and a swollen esophagus right now. There are a lot of really fucking terrible people out there, and raising awareness is great, but donating to this charity is not going to change things. Sending military forces into Uganda isn't going to make things better. The phrase "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" is quite applicable here.

[PooPooMeowChow]

Heh.

I saw Kony on 4chan 4 days ago, facebook 2 days ago, woke up to it on the radio this morning, rage.

[Sallos]

have Obama drone Kony.

[aggroculture]

I find the film very creepy. The excessive presence of the kid is annoying and manipulative: I guess an effective way of getting privileged white people to imagine themselves in Ugandan shoes. Also the solutions offered are objectionable: send in US soldiers! Yeah, the world doesn't know what it's doing, we need America to put things right. Kony is the tip of an iceberg: slicing off that tip, focusing only on that tip, is a good way of looking away from what's actually happening while telling yourself you're being "involved." ("fauxtivism" I've seen used) On the plus side, at least this project is bringing to light a world many have no clue about. But the gimmicky graphic design wannabe Occupy social networking cultspeak bugs me on some deep level.

[sentient02970]

http://i.imgur.com/K3mgn.jpg

[Conan The Barbarian]

Thar pic is full of lulz.

I hate that posing pic. Just looks like a couple of pricks.

[october_midnight]

Agreed on both counts, they look like the biggest turds on the planet....and that picture chain is glorious.

[DF118]

What a bunch of total douchebags.

[miss k bee]

http://i.imgur.com/K3mgn.jpg

Ha tbh I haven't even looked at the video, but read around it.

[october_midnight]

As is often the case, Matthew Good (Canadian musician, blogger, and activist) chimes in with a terrific write up.

Good stuff.