In three days a video on YouTube has reached over 40 million views, and has been shared on almost every social network out there. The title is KONY 2012, if you have not seen it remove the rock from above your head and then take the 30 minutes and watch it. Unfortunately though, what the video is calling for is not enough!
The charity Invisible Children is rapidly rallying support to make Joseph Kony famous and demanding his arrest so that he can be put on trial for all the terrible things that he has done. I agree that this needs to be done and the sooner the better, but that is not enough.
The country of Uganda is a fairly peaceful state, in two weeks I will be in Uganda and trust me the organization I am travelling with would not allow us to go if it was unsafe. What the country of Uganda needs is support to help them rebuild, getting rid of Joseph Kony is not going to solve all the problems facing Uganda. I urge you to support an organization that is effectively working to rebuild Uganda.
Invisible Children has received a lot of backlash about the financials and transparency, and they just released their official response and if you do not feel comfortable supporting them that is fine, but please support an organization that is making positive change in the lives of the Ugandan people like: Compassion or Child Soldiers International.
Don’t let this activism be a passing fad, make a lasting change!
What were your thoughts after watching the KONY 2012 video?
(Let me know in the comments below!)
**Twitter share button below does not seem to be working for me, CLICK HERE instead!
As I was putting together my post about Kony, I thought, “Gee, Stephen is going to Uganda in a couple weeks…I wonder what his take on all this is?” And I came over here and, voila…my thoughts were similar enough to yours that I linked to your post!
Yes this has definitely added a whole new perspective on our trip, and I may have a chance to talk to a few politicians about it when I am over in Uganda! Thanks for linking to my post on your blog!
Great post. We sponsor a Compassion child in Uganda, so this is all near and dear to my heart. Look forward to reading your posts from your trip. That is definitely on my bucket list!
Do you know which child centre your child is at we will be visiting a few different ones during our 10 day trip.
He is in the Busunju Child Development Center (UG453). Agnes Waeno is the Partnership Facilitaor for that center.
I’ve been involved in several heated debates over the past few days after I wrote a ‘cynical’ message about Facebook activism..
People have told me that even though a lot of the people don’t really know what’s going on, or care, at least they’re getting involved and sharing the video so others might do something great..
I suppose that’s true, but for the life of me I can’t shake my pure annoyance that people I KNOW couldn’t even point out Uganda on a map are suddenly up in arms because a ‘cool video’ showed up on Facebook or Twitter and everyone is talking about it.
It’s just a fad.. Like the Occupy Movement, it was all over social networks back in the fall and early winter months.. But where is it now? And what did the social networks really accomplish?
Here’s 3 options I believe could be done instead of or with the action of hitting ‘share’ :
1) Give money or supplies, I’ve heard criticism over Invisible Children, but Red Cross is just as good, if not better.
2) If you’re really fired up, go to Africa with an organization, volunteer and physically help these people.
3) If you want the government to pay attention, write letters, organize demonstrations and protests daily, weekly, monthly.
Facebook activism isn’t enough and I would argue, isn’t honest in most cases.
It can be extremely easy to jump on to a movement, but it is usually short lived. In our internet age, things come and go in hours, the sustainability of this movement and its supporters is key. If people start to wane and move on to the next big thing then the real question becomes did they actually care in the first place.
Change does not happen over night and if those who are a part of the KONY2012 movement actually want to see change I hope they plan to do more!
Great post, I actually wrote today about the Invisible Children backlash (… even though I feel their explanation and transparency on their website was outstanding. I’m excited to hear your thoughts about the situation when you get back.
I agree their response was great and very thorough. My wife and I support them, but I immediately felt a need that more needed to be done. I am hopeful that I will be able to have some good discussions with the people of Uganda about the campaign.