Politics & Government Kony 2012

[crackers57]

Typical.

He's explained a legitimate point that this will lead to warfare upon warfare. America invade Uganda, and with troops deployed in Libya, Iraq (the few left), Afghanistan etc., what if another country has a pop at America? Iran, for example, rising conflict with the West, might take a chance. I admire the organiser, but this issue is again bigger than what it looks like.

No he didn't explain a legitimate point.......the "military intervention" has already taken place. 100 advisors to assist in finding the guy using technology. The campaign is to not forget what is happening so that these guys don't get pulled out before they catch the dude. No where does he advocate the US doing a Ugandan Desert Storm

 

[.Shotties.]

I posted a link on facebook to information on volunteering in Uganda.

No likes, comments or shares, but I'm expecting that number to skyrocket any minute now.

 

[Tulip]

A word I'm stealing from the SRP board.

'Slacktivists'.

 

[savagelunchbox]

Another bandwagon people will jump on that will be forgotten in six months.

Why should all the other acts of indecency be neglected and not thrust into the public spotlight?

6 months? try 6 days. But hey, I'm going to enjoy sitting here reading what the arm chair experts have to say on the topic.

Most people who have opinions on this matter probably didn't last past the 1st 5 mins of the vid.

 

[buddyruff]

6 months? try 6 days. But hey, I'm going to enjoy sitting here reading what the arm chair experts have to say on the topic.

Most people who have opinions on this matter probably didn't last past the 1st 5 mins of the vid.

It's w***ers like you who live their whole life achieving absolutely nothing, getting by doing as minimal as possible and bring people down who get out and have a go.



Go and bury your head back in the sand where you're all nice and comfortable

 

[I bleed Blue]

No, he's an egotist.

It's ironic, though. People who hate Australia or the US in Afghanistan or Iraq are obviously supporting this. Yet military deployment to bring down Kony will only result in more warfare – and thus, more collateral damage.

Double standards.

It's very unfortunate. But this all seems like a pissweak attempt to do something sincere. It's pack mentality. I see this whole campaign as just boring and not really sincere.

Yes he is a genius. Look how much awareness he as one person has created. Most of us here (myself included) knew very little, if anything at all about Kony.

This bloke is so swtiched on with how social media and stuff works these days that he would have been succesfull with anything he could of chosen at life, luckily has chosen to follow something he is very passionate about.

If you find it too 'boring' im sure he couldnt give too shits. Im sure you wouldnt find it boring if it was happening in our own back yard, but ey out of sight out of mind? He is working to change the world for the better (and no not for his own egoistic agendas) and doing anything within his powers to make it happen. Good on him, the more awareness he can bring to these sort of issues the better.

Im not claiming to be a political expert but you have to admire what this guy is doing. Throughout history there have been so many human rights abuses around the world, but because the countries in power to do something about it have nothing to gain they will not step in. Look at what happened in Cambodia only 30 odd years ago, some of the worst human rights abuses ever, vietnam had to step in to stop it because no of the other countries of power would do anything at the time.

In 1993 there was enough attention around the the human rights abuses in Somalia that the UN and America stepped in. And after quite a few deaths to the American troops they had to pull out because of so much bad publicity back in America.


This guy is just trying to create that same type of attention where the general public will stand up and say enough is enough. Governments have to act on what the people want, and if enough people want this to end and create enough attention around it that is the first step.

Yes most people will forget about it next week but this guy has put the last 8 years of his life into this campain, dont spit on what he is doing by saying he is not sincere.

As Edmund Burke once said - "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Disgusting you take pot shots at the guy behind this movement for trying to stand up for what is right, in the most effective way that he knows how. People power.

 

[trueblue_91]

Do not know where I stand right now. obviously Kony is not a good man and should be stopped, but this may be a lot more complicated and have more moral implications than the video says.

Have a read, fairly interesting.

I do not doubt for a second that those involved in KONY 2012 have great intentions, nor do I doubt for a second that Joseph Kony is a very evil man. But despite this, I’m strongly opposed to the KONY 2012 campaign.

KONY 2012 is the product of a group called Invisible Children, a controversial activist group and not-for-profit. They’ve released 11 films, most with an accompanying bracelet colour (KONY 2012 is fittingly red), all of which focus on Joseph Kony. When we buy merch from them, when we link to their video, when we put up posters linking to their website, we support the organization. I don’t think that’s a good thing, and I’m not alone.

Invisible Children has been condemned time and time again. As a registered not-for-profit, its finances are public. Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production. This is far from ideal, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they haven’t had their finances externally audited. But it goes way deeper than that.

The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money funds the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces. Here’s a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People’s Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them, arguing that the Ugandan army is “better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries”, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission.

Still, the bulk of Invisible Children’s spending isn’t on funding African militias, but on awareness and filmmaking. Which can be great, except that Foreign Affairs has claimed that Invisible Children (among others) “manipulates facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRA’s use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony — a brutal man, to be sure — as uniquely awful, a Kurtz-like embodiment of evil.” He’s certainly evil, but exaggeration and manipulation to capture the public eye is unproductive, unprofessional and dishonest.

As Christ Blattman, a political scientist at Yale, writes on the topic of IC’s programming, “There’s also something inherently misleading, naive, maybe even dangerous, about the idea of rescuing children or saving of Africa. […] It hints uncomfortably of the White Man’s Burden. Worse, sometimes it does more than hint. The savior attitude is pervasive in advocacy, and it inevitably shapes programming. Usually misconceived programming.”

Still, Kony’s a bad guy, and he’s been around a while. Which is why the US has been involved in stopping him for years. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has sent multiple missions to capture or kill Kony over the years. And they’ve failed time and time again, each provoking a ferocious response and increased retaliative slaughter. The issue with taking out a man who uses a child army is that his bodyguards are children. Any effort to capture or kill him will almost certainly result in many children’s deaths, an impact that needs to be minimized as much as possible. Each attempt brings more retaliation. And yet Invisible Children supports military intervention. Kony has been involved in peace talks in the past, which have fallen through. But Invisible Children is now focusing on military intervention.

Military intervention may or may not be the right idea, but people supporting KONY 2012 probably don’t realize they’re supporting the Ugandan military who are themselves raping and looting away. If people know this and still support Invisible Children because they feel it’s the best solution based on their knowledge and research, I have no issue with that. But I don’t think most people are in that position, and that’s a problem.

Is awareness good? Yes. But these problems are highly complex, not one-dimensional and, frankly, aren’t of the nature that can be solved by postering, film-making and changing your Facebook profile picture, as hard as that is to swallow. Giving your money and public support to Invisible Children so they can spend it on supporting ill-advised violent intervention and movie #12 isn’t helping. Do I have a better answer? No, I don’t, but that doesn’t mean that you should support KONY 2012 just because it’s something. Something isn’t always better than nothing. Sometimes it’s worse.

If you want to write to your Member of Parliament or your Senator or the President or the Prime Minister, by all means, go ahead. If you want to post about Joseph Kony’s crimes on Facebook, go ahead. But let’s keep it about Joseph Kony, not KONY 2012.

~ Grant Oyston, visiblechildren@grantoyston.com

http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/post/18890947431/we-got-trouble

 

[The Passenger]

just out of interest, the original documentary, or one of them, was made in 2004... how come 8 years later the sudden interest??

 

[Silent Alarm]

Silent Alarm 2012 - Heartless Hipster.

The hipster tag is always so original and funny. Must this forum come to the unenlightened conclusion that I'm a hipster. Am I the resident BF hipster or something? I really don't think I am.

Also, turns out I wasn't misguided and 'heartless'.

This whole thing is basically a scam.

Only 32% of this charities profits went toward the cause at hand. The rest (or, what was disclosed) went toward externalities. Video engineering and production took up the majority of the 'profits'. On top of this, the charity refuses to actually disclose their information. They do not allow the public to find out about where the money they spend goes. If this 'charity' was so generous and heartfelt, why not be open about their good deeds? Such coyness is grounds for suspicion.

On top of this, Kony has been in hiding for half a decade. His havoc is undeniable, his ethics quite clearly non-existant, and his leadership invalid. But why start a huge campaign against someone who, basically, is no longer active in their evil?

This is bogan mentality at its finest. The fickle minds who have no social agenda nor political enlightenment want to feel educated. By conforming to some really cliched and tired conventions (doe-eyed African orphan, some glitzy visuals, sad songs), this person know feels like a social activist. It's baseless.

On top of this, if you're so obsessed with seeking peace (unattainable, naive), to support Kony 2012 is to support warfare. The actual aim of this campaign is to rally up troops. The awareness is to give politicians the ability to deploy more troops to a lost cause (let's be realistic – decades of social decay, which had led to so many Ugandan issues) is infuriating. This will only result in more civilian and soldier deaths. Sounds like an appalling 'fix' to a very complicated matter.

 

[Patron]

This is still in its early stages Viral wise. Its been 2 days on youtube and has clocked 4 million at time of me posting this. With the Facebook backing and exponential growth rate i expect this to get rebecca black numbers. Most people who see it will love it and then forget about it to an extent but if you get enough likes and enough views these days a difference can be made.

I would be willing to bet that on April 20 you will wake up and see dozens of posters (never underestimate youths excitement to vandalise when they think they can get away with it). Whether that means it succeeds or not and i think it will (that the force remains there due to public support, not necessarily that he is captured or killed) i respect it purely from a marketing perspective as a marketing student.

I think that just about nobody could really watch this video and say kony shouldn't be stopped so when millions inevitably get exposed and are asked in polls and other market research about the topic they will echo their thoughts and politicians will be forced to respond to overwhelming poll numbers amongst nearly every minority and majority.
I think this also has great appeal to both parties in america where as a ridiculous stereotype republicans are always pro war and democrats are always pro the idealistic good which this also represents.

 

[Silent Alarm]

But what are posters and Facebook updates going to do? 'Success' is a coy term. And success, in relation to this, is pretty pointless.

 

[Ochre]

 

[Patron]

But what are posters and Facebook updates going to do? 'Success' is a coy term. And success, in relation to this, is pretty pointless.

Politicians or at-least their campaign managers and advisor's are not stupid. If something gets enough hits they are aware of it. If this gets enough support then the manhunt will continue as politicians will go with anything that gains large amounts of support. If the manhunt continues long enough he will eventually be killed or captured or be denied enough resources etc to continue.

Enough updates> Viral> support by the majority> Overwhelming political pressure>the changing or continuation of policy>Military intervention>Eventual capture or killing of Kony.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Politicians or at-least their campaign managers and advisor's are not stupid. If something gets enough hits they are aware of it. If this gets enough support then the manhunt will continue as politicians will go with anything that gains large amounts of support. If the manhunt continues long enough he will eventually be killed or captured or be denied enough resources etc to continue.

Enough updates> Viral> support by the majority> Overwhelming political pressure>the changing or continuation of policy>Military intervention>Eventual capture or killing of Kony.

Yes, but do you realise the flaws with this success?

The guy hasn't been 'active' in his crimes for half a decade! He's already been stopped through his own devices.

Nonetheless, in the situation this propaganda is portraying, going into Uganda and finding Kony would be disastrous. It would be a war. Casualties would pile up, not to a huge extent, but it would inevitably happen. How is killing more people seriously a positive thing? Why strive towards something so pointless and senseless.

 

[LosBeatles]

I keep reading about "Kony 2012" in YouTube comments. This is annoying since I can't be stuffed watching the video to see what's going on.

THIS. I dont know what kony is but i hope he goes away soon, its like that simpsons episode Gabbo is coming

 

[Patron]

The idea is not to change anything from what is currently happening and that's just to keep the small force there. Its essentially a small training and information supporting role. Local forces are already hunting him so i couldn't see how maintaining the force could cause a war other than what is already occurring. The aim of the campaign is simply just to keep things as they currently are i don't see how that could really make anything worse.

 

[Aussie Assault]

This whole thing is basically a scam.

Only 32% of this charities profits went toward the cause at hand. The rest (or, what was disclosed) went toward externalities. Video engineering and production took up the majority of the 'profits'. On top of this, the charity refuses to actually disclose their information. They do not allow the public to find out about where the money they spend goes. If this 'charity' was so generous and heartfelt, why not be open about their good deeds? Such coyness is grounds for suspicion.

The figures don't exactly look good like that, however their whole campaign is about continued awareness of the issue at hand so that the 100 US military advisors currently in Uganda, remain in Uganda. Their best way to continue this awareness is via these videos using social media (which they are good at, obviously), so I'd argue that the majority of their funds that you state that are being used for video editing/production, are in fact going directly to the core business of their charity - keeping Kony in the spotlight.

 

[.Shotties.]

Update: 0 shares comments or likes.on my status giving information about volunteer work in Uganda. Re posted this morning. The Lint vid was posted 8 times between when I put the first status up and now.

 

[crownie]

I'm not going to watch the video as it is too long. But this guy does sound bad. However, I'm sure he is not the only one. There are always evil people out there somewhere.

Weird I have never heard of him before.

thats the whole point of the video, to make people aware about him.

for those that didnt watch the video when the internationl crime council started ages ago he was number one of their list to have arrested.

 

[Lemma]

Can someone post a TL;DW summary

 

[crackers57]

The figures don't exactly look good like that, however their whole campaign is about continued awareness of the issue at hand so that the 100 US military advises currently in Uganda, remain in Uganda. Their best way to continue this awareness is via these videos using social media (which they are good at, obviously), so I'd argue that the majority of their funds that you state that are being used for video editing/production, are in fact going directly to the core business of their charity - keeping Kony in the spotlight.

I think you if delved into the spending of most charities you would find they don't make pretty reading.

 

[Lemma]

DEcided to watch it. The guy's a genius- pretty powerful idea.
Hope it gets big in Aus, would really show that Gen Y has some awareness.

 

[I bleed Blue]

Nonetheless, in the situation this propaganda is portraying, going into Uganda and finding Kony would be disastrous. It would be a war. Casualties would pile up, not to a huge extent, but it would inevitably happen. How is killing more people seriously a positive thing? Why strive towards something so pointless and senseless.

Thanks for stating the obvious! Sometimes doing the right thing means more killing first. Sad, but its the reality of the world. Do you think major human rights abuses around the world just stopped by asking "please stop what your doing"?

Imagine if the world just stood by when the Holocaust was happening (bit of a different situation but you get the point). "oh if we kill more people by trying to stop it how would this be a positive thing'. Reality is some things need to happen by force and more blood has to be spilt first.

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

No, he's an egotist.

It's ironic, though. People who hate Australia or the US in Afghanistan or Iraq are obviously supporting this. Yet military deployment to bring down Kony will only result in more warfare – and thus, more collateral damage.

Double standards.

It's very unfortunate. But this all seems like a pissweak attempt to do something sincere. It's pack mentality. I see this whole campaign as just boring and not really sincere.

Similar to this.

Don't get me wrong Kony is a monster, but this video is an ego trip at it's finest.

No doubt if Kony get's caught this idiot will claim that 'he brought it about' with this video.

If this group/person honestly feels compelled to act on this issue then he can take it up directly with a government authority, he can protest outside the White House, bring people together!! He can even ****ing impart some vigilante justice if he wants.

Do something to ENSURE you are being heard by people who can impact the situation.

This riles me up because it's a half arsed, effort of 'convenience' rather than a desire to make a difference. (Which ironically seems to be the forte of Invisible Children)

The fact that he even mentions his name is a giveaway, I know people who get so immersed in a cause that they do not give a shit about recognition.

How many videos have IC made, it would be interesting to see the spending and finance for a NFP.

EDIT - Thanks for that post trueblue_91

 

[Aussie Assault]

If this group/person honestly feels compelled to act on this issue then he can take it up directly with a government authority, he can protest outside the White House, bring people together!! He can even ****ing impart some vigilante justice if he wants.

Do something to ENSURE you are being heard by people who can impact the situation.

Pretty sure the video made all this quite clear that this has already happened/happening, with change already brought about in the US Senate etc because of this movement/cause/charity/whatever it is called.