Stop KONY 2012

[Lee]

Okay... I watched it and now it's time for my rant.

First: I think this is a great cause, and that's not where my problem lies. I remember during the film at some point, a women said something to the effect of this: "No child should live in fear of being killed." That made me think. This supposedly has affected 30,000 children. Every day, about 4000 babies are killed before they're born. That translates to about 100,000 deaths a month, and 1,200,000 a year. To me, that is much more important than this.

Yes, we should raise awareness about the things this man is doing and catch him so it can't happen anymore. But more so, the heinous practice of abortion needs stopped. No child should have to face the threat of being killed. (And yes, I know that unborn children cannot necessarily feel fear. The concept is still the same. )

[TigerintheShadows]

^ This. Just this. Seriously, some people get all in a wad when there are child soldiers and slaves, and yet they don't bat an eye at killing an unborn child because "it's a part of the woman's body" or some junk that basic biology can disprove. Some people get all upset over stuff like this and yet don't care about things like human trafficking and prostitution rings when it's going on here in the United States. It's not like they shouldn't care, but seriously...

[American Eagle]

Umm, this topic is about poor kids being forced into prostitution and war, not about abortion. Give these kids their due.

There's always a worse case of something in the world. If I posted a topic about one of my sister's death, would you hijack the topic with, "Oh, it's too bad about your sister and all, but how could you be worried about one girl when millions have died because of abortion??" I don't think any of you would. There's no need to diminish the atrocity of Kony's actions by comparing it to abortion.

[Marvin D.]

I agree, AE, but what I think they mean is that is just more. .sensational. I mean, I've seen this EVERYWHERE on the Internet in the last week or so. .but there's a difference in only thinking about this and not doing anything about abortion.

[Jesus' Princess]

Okay... I watched it and now it's time for my rant.

First: I think this is a great cause, and that's not where my problem lies. I remember during the film at some point, a women said something to the effect of this: "No child should live in fear of being killed." That made me think. This supposedly has affected 30,000 children. Every day, about 4000 babies are killed before they're born. That translates to about 100,000 deaths a month, and 1,200,000 a year. To me, that is much more important than this.

Yes, we should raise awareness about the things this man is doing and catch him so it can't happen anymore. But more so, the heinous practice of abortion needs stopped. No child should have to face the threat of being killed. (And yes, I know that unborn children cannot necessarily feel fear. The concept is still the same. )

This. This. This.

Umm, this topic is about poor kids being forced into prostitution and war, not about abortion. Give these kids their due.

There's always a worse case of something in the world. If I posted a topic about one of my sister's death, would you hijack the topic with, "Oh, it's too bad about your sister and all, but how could you be worried about one girl when millions have died because of abortion??" I don't think any of you would. There's no need to diminish the atrocity of Kony's actions by comparing it to abortion.

I realize that, but I she was just pointing out that this is terrible, and everyone is being told about it, and I think that's a good thing. But abortion happens every day, and it's just as terrible.

[Lee]

Yes, AE. I totally agree, and wasn't trying to diminsh what Joseph Kony has done. The whole film seemed to have the unspoken message that everyone deserves the chance to live. That was why I made the point. And let me be clear. I think it's wonderful how people have rallied around the cause of saving children's lives, and we should support and applaud their hard efforts for this.

I simply wish we could get even half this much support for the cause of saving even more children's lives. If one man could get so much enthusiasm for the cause of saving 30,000 kids, why can't the 50% of Americans who are Pro-Life get excited about helping end abortion? And I'm not trying to hijack this thread. I was simply posting my initial reaction to the video.

[TigerintheShadows]

I wasn't attempting to hijack it either; merely agreeing with what Lee said. Ever since this came out, I've been wondering why we get excited about this, but something similar is going on due to the opium trade, we have one discussion about that in history class, and we move on. Yes, it's a horrible thing that he does/did to those children; I'm not watering it down or saying that "X is worse than Y". The question is, how is this any different from abortion, opium slaves, or the like? And since it's not, why don't we go crazy over those things as well?

[Marvin D.]

^because it's a sensation. That's what the media uses--sensational stories/facts to often present something in a different light than what it really is.

-- March 17th, 2012, 4:10 pm --

I'm posting someone posted about the whole KONY thing.

I'm reviving this thread to point out what needs to be said; that this KONY 2012 stuff, is a load of nonsense and a scam propogated by invisible children as a money making scheme among other potential nefarious ends. This video has recevied a myriad of critcisms, many coming from actual Ugandans who know their country better than Americans employees of invisible children half a world away.

For starters, the video misleads the viewer into thinking that what is depicted in the video is the actual state of affairs today whereas in reality Kony and the LRA haven't been active in Uganda since 2006; not to mention many think he is dead. Ugandans have criticized the video for oversimplifying the issues with a supposed attempt to sacrifice accurate and clear information for simplistic propaganda and convenient sloganeering. In addition to this, the obscene comparisons to Adolf Hitler are simply absurd, such comparisons have been made in KONY 2012 official videos like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ1SZbF0akM

Also; only a mere 32 PERCENT of what is collected from donations by invisible children goes to charity, so I hope I am not the only one who wonders where the rest of this money goes. It should be noted that the charity's top executives and founders make nearly $90,000 as a minimum salary with allowances and other benefits that can reach up to $150,000 a year. I would seem that working for a chartiable organization certainly pays off.

The video also fails to mention the abuses by the Ugandan army, the organization which your donations would presumably be going to in order to subdue Kony. The Ugandan army has also used child soldiers, and has killed civilians; crimes the LRA is exclusively being attacked for. And in conjunction with this point, if Kony is no longer in Uganda but instead in neighboring countries and border regions, then what can the Ugandan army do in this case, if Kony is in the territory of another sovereign nation? This is a point many have brought up in regards to how unfeasible the goals of this KONY 2012 campaign are.


I suggest people who have been enthralled by this KONY 2012 campaign watch these videos from Ugandans who know what they are talking about:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D-NgTGLlYw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FptGqx7DyeY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRTRJ...eature=related

Also: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/ ... -filmmaker

[Lee]

Did anyone see this?

It's... disturbing.

[bookworm]

I saw that yesterday.

[Jeremy]

I can confirm that the video linked to above (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ1SZbF0akM) which is embedded below, did indeed used to be available on the official "invisiblechildreninc" channel but is now "private" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kp7PwwSo-k), after it received such negative ratings and comments.



I love how he admits that the KONY 2012 video is "literally the best piece of propaganda we've ever made."

Hopefully he will be arrested on a more permanent basis soon...

Jeremy

[Lee]

So this is all basically a hyped up scam?

[Jesus' Princess]

Can someone sum up the video?

[bookworm]

So this is all basically a hyped up scam?

I thought we already discussed that.

Can someone sum up the video?

You already asked that and someone did.

To sum up Kony 2012 I could tell you that Joseph Kony and his LRA army abduct thousands of kids (over 30,000 to be exact). The boys are trained with guns to kill their parents and the little girls are put into sex slavery. Kids over there are running for there life trying not to get abducted while there sleeping. If they try to run away from being in the LRA (rebels) group they themself could die. They are fighting for their life and we are trying to fight for theirs.

[Jesus' Princess]

Well I meant the one that Lee was talking about... Never mind though.

[Bmuntz]

KILL ALL THE WARLORDS!!!!!!!!!

[Whitty Whit]

@ the conversation of questioning whether the video is correct.

But seriously. Even if Kony is dead... wouldn't they want to make sure of that? Honestly, people, use a little brain power. And OBVIOUSLY the video has an agenda. Not one time (in a normal video) will you see a video with no agenda. Everyone has an opinion. This guy has certainly fulfilled his agenda very well and is currently doing so even moreso. But the point is, while I realize that too much of this maybe bad for some people, to put it in terms for the intellectuals to understand, let's just dump the whole moral/ethics issue. Kony is on a "most wanted list". As humans, we have a natural tendency to stop harmful things. That's just the way it is. Because he is being harmful, (not necessarily to us but to other people) we should want to stop him. Even IF he has died/stopped his crimes for reasons unknown, he still has committed them and will punished for it whether spiritually/physically or both, i don't know. And as sinful getting back into morals now, hope you can handle this.humans we tend not to care about other people. We just don't. So why should we care about Africans? oh goodness i'm so racist! Because they are human beings, created in the image of God,people loved by God, and should be treated as such. Like, for crying out loud which actually was/is considered a euphemism, so theoretically, I'm swearing. Might want to get mad at me for that., why do we just sit idly by in our little corners of the world and just "oh i hate every single person who mentions Kony 2012". Now I realize that... we think that we can't do much, so we don't. which is actually probably wrong, but our mindset is so deep, we believe it's right, but hey, i believe that too, so i can't judge.It's like we're condemning people for doing something simply because we don't feel like doing it. We can't just sit around condemning yes i said "condemning people". i'm such a judgmental person, i know.people who support a cause we don't like. That is utter stupidity. We all have our morals and values. My point you ask? Is this:If you are for Kony 2012, good for you (if you have valid reason to be for it). If you aren't Kony 2012, good for you. (if you have valid reason to be against it). Just why are we just critiquing their style and structure and approach to this whole campaign? If you are doing that, you missed the whole point, and shouldn't be talking about this.


You guys can eat that to shreds to heaven's end. I'm willing to debate people about this. I realize that after reading that spiel, I bet some people are already forming "you can't do that you are judging me and you are not allowed to do that!!". Well I just did.

*edited several times to correct writing and grammatical errors*

[jelly]

Almost two years ago I was heavily involved with an Invisible Children campaign raising money for schools. My city raised the most money out of any of the cities in the campaign, and as a result some friends of mine visited Invisible Children in San Diego this last fall, and were apart of the beginnings of the KONY 2012 campaign. A good friend of mine is actually in the video.

Long story short, it's been really weird to see everyone suddenly talking critically about the organization that I've been associated with for years. Every time someone tries bringing up some pathetic conspiracy theory, it almost feels like a personal offense. I'm not overly educated in all the politics of the situation, or even on Kony himself, but I just wanna be like "Guys, everyone just needs to lay off and stop being so cynical. You're all idiots, and IC is totally solid."

edit:

[manfrednissley]

This reminds me somewhat of some odyssey episodes. ie blackguard!