If you haven't seen the video and aren't familiar with the cause, let me fill you in just a pinch. Joseph Kony is the head of the Lord's Resistance Army, which is a guerilla group in Uganda. For decades, Kony and his army have abducted small children and put guns in their hands, often forcing them to murder their own parents. Estimates on the number of children that have been abducted and made into foot soldiers go as high as over one hundred thousand. !!!!
Well, why does Kony need these child soldiers? What is the war that he is fighting? The simplest answer is that there is none! Kony wants to remain in power so he can "fight for the 10 Commandments" and in order to do that, the people need to be afraid. How can we achieve this? By abducting their children, murdering family and neighbors, and disfiguring those they've spared.
So Invisible Children made this created this video and started an Internet Campaign to "make Kony famous." The idea behind the campaign is that people, especially ignorant Americans, are not aware of this man and his despicable actions. The ultimate goal of making Kony famous is to keep the 100 members of US military in Uganda, where they are working with local forces to track Kony down and bring him to justice. In the eyes of Invisible Children, the military members will be brought home if the United States government doesn't think that this is an issue that matters to the American people.
Now that we've gotten through the simplest version of background information, I've finally arrived to my actual soapbox.
When I watched the video, I felt nothing less than completely moved. I thought it was beautifully made and that the message was solid. I felt ashamed that I didn't already know who Joseph Kony was and that our government and others hadn't already done something to stop him. That is not to say that I think we should wage a full on war with the LRA, and I don't believe that Invisible Children is advocating that either, but surely there is more that could have been done in the 20+ years that he's been in power.
I thought it was moving and almost miraculous that members of our complacent generation would get on board so quickly with a cause that does nothing to directly benefit our selfish selves. I found it unsurprising and almost maddening that, on the other side of the coin, so many people would instantly criticize the video and the campaign.
In response to posting the video on my Facebook wall, a friend of mine linked to an article on one of my favorite blogs, Jezebel, that essentially ripped the entire campaign to shreds and threw out personal insults ["Invisble Children is staffed by douchebags"]. IC is ripped for not spending their money in a way that is pleasing to the writer of the article [based on info the writer got from Charity Navigator]. I personally have not donated money to the cause and have thus far only re-posted the video, but my thoughts on that matter of money are that I have never run a non-profit organization and most likely, neither has the writer. I have no idea what is the best way for Invisible Children or the Red Cross or the Salvation Army to spend their money in order to most effectively help those in need. I have no idea, and you probably don't either.
What I do know, thanks to a buddy of mine who traveled with IC, is that they are getting the word out about these issues, and they are doing it mostly by sending groups of young people around the country and having them speak at various schools and events. I know for a fact that they made an incredible impact on Oprah and that would not have been possible without using some funds for travel, correct?
Despite my rambles, there is a point to this post. Every day we all have a choice as to how we will act and who we will be. We can be good people or bad people. We can be believers or we can be cynics. We can be informed and spread a deserving message or we can make fun of a situation. That is not to say that you should take any viral campaign at face value-question everything! But even if you don't feel the desire to donate or spread the word, think twice before cutting down a cause just because you can.
Rant over [for now].
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