Ignorance is bliss but empowers pure evil.
If you've gotten as far as my blog, surely you have come across the talk about Kony, or at least I hope you have. I haven't seen one hashtag or video shared more quickly or vastly as this one has. In less than a week, it's views on YouTube have jumped from fewer than 1000 to over 7.3 (5 hours later updated to) 11.6 million, most of which are 13-25 year old girls, followed by 13-17 year old guys. And for that, I am proud of my generation.
(If you're clueless of this video I speak of, you might want to watch before you continue reading)
Now, with every viral video comes the commentary against it. I'd love to jump to conclusions, call them haters, but honestly, that's no way to be open-minded. So, I read a lot of their critiques on Invisible Children to try an understand why they're against an organization who wants to lock-up the leader of the LRA, who has been and will continue to force small boys to kill and to enslave little girls for sex.
The editorials against the Kony2012 campaign call out Invisible Children for spending their money on mostly screenings and videos instead of direct resources to Africans. Okay, Mr. Editor guy, sure this looks sketchy, but Invisible Children's motive is about getting the news out to my generation to create a lasting chance, not just a quick fix of a home that the children can be stolen out of again.
The second critique, which is a fairly common thread among the articles, blamed the video makers and IC on having the "Savior" or "White Man" complex. Okay, I'm sorry but this made me laugh. I highly doubt that 7.3 viewers are all white. Actually by the statistics, a large percentage of the views are in China. Invisible Children's efforts are to utilize a generation of people, regardless of race or country of residence, with a passion to end the injustices happening in east Africa in a wave-like fashion to "capture or kill" Joseph Kony.
Now, I am not saying that this Kony2012 Campaign will end the horrible horrible horrible things happening to the children there, nor bring about justice to this situation by taking another's life. But, in my opinion, it is better to make efforts toward justice than step away because Invisible Children's plan isn't perfect.
This war against Kony and the inadequacies of the Ugandan leaders to stop such atrocities has been going on for 20+ years. It is complex, the answer is not simple nor quickly accomplished. Yet for far too long, the world stood back scratching their heads not knowing the solutions and decided it was far too complex of an issue to get involved with. In the mean time, THOUSANDS of children have been stolen, raped, and turned into murders.
I don't want to mislead. Improvements have been made in recent years due to grassroot efforts, American military involvement (some fails and some successes), international efforts to lock up the top evil men, and the cry of millions of teens and young adults to stop the heart-wrenching situations in Uganda and other east African countries. But there are still children out there being treated with absolute wretchedness. And I do not want to lighten my support against Kony because fewer children are under his control.
Say what you want, Editor Men, about the imperfect plans of Invisible Children, but they are doing a hell of a lot more than you are doing to change this horrible situation.
I liked this guy's approch when he said "Change may not be able to happen overnight, but awareness can." Mission accomplished on that, Invisible Children and fellow social media users. Yet, the triumph of evil will remain as planned as long as we do nothing, fully aware or not. So sign the pledge, use your gifts and talents to keep the support from fading in months to come, plan to get involved with the propoganda, and pray your little hearts out for Joseph Kony.
(If you're clueless of this video I speak of, you might want to watch before you continue reading)
Now, with every viral video comes the commentary against it. I'd love to jump to conclusions, call them haters, but honestly, that's no way to be open-minded. So, I read a lot of their critiques on Invisible Children to try an understand why they're against an organization who wants to lock-up the leader of the LRA, who has been and will continue to force small boys to kill and to enslave little girls for sex.
The editorials against the Kony2012 campaign call out Invisible Children for spending their money on mostly screenings and videos instead of direct resources to Africans. Okay, Mr. Editor guy, sure this looks sketchy, but Invisible Children's motive is about getting the news out to my generation to create a lasting chance, not just a quick fix of a home that the children can be stolen out of again.
The second critique, which is a fairly common thread among the articles, blamed the video makers and IC on having the "Savior" or "White Man" complex. Okay, I'm sorry but this made me laugh. I highly doubt that 7.3 viewers are all white. Actually by the statistics, a large percentage of the views are in China. Invisible Children's efforts are to utilize a generation of people, regardless of race or country of residence, with a passion to end the injustices happening in east Africa in a wave-like fashion to "capture or kill" Joseph Kony.
Now, I am not saying that this Kony2012 Campaign will end the horrible horrible horrible things happening to the children there, nor bring about justice to this situation by taking another's life. But, in my opinion, it is better to make efforts toward justice than step away because Invisible Children's plan isn't perfect.
This war against Kony and the inadequacies of the Ugandan leaders to stop such atrocities has been going on for 20+ years. It is complex, the answer is not simple nor quickly accomplished. Yet for far too long, the world stood back scratching their heads not knowing the solutions and decided it was far too complex of an issue to get involved with. In the mean time, THOUSANDS of children have been stolen, raped, and turned into murders.
I don't want to mislead. Improvements have been made in recent years due to grassroot efforts, American military involvement (some fails and some successes), international efforts to lock up the top evil men, and the cry of millions of teens and young adults to stop the heart-wrenching situations in Uganda and other east African countries. But there are still children out there being treated with absolute wretchedness. And I do not want to lighten my support against Kony because fewer children are under his control.
Say what you want, Editor Men, about the imperfect plans of Invisible Children, but they are doing a hell of a lot more than you are doing to change this horrible situation.
I liked this guy's approch when he said "Change may not be able to happen overnight, but awareness can." Mission accomplished on that, Invisible Children and fellow social media users. Yet, the triumph of evil will remain as planned as long as we do nothing, fully aware or not. So sign the pledge, use your gifts and talents to keep the support from fading in months to come, plan to get involved with the propoganda, and pray your little hearts out for Joseph Kony.
