My issue with the whole Kony 2012 thing going on right now.

[Torrasque]

Ok, I have something to say about this before I talk about this (which even I find odd, but just bear with me).

I don't care about your support of Kony, I don't care if you hate the guy, I don't care if you know nothing about the situation. This rant topic is for all of you, so I don't want to see flame wars breaking out about the subject I am raging about. I hope that makes sense. I know some people will ignore that, but whatever.

Now, I think the only thing that has resulted from all of this shit about Kony and Invisible Children, is that people realize how much they hate each other. I just finished talking to a friend of mine for an hour, about how her very good friend of 7 years decided to un-friend her and post hateful facebook messages, just because she doesn't support IC (Invisible Children). Now, I've lost some very good friends over some trivial shit, but never as trivial as that. I don't know how good the relationship my friend and her friend had, but to de-friend someone you have known for 7 years because you don't support an organization that you have serious problems with? That is just ridiculous. Even as I make this thread, one of my best friends is taking flak from one of HIS friends for his post about how much he hates this whole Kony shit.

This is not a localized incident either. I am sure those of you with Facebook or Twitter have seen the explosion of people spreading the "KONY 2012" or "Omg guize, Invisible Children NEEDS our support!". For fuck sake, one of the top rated comments on a HDStarcraft cast of a game released yesterday was "KONY 2012"... ON A FUCKING STARCRAFT 2 VIDEO!!!

I understand that a lot of people are up in arms about how this is a serious problem and that it needs to be fixed asap. I also understand that a lot of people think that this is a load of shit that is just a way to steal money from gullible people. Whatever anyone thinks about this, this whole fucking thing is just causing problems.

I made a topic a while ago called <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.351902-Do-you-feel-bad-about-the-starving-kids-in-Africa?page=6#13942103>"Do you feel bad about the starving kids in Africa?" that asked if you gave a damn about the starving kids in Africa. Responses were mixed, with most people saying they felt bad about it but didn't do anything about it, and a few people saying they donated and supported the kids any ways they could, with a small minority of people flat out saying they didn't give a flying fuck. Now if you ask me, this Kony thing is almost identical to the issue of starving kids in Africa. But why are people so up in arms about this?!

The disgusting irony of this thread is that it just draws more attention to the Kony issue, which I really don't want to do. But since there are 6-7 threads about the exact same thing, why not eh?

 

[xDarc]

I haven't watched the video. But I discussed the summary with my girlfriend after reading this and a couple other threads. The first thing she said to me was why should she give a fuck about children in Uganda when we have all kinds of horrible shit happening to kids in (our own country) America?

- We live in the Detroit burbs, and some of you may scoff about the plight of American kids versus Ugandan kids- on a whole, maybe- but just last week a 9 month old was killed by a guy who sprayed 40 rounds into a house one morning. So point being- horrible shit happens everywhere... it may be concentrated in Uganda, but America- or other places- likely have their share of evil to go around. -

So after her bit about why care; I said yeah, but you can't talk about it like that- because horrible shit that happens is equally horrible wherever, and when people get emotionally swept up in it you can't say stuff like that to them. You can say it to me, but if you said it on facebook expect to catch a world of shit. She said she knew she would and we both decided the best thing to do is just say nothing, let people send their money, and then forget about it in a month or two like usual.

 

[Princess_Dee]

It's a hipster thing.
A trending topic.

I agree with xDarc; the best thing to do is keep your mouth shut. You are not going to change someone's mind either way. Attempting to convince a heartbroken teen to disregard his/her natural reactive feelings is pointless. Attempting to convince a hardened cynic to donate his/her hard earned money is pointless.

Ignore it. Be as calm as possible.
Good luck.

 

[Torrasque]

*snip*

Can I just say that your girlfriend is really awesome? That is the EXACT position that I feel.
Sure shitty shit in Uganda sucks, but people should concern themselves with issues closer to home, stuff in their own backyards, before they direct their attention to the world's issues.

 

[Logiclul]

The actual KONY organization is no longer something which we should be worried about.

What the REAL news story should be is that there is a lot of domestic and awful crimes going on in Uganda. But the problem is that everyone already knows this, and just can't do anything great, and prefer to be sheltered (not that this is bad; worrying about Uganda kids is a waste of thought for an extended period of time).

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Be happy if you aren't at a college or University right now. The shit's going around like the common cold.

 

[daveman247]

Be happy if you aren't at a college or University right now. The shit's going around like the common cold.

The reaction at my uni is surprisingly small. Very few people have talked about it

 

[eels05]

Who and how exactly do they intend to catch the guy to bring him to justice,without having to shoot down an untold number of his now slightly older child soldiers? Would that not contradict the purpose of this movement?
A guy like that would not hand himself over to whatever passes as authority in that part of the world without a fight,assuming it would come to that.

Sinced this whole thing hit the net I've seen two interviews with former child soldiers who,while not doubting the movements good intentions,claim the situation in Uganda has changed and money thrown at this would be better spent on one of those sponser a child programs.Who am i to question their experience in this matter.

I recall the video seemed to target itself mainly at youth,this whole experiment runs the risk of tipping young peoples levels of empathy into cynicism if nothing comes of it.

 

[ElPatron]

Be happy if you aren't at a college or University right now. The shit's going around like the common cold.

Glad I am in Engineering.

Everyone knows the crappier those countries are, the more money we will earn after getting the diploma.

EDIT: Therefore, nobody talks about it. Forgot that part.

 

[wooty]

To be honest I'm sick of being linked to it every 10 minutes. Or everyone being, "ohhhh its wrong", if people really gave a shit then they would of gone out of their way to look it up and not just lazily wait for someone to facebook/twatter them it.

But there is a modern trend spreading over the last few years, which I feel requires its own song:-

"Onward internet warriors, typing as to blog,
with the Iphone of Jobs blogging on before.
Twitter the web master, post shit on my wall;
forward to into the web to-show-the-world-that-we-give-a-shit-but-are-actually-trying-to-win-some-social-points-and-internet-cred-which-means-fuck-all-if-you-think-about-it".

 

[For.I.Am.Mad]

Kony highlights the fact that you shouldn't blindly follow the tweets of well meaning but misinformed celebrities. Dude hasn't been in Uganda for 6 years.

There's also something insincere about this whole thing. I can't quite place it but I know it's there.

 

[JoJo]

Who and how exactly do they intend to catch the guy to bring him to justice,without having to shoot down an untold number of his now slightly older child soldiers? Would that not contradict the purpose of this movement?
A guy like that would not hand himself over to whatever passes as authority in that part of the world without a fight,assuming it would come to that.

I don't know enough about the whole Kony and IC thing to make a general comment but I can answer this query. In theory some child soldiers being killed in an assassination of Kony wouldn't contradict the purpose of the movement if you take into account the greater good of his death. In other words, it might be worth say 20 children losing their lives in defence of Kony if that then prevents 200 children getting their families murdered and being recruited by him in the future. That's not to say that it definitely is worth taking military action since I don't know enough about the situation to judge that but in theory it could be worth it.

 

[Surpheal]

"Onward internet warriors, typing as to blog,
with the Iphone of Jobs blogging on before.
Twitter the web master, post shit on my wall;
forward to into the web to-show-the-world-that-we-give-a-shit-but-are-actually-trying-to-win-some-social-points-and-internet-cred-which-means-fuck-all-if-you-think-about-it".

Quite the catchy tune if I do say so myself

but then again I am tone deaf and the only steady beat that I can hold is keeping my heart beating, and even then I have a very light heart beat

 

[Blunderboy]

What the hell is Kony?

Honestly I have no idea what you lot are talking about.
And ignorance is bliss.

 

[DailonCmann]

Usually, I'm right up there with you cynics. If the purpose of the video would be to say, get people to go to rebuild Africa, donate money to Japan, or raise funds for breast cancer by selling pink rubber bands, but the point of this group is to keep the public talking about it so it can lobby congress more effectively. Simply by being outraged and talking about it, the public serves as a way for IC to go, "Look, people do care. We need to do something about it." The donations and all that help, but that's not what it's about. Simply by talking about Kony, the internet is serving it's purpose. The IC goes to congress, congress continues to authorize troops to train the people of Uganda and the surrounding countries Kony has moved into, and eventually he is caught by the troops of the country he is in. I would say that using these as the guidelines for success, it's done fairly well.

 

[StBishop]

I haven't watched the video. But I discussed the summary with my girlfriend after reading this and a couple other threads. The first thing she said to me was why should she give a fuck about children in Uganda when we have all kinds of horrible shit happening to kids in (our own country) America?

- We live in the Detroit burbs, and some of you may scoff about the plight of American kids versus Ugandan kids- on a whole, maybe- but just last week a 9 month old was killed by a guy who sprayed 40 rounds into a house one morning. So point being- horrible shit happens everywhere... it may be concentrated in Uganda, but America- or other places- likely have their share of evil to go around. -

So after her bit about why care; I said yeah, but you can't talk about it like that- because horrible shit that happens is equally horrible wherever, and when people get emotionally swept up in it you can't say stuff like that to them. You can say it to me, but if you said it on facebook expect to catch a world of shit. She said she knew she would and we both decided the best thing to do is just say nothing, let people send their money, and then forget about it in a month or two like usual.

I know you've not seen the video so I'm saying this with as much respect as I can (touchy topic and all) but you really don't know what's going on obviously (it's not about kids in Uganda, it's about kids in central Africa in general, Kony isn't even in Uganda and hasn't been for over 4 years) and talking about it without any knowledge is adding to the entire problem and leading to misinformed debate.

OT: I support the idea, I support the cause, I support the methods, I also understand all of the criticisms and I feel - on balance - that it's better to share the video and do nothing else than to ignore it.

I recognise the campaign for what it is and I have respect for it, but I don't have any ill will toward someone who doesn't share my views.

 

[RustlessPotato]

It's getting annoying because 90% of those people who share stuff like that on facebook don't really care about/forget about after 5 minutes. To me it's just a way for people to take away their guilt that they don't do anything about it.

 

[Pat8u]

It's not going to do anything but waste a whole load of paper on those posters
Shouldn't the african government deal with there own problems

 

[Keymik]

I'm just joining up with the Kony event on 20 april to put up posters all over my own town. I don't really care that much, i just want to put posters up everywhere >