[url]http://ilto.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-visible-problem-with-invisible-children/[/url]
Also, some fun data on what they actually spent last years donations on: [url]http://www.twitlonger.com/show/ga9f3f[/url]
[QUOTE]Invisible Children (IC) swept the university campuses of America last year. The group wanted to mobilize college students to be aware of what happened in Uganda in recent years, the atrocious acts of Joseph Kony and his rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). I heard about Invisible Children for the first time when I was researching Uganda. I was immediately fascinated by their website. It’s very well done, but I noticed one thing. It lacked real information. If you haven’t seen the film or know nothing about their purpose, let me catch you up to speed with my version. Three clueless college kids head to Sudan with no plans and no idea about what they’re going to find. They’re looking for a “story”. They leave Sudan and make their way into Uganda. They find some bad stuff going on there. So they made a MTV-esque DVD about what was happening there. They wanted to draw attention to what they found.
So far, this sounds good. However, there is a major, major problem. I’m going to compare what IC is doing to an analogy that I thought of this past summer when I was Uganda thinking about this issue. Imagine that today you heard about what happened in NYC and Washington DC on September 11, 2001 for the first time. You were shown a video of footage from that day. You saw the planes hit the towers, you heard President Bush’s address, you saw the Pentagon wreckage, you watch in horror as you see people plunge to their death, jumping from the burning towers. Now imagine that you are inspired by this disaster. You want to something to help. What if you went to NYC today, expecting to see piles of rubble to clean up? What if you went, expecting that there would be thousands of people in the streets crying, looking for loved ones? But what would happen when you arrived and discovered that there was none of this, but a whole host of other problems?
And back to Uganda. Uganda is no longer experiencing violence from the LRA. Yes, I said it. It’s an uncomfortable truth, but it is a truth. For about the last year, since before IC hit the scene, Kony and his troops have been pushed into Congo, into the Garamba National Forest there. He’s sick, starving, and on his last legs. For the first time, Uganda is in the middle of real peace talks and the rebels have laid down their arms and are assembling to make peace. Why? This is happening because Joseph Kony was defeated. The Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) has beaten them back and Kony was sitting in Congo starving to death. Since March 2002, the UPDF has been allowed to carry out raids against the LRA into Southern Sudan and has even crossed into Congo, to the distress of most of the African community. Nonetheless, Operation Iron Fist, as this military offensive was called, has freed many child soldiers and sex slaves and brought them back to Uganda. The rebels again became very violent in 2003, but since 2004, the Ugandan government has been repeatedly beating the rebels and weakening them. Uganda is no longer allowed to enter Sudan or Congo to fight the LRA.
Invisible Children was founded in 2004, with the film crew filming in Uganda in 2003. Watching Invisible Children is watching old news. Will watching it alert you to what has occurred in Uganda? Yes, but it will not let you know what is happening there today.
Invisible Children is too late. It has taught us that MTV type media can get university students interested in a world crisis, the problem is it took too much time. Night commuting, outlined as one of the major problems in northern Uganda by the film, is practically non-existent now. Why? Peace is coming to the region. According to UN reports, children who still are commuting at night are not doing it because of safety concerns, but because they want to enjoy the amenities that NGO’s are offering in the towns, like Gulu, Kitgum, and Lira. At the peak of the commuting, there were between 30,000 and 40,000 children commuting. Now, estimates are below 10,000.
The scars of the 20 year conflict are everywhere in northern Uganda. I walked through internally displaced person (IDP) camps. I smelled, I listened, I saw, I touched, I tasted. I experienced Uganda. I saw people whose lives had been radically changed. I placed my hands on a woman whose lips had been cut off by the LRA. I walked with children whose parents had been killed. I sat on the foundation of a hut burned down by the LRA. I talked with people whose relatives had been abducted. I walked over land guarded by the UPDF. The landscape, the people, and the country itself has an immense burden to deal with.
Uganda has problems today. Their government is ridden with corruption. There are people still living in fear in IDP camps, afraid that violence will again return to their land. The education system is inadequate and many do not have the chance to go to school. For those who do work their way through the school system, there is a good chance that there will not be a job for them when they get even a university degree. Why doesn’t anyone want to do something about these problems? Why will thousands of people participate in IC’s Global Night Commute but not take the time to actually find out what is going on in Uganda today?
There have been many inspired to do more than just watch a DVD and sleep downtown for a night. However, that’s where we run into another problem. This summer, IC had a bunch of college students in northern Uganda wasting time and money. There were almost 30 people who were in Uganda this summer connected with IC and even more who were inspired to change the world and fly around it. That also sounds somewhat heart warming. Self centered American kids are flying around the world to change it. The catch is they don’t know what they are doing or where they are going. They are blindly making a problem worse by throwing thousands of dollars at something they don’t understand.
When I traveled into Southern Sudan, you could sense something was different there. There is a greedy spirit there that you can feel. Foreign aid had ruined South Sudan. People do not want to work, they want handouts. An entire generation has been cared for by the UN and other NGO’s. They are fed, clothed, protected, and sent to school without having to do anything. I walked through the market there and saw UNICEF tarps and blankets for sale. I could also buy Samaritan’s Purse shoe-boxes, filled with all sorts of American goodies. I thought back how I thought it was a good idea for me to send a shoebox filled with soap, toothpaste, bouncy balls, and a washcloth to a faraway land. What I realize now is that sending things, whether money, objects, or people to a place that I have no information on is a bad idea.
The problems that Uganda faces today cannot be fixed by hundreds of uneducated Westerners going there to “help”. As you read this article, think about how much you really know about the political situations in Uganda and throughout Africa that contribute to long lasting problems.
Africa as a whole needs to break free from foreign aid. Almost half of Uganda’s yearly budget is made up of foreign aid. I think that many of Uganda’s problems stem from its reliance on foreign support. If you want to read more on that, check out a Ugandan journalist named Andrew Mwenda. The aid to African nations is increasing the corruption there and encouraging these nations to continue this dependence on foreign nations and it does not encourage them to become totally self sufficient. When asked what rich nations should do to help Africa, Mwenda said,
So what is the solution? I’ve now written the first negative article I can find about Invisible Children. I also have suggested that we should think about cutting foreign aid and debt relief to African nations.
If you’ve seen the old news that Uganda has to offer and are disturbed, I encourage you to do some research and find out what is really going on in Uganda. I spent months before I went to Uganda researching the country. I talked to many people on the phone or with Skype, I emailed countless others, I read books, I monitored the news. If you want to find out what the situation is really like, find out. Don’t blindly fly yourself to a developing country like a Western idiot. I would also suggest finding out more about organizations that you support that work in foreign countries. Find out what their relationships are like with the local people and find out how they are grooming local people to take over their group. No aid organization should plan to be somewhere forever. If they do, they are not focused on solving the problem they are there to address.
Do not be fooled by slick video editing. Sleeping outside in downtown Pittsburgh will not help anyone who is still night commuting in northern Uganda. Perhaps you are now aware that there is a problem, perhaps you know that there is more to this world than just your country, your state, and your little hometown. What you may not know is that the US government is not going to get involved if it doesn’t benefit the American people. Remember Rwanda? It is up to you to figure out how to deal with this knowledge and the knowledge that your warm and fuzzy thoughts are not going to be the solution to this.
As of today, Uganda is still in a tedious peace process with the LRA, with both sides accusing each other of violating peace agreements. The good news is that they are still in the peace process and they’re doing it without the help of a foreign country that will attempt to benefit from the talks. Instead, using Rick Machar and South Sudan is helping to build ties with all those in that region. The LRA and the UPDF have now signed a second peace accord and hopefully this one will result in successful peace.
As I have written this over the past couple of months, I’m disappointed that I cannot offer a real solution to this problem. I wish that I had the answers for Uganda and those of you who are interested in doing something to help the people there. Unfortunately, I feel that I have done little more than to highlight problems there and then problems with our response to their problems. I learned so much while I was there, but I still have a lot that I can learn.[/QUOTE]
College students be retarded as fuck yo, damn those corny ass bitches piss me off
It's neat how people are so easily swayed by things like invisible children. Watch a 30 minute video and you're suddenly the foremost expert on humanitarianism.
there's like 3 threads now, just post this in the kony 2012 thread in GD
[QUOTE=AnalAnnihilator;35045149]It's neat how people are so easily swayed by things like invisible children. Watch a 30 minute video and you're suddenly the foremost expert on humanitarianism.[/QUOTE]
Precisely, these guys are great marketers they masked it perfectly so the common person can feel like they're doing something when, in reality, they are not.
This is why I don't get involved in something big like this. I like to see what happens after the initial "push" if you will. Now I'm aware of Kony, but I'm certain if I actually do anything, it won't be through IC.
This is a source from 2006. Still, it shows how long they've been doing this.
While this article is informative, I dislike it's condescending tone.
There is nothing wrong with being inspired by a video and wanting to help or do the right thing.
You can't really blame college students or anyone for that matter for being active seeing as the news isn't really reporting such events that much and most of the people involved where prolly kids when the LRA was a big issue. One of the reasons the video became so popular is because of the style it was formatted in, it was engaging and gave people bite sized chunks of information. That information gave people the power to make a decision and became empowered.
Ignorance isn't stupidity.
By no means should anyone feel bad for wanting to help or better another country or be a humanitarian. Though I'm going to take this blog with a grain of salt, and in all fairness this was posted in 2006.
Uh, both don't show any sources.
And the twitlonger thing is just a post from some random guy.
Also like to point out he did his math wrong.
I kinda knew by instinct that there was something really, really wrong with IC when this kony bs popped up
e: well kony 2012 to be specific
invisible children sure as hell played their cards right.
all of that "occupy whatever" crap's left kids feeling like they're the leading force for change - and now IC's taken advantage of it, so everybody can feel like they're part of the game. it's just stupid. these people think they're the new 60s counter-culture or something - they can't even see how badly the people higher up have played them.
it's just absolutely shameful.
I dont see the problem in useful propaganda, they spread a message and so people who listened go down to help re build villages and spread awareness about it. Its just an ad campaign, a really good one as it inspires one to help.
[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;35045337]I dont see the problem in useful propaganda, they spread a message and so people who listened go down to help re build villages and spread awareness about it. Its just an ad campaign, a really good one as it inspires one to help.[/QUOTE]
Exactly, apparently it's because of them that there were 100 troops sent to Uganda to help capture him. You guys make it sound like they take all the donations and don't do anything with them and nothing good at all has happened because of them. If they are actually doing something good (which it looks like they are since they got Obama to send 100 troops) then can someone explain what's exactly wrong?
[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;35045337]I dont see the problem in useful propaganda, they spread a message and so people who listened go down to help re build villages and spread awareness about it. Its just an ad campaign, a really good one as it inspires one to help.[/QUOTE]
Well, it sounds good on paper, but most people are just being armchair activists. They share the video on Facebook and next week I bet this whole thing will have already blown over. I know nobody on my Facebook friends who's shared the video will take any further action - that's not to say there aren't people who won't do actual stuff to help, but most of it is just people doing a fire and forget.
[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;35045337]I dont see the problem in useful propaganda, they spread a message and so people who listened go down to help re build villages and spread awareness about it. Its just an ad campaign, a really good one as it inspires one to help.[/QUOTE]
selling poster kits and t-shirts doesn't help, especially when only a quarter of the profit actually goes to uganda (we're talking $5 a kit)
[QUOTE=Protocol7;35045382]Well, it sounds good on paper, but most people are just being armchair activists. They share the video on Facebook and next week I bet this whole thing will have already blown over. I know nobody on my Facebook friends who's shared the video will take any further action - that's not to say there aren't people who won't do actual stuff to help, but most of it is just people doing a fire and forget.[/QUOTE]
Yes and I have seen people at my school talking about it today and telling others who asked about it since everyone was just wondering what it was. I know most of those people won't do anything but as long as there are some people who do something about it because of this then that makes this a good thing, just because there are people who will forget doesn't make it entirely worthless.
[QUOTE=Mon;35045400]selling poster kits and t-shirts doesn't help, especially when only a quarter of the profit actually goes to uganda (we're talking $5 a kit)[/QUOTE]
Isn't the point of buying the poster kits to raise awareness and place them somewhere and not about giving $5 to Uganda?
[QUOTE=Mon;35045400]selling poster kits and t-shirts doesn't help, especially when only a quarter of the profit actually goes to uganda (we're talking $5 a kit)[/QUOTE]
And this. It's a noble cause - but I'm not sure it does any actual good past raising awareness, and if the article in the OP is true, the Kony and LRA problem isn't even a problem anymore, so what good does money and awareness even do?
I can't help but feel like most people "contribute" so they have some sort of sense of self-importance.
[QUOTE=bobsynergy;35045430]
Isn't the point of buying the poster kits to raise awareness and place them somewhere and not about giving $5 to Uganda?[/QUOTE]
there's enough awareness already- hell, it's even gotten on cnn. people know about it. now they just need to get tired of it, and move on to the next flavour of the month. like really, how's haiti doing? i bet k'naan sure helped, didn't he
[editline]7th March 2012[/editline]
shit, i know that sounds cynical but i just can't stand it when people play on other people's good will. especially when they do it to make money.
[QUOTE=Mon;35045503]there's enough awareness already- hell, it's even gotten on cnn. people know about it. now they just need to get tired of it, and move on to the next flavour of the month.
[editline]7th March 2012[/editline]
shit, i know that sounds cynical but i just can't stand it when people play on other people's good will. especially when they do it to make money.[/QUOTE]
I'd rather have cynicism than blind acceptance.
I don't know firsthand what it's like in Uganda - but if I really wanted to change something I'd do something more than donate $5 (which mostly probably goes to production costs) or make a post on Facebook.
What's so bad about raising awareness? This isn't like your "Change FB profile pic to cartoon for child abuse". A majority of the people in the world have no clue this is happening. I probably wouldn't have had the Invisible Children people not sent someone to our school. So maybe Kony isn't a problem anymore. This can still get people to actually try and do something for Africa. It's like the earthquake in Haiti. Not many people seemed to care that it was the poorest country in the world until the earthquake struck. It brought more attention to them and people decided to donate.
[QUOTE=abananapeel;35045558]What's so bad about raising awareness? This isn't like your "Change FB profile pic to cartoon for child abuse". A majority of the people in the world have no clue this is happening. I probably wouldn't have had the Invisible Children people not sent someone to our school. So maybe Kony isn't a problem anymore. This can still get people to actually try and do something for Africa. It's like the earthquake in Haiti. Not many people seemed to care that it was the poorest country in the world until the earthquake struck. It brought more attention to them and people decided to donate.[/QUOTE]
There's nothing wrong with raising awareness - I don't know where anyone said anything else.
The problem lies in the fact that something doesn't become important until something like the KONY 2012 video happens, or the earthquake in Haiti. Don't you find it in poor taste that people otherwise wouldn't care?
[editline]7th March 2012[/editline]
Or, rather, is it not disgusting that people blindly take action without doing any research on their own?
where i live, there is an invisible children high school club that holds "benefit raves" every 2 months or so. there have been 3 so far with 1 on the way. when the first came around, i had no idea it was even happening, so i never went. when the second came around, i decided i would go just to see what it was like. it was all local dubstep artists, and i don't mind dubstep so it seemed pretty ok. i figured, "hey, it's dubstep, it can't be that hard to fuck up can it?". so i go with a friend, we walk up to the venue doors at 7. another guy was at the door with us. we ask if we can come in and we're told "it's supposed to start at 8". this guy has a water bottle though. but there's no water in it. she asks what's in it and he tells her "booze". so she takes a sip, and let's him in. right away, we're getting an idea of what this is going to be like. so me and my friend are waiting for an hour at some coffee shop until we finally are allowed in. first thing i notice is that the music is incredibly boring. unenergetic, overall uninteresting. so we kind of hang around for a while until more of our friends show up. we decide to leave the venue for a while. so, we later decided that we wanted to go back in. now, on the event page, we were told that we would be given wristbands and allowed entry and re-entry. we walk back to the venue, and are told that if we want to come back in, we have to stay in. no getting out. we decide "fuck it". about 30 minutes later, the whole place starts clearing out and cops were there. someone was trying to steal alcohol from the bar at the venue. overall, the event was a complete trainwreck, although they still hold them. i doubt i'll ever go to another. apparently, the event almost didn't happen because the school club thing couldn't even show any kind of charity certification.
[quote]For about the last year, since before IC hit the scene, Kony and his troops have been pushed into Congo, into the Garamba National Forest there. He’s sick, starving, and on his last legs. For the first time, Uganda is in the middle of real peace talks and the rebels have laid down their arms and are assembling to make peace. Why? This is happening because Joseph Kony was defeated. The Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) has beaten them back and Kony was sitting in Congo starving to death.[/quote]
6 years later: How's that whole "he's on his last legs" thing working out for ya?
[editline]7th March 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=hoolyrocket;35045626]where i live, there is an invisible children high school club that holds "benefit raves" every 2 months or so. there have been 3 so far with 1 on the way. when the first came around, i had no idea it was even happening, so i never went. when the second came around, i decided i would go just to see what it was like. it was all local dubstep artists, and i don't mind dubstep so it seemed pretty ok. i figured, "hey, it's dubstep, it can be that hard to fuck up can it?". so i go with a friend, we walk up to the venue doors at 7. another guy was at the door with us. we ask if we can come in and we're told "it's supposed to start at 8". this guy has a water bottle though. but there's no water in it. she asks what's in it and he tells her "booze". so she takes a sip, and let's him in. right away, we're getting an idea of what this is going to be like. so me and my friend are waiting for an hour at some coffee shop until we finally are allowed in. first thing i notice is that the music is incredibly boring. unenergetic, overall uninteresting. so we kind of hang around for a while until more of our friends show up. we decide to leave the venue for a while. so, we later decided that we wanted to go back in. now, on the event page, we were told that we would be given wristbands and allowed entry and re-entry. we walk back to the venue, and are told that if we want to come back in, we have to stay in. no getting out. we decide "fuck it". about 30 minutes later, the whole place starts clearing out and cops were there. someone was trying to steal alcohol from the bar at the venue. overall, the event was a complete trainwreck, although they still hold them. i doubt i'll ever go to another. apparently, the event almost didn't happen because the school club thing couldn't even show any kind of charity certification.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for that wonderfully relevant story.
So relevant.
[QUOTE=Last or First;35045637]6 years later: How's that whole "he's on his last legs" thing working out for ya?
[editline]7th March 2012[/editline]
Thank you for that wonderfully relevant story.
So relevant.[/QUOTE]
it's relevant to the subject of the "invisible children" organization
Kony has been an official problem since 2001, unofficially longer before hand, this is fake outrage.
If people really wanted to take action, they'd have done so ages ago.
[editline]8th March 2012[/editline]
Hell, donate to the Dallarie foundation, they at least do something. Invisible Children doesn't use their money for humanitarianism.
[QUOTE=bobsynergy;35045371]Exactly, apparently it's because of them that there were 100 [b]advisors[/b] sent to Uganda to help capture him. You guys make it sound like they take all the donations and don't do anything with them and nothing good at all has happened because of them. If they are actually doing something good (which it looks like they are since they got Obama to send 100 [b]advisors[/b]) then can someone explain what's exactly wrong?[/QUOTE]
Here's a quote from Obama about the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Ugandan Recovery Act.
[quote=Obamar]I congratulate Congress for seizing on this important issue, and I congratulate the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have mobilized to respond to this unique crisis of conscience. We have heard from the advocacy organizations, non-governmental organizations, faith-based groups, humanitarian actors who lack access, and those who continue to work on this issue in our own government. We have seen your reporting, your websites, your blogs, and your video postcards -- you have made the plight of the children visible to us all. Your action represents the very best of American leadership around the world, and we are committed to working with you in pursuit of the future of peace and dignity that the people of who have suffered at the hands of the LRA deserve.
[url]http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-signing-lords-resistance-army-disarmament-and-northern-uganda-r[/url]
[/quote]
It was a combined effort by multiple groups. There was even some minor political controversy around it. ([url]http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2011/10/14/obama_invades_uganda_targets_christians[/url])
IC, besides sending less than half of donations to Uganda or any other relief effort/nations, are trying to achieve a goal that does nothing in the way of helping the impoverished people of Africa. It only hypes up this random war lord who has been long defeated. Arresting and prosecuting him would be nice, though.
There are a lot more pressing matters in Uganda and around the world, and if you want to help the best thing to do--save going and assisting in relief efforts yourself would be to donate to a reputable charity/relief effort, like the one mentioned in the 2012 update of the article.
And my initial impulse to not care to read into this was correct.
I have saved myself valuable time, time that I will use to continue doing fuck all with my life.
[QUOTE=goon165;35045922]And my initial impulse to not care to read into this was correct.
I have saved myself valuable time, time that I will use to continue doing fuck all with my life.[/QUOTE]
Congrats, want a medal?
Red pill or blue pill, entirely up to you.
[QUOTE=goon165;35045922]And my initial impulse to not care to read into this was correct.
I have saved myself valuable time, time that I will use to continue doing fuck all with my life.[/QUOTE]
You truly are, this whole fiasco is such mighty bullshit. They want to proliferate this name for no good reason, besides 'wur helpin afriak'
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