• Dangerous ignorance: The hysteria of Kony 2012
    74 replies, posted
[IMG]http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2012/3/12/201231211154760580_20.jpg[/IMG] [B]The video qualifies as irresponsible advocacy by prompting militarisation and detracting from Uganda's real problems.[/B] [quote]Kampala, Uganda - From Kampala, the Kony 2012 hysteria was easy to miss. I'm not on Facebook or Twitter. I don't watch YouTube and the Ugandan papers didn't pick up the story for several days. But what I could not avoid were the hundreds of emails from friends, colleagues, and students in the US about the video by Invisible Children and the massive online response to it. I have not watched the video. As someone who has worked in northern Uganda and researched the war there for more than a decade, much of it with a local human rights organisation based in Gulu, the Invisible Children organisation and their videos have often left me infuriated - I remember the sleepless nights after I watched their "Rough Cut" film for the first time with a group of students, after which I tried to explain to the audience what was wrong with the film while on stage with one of the filmmakers. My frustration with the group has largely reflected the concerns expressed so convincingly by those online critics who have been willing to bring the fury of Invisible Children's true believers down upon themselves in order to point out what is wrong with this group's approach: the warmongering, the narcissism, the commercialisation, the reductive and one-sided story they tell, their portrayal of Africans as helpless children in need of rescue by white Americans. As a result of Invisible Children's irresponsible advocacy, civilians in Uganda and central Africa may have to pay a steep price in their own lives so that a lot of young Americans can feel good about themselves, and a few can make good money. This, of course, is sickening, and I think that Kony 2012 is a case of Invisible Children having finally gone too far. They are now facing a backlash from people of conscience who refuse to abandon their capacity to think for themselves. But, as I said, I wouldn't have known about Kony 2012 if it hadn't been for the emails I've been receiving from the US. And that, I think, is telling. Kony 2012 and the debate around it are not about Uganda, but about America. Uganda is largely just the stage for a debate over the meaning of political activism in the US today. Likewise, in my view, the Kony 2012 campaign itself is basically irrelevant here in Uganda, and perhaps the best approach might be to just ignore it. This is for a couple reasons. First, because Invisible Children's campaign is a symptom, not a cause. It is an excuse that the US government has gladly adopted in order to help justify the expansion of their military presence in central Africa. Invisible Children are "useful idiots", being used by those in the US government who seek to militarise Africa, to send more and more weapons and military aid, and to bolster the power of states who are US allies. The hunt for Joseph Kony is the perfect excuse for this strategy - how often does the US government find millions of young Americans pleading that they intervene militarily in a place rich in oil and other resources? The US government would be pursuing this militarisation with or without Invisible Children - Kony 2012 just makes it a little easier. Therefore, it is the militarisation we need to worry about, not Invisible Children. Second, because in northern Uganda, people's lives will be left untouched by this campaign, even if it were to achieve its stated objectives. This is not because all the problems have been resolved in the years since open fighting ended, but because the very serious problems people face today have little to do with Kony. Inside Story - 'Kony 2012': The future of activism The most significant problem people face is over land. Land speculators and so-called investors, many foreign, in collaboration with the Ugandan government and military, are grabbing the land of the Acholi people, land that the Acholi were forced from a decade ago, when the government herded them into internment camps. Another serious problem is so-called "nodding disease" - a deadly illness that has broken out among thousands of children who had the bad luck to be born and grown in the camps, subsisting on relief aid. Indeed, the problems people face today are the legacy of the camps, where more than a million Acholi were forced to live, and die - for years - by their own government as part of a counterinsurgency that received essential support from the US government and from international aid agencies. Which brings up the question that I am constantly asked in the US: "What can we do?", where "we" tends to mean relatively privileged US citizens. In response, I have a few proposals: The first, perhaps not surprising from a professor, is to learn. The conflict in northern Uganda and central Africa is complicated, but not impossible to understand. For several years, I have taught an undergraduate class on the conflict, and although it takes some time and effort, the students end up being well informed and able to come to their own opinions about what can be done. (I am more than happy to share the syllabus with anyone interested!) In terms of activism, the first step is to re-think the question: Instead of asking how the US can intervene in order to solve Africa's conflicts, we need to ask what we are already doing to cause those conflicts in the first place. How are we, as consumers, contributing to land grabbing and to the wars ravaging this region? How are we, as US citizens, allowing our government to militarise Africa in the name of the "War on Terror" and its effort to secure oil resources? These are the questions that we who represent Kony 2012's target audience must ask ourselves, because we are indeed responsible for the conflict in northern Uganda - responsible for helping to cause and prolong it. It is not, however, our responsibility, as Invisible Children encourages us to believe, to try to end the conflict by sending in military force. In our desire to ameliorate suffering, we must not be complicit in making it worse.[/quote] [url]http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/03/201231284336601364.html[/url] [video=youtube;rU_1jnrj5VI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rU_1jnrj5VI[/video]
IT's like that facebook bullshit "If you like this photo facebook gives 10 bucks to this bullshit" They have noble ambitions but it's not the right way to do things
One of the aspects that I love about the internet is the sometimes hivemind approach to issues that change things in the real world. This just shows that it's easy to move that hivemind to do stupid things too. People don't know shit about how the world works, that's one thing every person has to accept.
I'm sick of seeing this shit. Kony is one of MANY African lords who do these things. I mean this movie came out and nobody did a fucking thing, nobody cared. [img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hDe0y60ayDk/Td_hVD6KtgI/AAAAAAAAKTw/1iKsU7qwnsQ/s1600/blood-diamond+%25281%2529.jpg[/img] And now that since it's on Facebook, you are suddenly a good person and helping out. No, you are not. You're going to be an activist for a week by claiming you are an activist then forget and move on about it. Propaganda people. You want to help out? Shut your laptop and [B]go help[/B].
[QUOTE=Clavus;35148027]One of the aspects that I love about the internet is the sometimes hivemind approach to issues that change things in the real world. This just shows that it's easy to move that hivemind to do stupid things too. People don't know shit about how the world works, that's one thing every person has to accept.[/QUOTE] I think the problem is more that people, not just on the internet, take things at face value without doing any of their own research etc. This is also the reason why a lot of news stations have such an easy time twisting things and getting away with it.
White Saviour Boner 2012.
e drama e drama e drama
anyone that can't tell that KONY2012 is blatant war propaganda needs to stop using the internet for a while. if we ever invade africa because of this video, it won't be to arrest kony.
[QUOTE=Trainbike;35148064]I think the problem is more that people, not just on the internet, take things at face value without doing any of their own research etc. This is also the reason why a lot of news stations have such an easy time twisting things and getting away with it.[/QUOTE] People in this day and age have to process a lot of information every day. It's hard to move people to educate themselves first before passing their personal judgement on these kind of issues.
This entire thread fits my dumbness I should really change my title back.
I refuse to help a charity that actually provides a corrupt government like the Ugandan government with money to buy weapons, it's just irresponsible and reactionary.
[QUOTE=Shiftyze;35148045]I'm sick of seeing this shit. Kony is one of MANY African lords who do these things. I mean this movie came out and nobody did a fucking thing, nobody cared. [img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hDe0y60ayDk/Td_hVD6KtgI/AAAAAAAAKTw/1iKsU7qwnsQ/s1600/blood-diamond+%25281%2529.jpg[/img] And now that since it's on Facebook, you are suddenly a good person and helping out. No, you are not. You're going to be an activist for a week by claiming you are an activist then forget and move on about it. Propaganda people. You want to help out? Shut your laptop and [B]go help[/B].[/QUOTE] well, there's a simple answer for that. It was based off true events, but it put the west at blame. These diamond wars and slave wage trading were being funded by Western diamond corporations. And the governments refused to do anything. Same like Shake hands with the devil/Hotel Rwanda, it showed the failure of the western world. Kony doesn't, the only blame that goes to him is guilt. White people feel a false guilt to go bring him to justice. Just another line of bullshit.
well yea the bad shit won't end when KONY is gone since KONY 2 or crap loads of KONYS will come to replace him
[QUOTE=theevilldeadII;35148153]well yea the bad shit won't end when KONY is gone since KONY 2 or crap loads of KONYS will come to replace him[/QUOTE] You have no idea what the situation in Uganda is do you?
[QUOTE=Novangel;35148175]You have no idea what the situation in Uganda is do you?[/QUOTE] Please, shut up, before the irony of your title and your post sets my computer on fire.
[QUOTE=Novangel;35148175]You have no idea what the situation in Uganda is do you?[/QUOTE] It certainly doesn't revolve around Kony that's for sure.
I'm not entirely sure if what he said was proper English.
Uh its called a bad mistake and at least I did my research AFTERWARDS.
I only supported it because it's easy to do and an in my opinion good cause. I don't agree that i feel the urge to help black people in Africa because i am white. My country already donates roughly 6 billion dollar a year (which by the way isn't going to be lowered) to African countries so that's already sorted as far as white people helping black people. The reason i support it is because i agree with their idea of dealing with it. There isn't always a pretty solution to everything. What i don't agree with is the oil business, but that's not part of this movement, that's part of worldwide greed. The only thing all these anti kony campaign articles and videos do is make it even more popular.
[QUOTE=sami-pso;35148244]I only supported it because it's easy to do and an in my opinion good cause. I don't agree that i feel the urge to help black people in Africa because i am white. My country already donates roughly 6 billion dollar a year (which by the way isn't going to be lowered) to African countries so that's already sorted as far as white people helping black people. The reason i support it is because i agree with their idea of dealing with it. There isn't always a pretty solution to everything. What i don't agree with is the oil business, but that's not part of this movement, that's part of worldwide greed.[/QUOTE] Ignoring the blatant laziness you have, your support isn't just a "useless cause", it's an adverse cause. Invisible Children are making the problem worse - Invisible children don't even know what the fuck they're doing. Let me ask you this. Dealing with what? How are they providing a solution, to what. Because IC hasn't provided any clear idea as of yet.
But but more soldiers = problem solved!
[QUOTE=sami-pso;35148244]I only supported it because it's easy to do and an in my opinion good cause. I don't agree that i feel the urge to help black people in Africa because i am white. My country already donates roughly 6 billion dollar a year (which by the way isn't going to be lowered) to African countries so that's already sorted as far as white people helping black people. The reason i support it is because i agree with their idea of dealing with it. There isn't always a pretty solution to everything. What i don't agree with is the oil business, but that's not part of this movement, that's part of worldwide greed. The only thing all these anti kony campaign articles and videos do is make it even more popular.[/QUOTE] This is another reason why I don't like the campaign, it's just promoting this lazy activism were people can feel like they're helping when they're really doing nothing and is really just making people less likely to support a cause that requires work.
[QUOTE=Governor Goblin;35148276]Ignoring the blatant laziness you have, your support isn't just a "useless cause", it's an adverse cause. Invisible Children are making the problem worse - Invisible children don't even know what the fuck they're doing.[/QUOTE] not only that, but they've pocketed a majority of cash they made from their "cause"
[QUOTE=Novangel;35148230]Uh its called a bad mistake and at least I did my research AFTERWARDS.[/QUOTE] While your title still quite probably keeps directing more and more people to the fucked up campaign with every post you make. You are still doing damage, if you don't get it.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;35148320]While your title still quite probably keeps directing more and more people to the fucked up campaign with every post you make. You are still doing damage, if you don't get it.[/QUOTE] no wait sorry that isn't your problem, I retract that bit you're right novangel really should change it
They are lobbying for more support from the US to deal with it. The solution they offered is just sending troops to kill him i guess, but any way of dealing with it is fine as long as it's accepted by the international community. Would be good if they had success and decided to go after other warlords as well, and even better if they didn't just do it for the oil, but even that's better than what's going on now i think. [editline]15th March 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=carcarcargo;35148297]This is another reason why I don't like the campaign, it's just promoting this lazy activism were people can feel like they're helping when they're really doing nothing and is really just making people less likely to support a cause that requires work.[/QUOTE] There's always supporters and activists for every cause.. I am not going to flyer every time they want to remove a warlord somewhere.
Good luck with capturing Kony with the Ugandan military when he's out of the country. The whole thing is just a charity scam based on focusing on one man to cash in money rather than like other starving children campaigns, it's just focusing hate and capitalizing on it.
[QUOTE=sami-pso;35148337]They are lobbying for more support from the US to deal with it. The solution they offered is just sending troops to kill him i guess, but any way of dealing with it is fine as long as it's accepted by the international community. Would be good if they had success and decided to go after other warlords as well, and even better if they didn't just do it for the oil, but even that's better than what's going on now i think.[/QUOTE] It's not a fine way of dealing with the problem if they're just sending cash to the Ugandan military who are also the bad guys themselves (raping and stealing people's shit). The KONY 2012 video just provides people with a way to think they're helping. By watching a 30 minute propaganda film and donating a few bucks (about 70% of which is going to the filmmaker's pockets) they think they can change the world from their Facebook page. It is a strange and delusional mentality.
[QUOTE=sami-pso;35148337]They are lobbying for more support from the US to deal with it. The solution they offered is just sending troops to kill him i guess, but any way of dealing with it is fine as long as it's accepted by the international community. Would be good if they had success and decided to go after other warlords as well, and even better if they didn't just do it for the oil, but even that's better than what's going on now i think. [/QUOTE] Yeah because sending a load of troops into Africa always goes well right?
Everyone who watch the video gets so emotionally attached, so much that they go agianst even what the ugandians are saying.
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