Kony 2012: child abuse in Africa

[James]

Controversy involving the documentary

[dleufer]

Interesting to read the Guardian article. This video is all over Facebook and Twitter but I'm not sure about it myself.

[Paul]

It had to happen didn't it... There are some counters you should really read, as there are some serious issues here and debate lies between 'fair play for doing something' and 'this is simplistic and disempowering'...

Generally the problems are about boiling down an issue to which I would have to add 'pray the devil back to hell' on Liberia, 'blood in the mobile' on DRC.. etc... I also had issue in relation to the post election violence in Ivory Coast and the 'lets stop another Rwanda'.. I mean its fine and all, but do you really spend time to research what happened in Rwanda, what's happening in Ivory Coast and whether they are related. Or are we just saying them Africans are at it again.. Note there was a similar facebook campaign about stopping the imperialist French overthrowing Gbagbo and putting in a stooge, so which is it?...

Also the ICC has only sought prosecutions against Africans so far.....

Anyway if your facebook is anything like mine this is all over it...

http://innovateafrica.tumblr.com/post/1 ... ve-my-vote

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/03/ ... questions/

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/20 ... 17882.html

[e2c]

Very much agreed that Museveni and his regime are as responsible as Kony.

Unfortunately, there is a *lot* of US money invested in Uganda, and I don't think Museveni is being subject to the hard questions here - though he should be. (I personally think he's another "president for life."...)

Also, the whole idea of getting Hollywood people involved makes me cringe...

[rachelnguyen]

I don't think I will be plastering my town with Kony 2012 posters. I found much of the film pretty cringe-worthy. I wanted to die during the scene when the filmmaker is interviewing Jacob. Telling Jacob it is ok and making rash promises to do something in the face of his suffering is a natural reaction, I think. But it seems a teeny tiny bit arrogant that you, mister white rich kid american, think that you have any clue what is needed.

[e2c]

rachel - I'm with you. In fact, the guy who made the film has been approached about having his short nominated for an Oscar for short film and ...

I guess I'm cynical, as it's not as if there's been a shortage of people trying to get help for Kony's victims and to get Kony hunted down. But most of that seems to have happened prior to YouTube.

[James]

Invisible children's reponse

[James]

Gotta say I didn't know why Joeseph Kony is before this

[EvanP]

My first reaction to the video was similar to E2's and Rachel's--it pushed the "hype" button on me. I watched it through to the end, however, followed by some superficial fact checking, and in the end decided to add my FB voice to the cause. As much for support of an experimental method that could result in global witch hunts, but could also be a tremendous force for good.

While I'm sure there are other bad people in Uganda, the evidence seems pretty clear that Joseph Kony is right up there at the top. The fact that I'd never heard of him before my daughter forwarded the link is another reason I lent my support.

[rachelnguyen]

Actually, James and Evan, that is true for me too. I knew about the Lord's Resistance Army, (I recently met with someone who had just come back from Uganda.) but didn't know the name of it's leader. So, in that sense, this was an effective campaign. It is going to be interesting to see what, if anything, happens as a result of all this hype.

[e2c]

It seems that the problem is far more complex than what's shown in the film, though - nuances don't work well when going for soundbites.

Also.... where are all the donations going, and what, exactly, will they be used for? It seems as if that is quite vague now, and that makes me *very* uncomfortable.

[Paul]

The danger of a single story!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241 ... ture=share

[EvanP]

Ok, so I get it. You always need to "triangulate". As Hume said, even those that directly observe events cannot report them objectively as their observations are tainted by their own frame of reference.

That being said, the single story on Kony is at least a first data point, and seems to raise a valid and important issue that had been obscure before this video.

[e2c]

Today's NY Times has a multi-opinion piece on Kony 2012. It's definitely worth a look:

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/20 ... tivism/?hp

this section - by a Ugandan journalist - is (imo) important:

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/20 ... -to-action

[EvanP]

Excellent piece from Mr. Izama, and I agree, although maybe I missed the "send $30 and we'll make this menace go away" message. Sure there was talk about the kit, and bracelets, etc., but to me the real power was that in a relatively short period, I and many others became aware of the "22 year conflict". I've been studying Africa a lot over the last few years, and my perception until 2 days ago was that Uganda was pretty peaceful and had come a long way from the days of Idi Amin. I still think that's largely the case, but like many places, there are undercurrents and issues that need to be addressed even if the average is better than it was.

My point is just that, while the message may be overly simplified, it achieves something tremendous in communicating an issue to a lot of people in a short period of time. Social media is in its infancy, but with the "Arab Spring", it's becoming a force to be reckoned with, both for good and otherwise. The challenge with the internet and social media is that there is no "journalistic professionalism"--people can say and show what they choose, regardless of fact checking, etc. Of course that is also the advantage, but it puts more burden on the reader to evaulate things carefully.

I'm heartened by the discourse. It's great that things are not taken on face value. And I think it reinforces the value of the Kony video--two days we weren't discussing Uganda or Kony.