More Kony Shit

[Tiberius]

I don't think that was his 'entire point'. Bit of a straw man here.

Like I said, I do agree he seemed a bit sensationalist and 'conspiracy theorist', but as I also said, he raised important points also.

Ones I think deserve some acknowledgement.

I think it was. Maybe someone else can weigh in on it, but he kept on mentioning how the US government was talking about Iran, and links that together with the Kony 2012 video supposedly being "pro-war".

Not all military intervention is needed.

No, but how else do you catch the man? He has an army. You aren't going to be able to just send in the Ugandan police, or any police for that matter. We need people who are trained in fighting people with guns...that would be the military.

This was before the video even went viral. Correct?

Yes, a few months before. It was included in the video itself...

Okay, now I'm not against having these troops there to provide help and assistance (not actually to fight). And I'm not saying Kony should be able to get away with what he is/was doing. He's a war criminal no doubt about it. I'm not sitting here denying that. My problem is exactly what this video hopes to achieve. Is it simply raising awareness? Well if so, then you can definitely say it has done that. But why has it taken them so fucking long to get this message out? The thing that makes me annoyed about it all is that Kony isn't even supposed to be in Uganda anymore. Why was this not done 10 years ago when Kony was actually committing these atrocities, because I can tell you for a fact he's pretty inactive at the minute. Sure he could come back. But still, the damage has been done.

The video is about raising awareness and getting people to rally the government into continuing the mission in Uganda. Why did it take so long? Again, you seem to have missed vital parts of the Kony 2012 video. The first few minutes show Jason Russell (one of the co-founders) talking about Kony in front of large audiences. He's been doing this for years, trying to get the message out. The viral video is just their latest attempt to get people to care about this, and it worked.

I'm not sure why more wasn't done 10 years ago; it might be because the USA was fighting two wars and there would be no point even trying to petition the government to do anything. It might be because the entire group behind Kony 2012 didn't exist back then (they were founded in 2004).

The objection I don't understand the most has to be this idea that if he's not active anymore, and he's stopped committing crimes, we should just let him be. What kind of thinking is that? We shouldn't let people get away with any crime, especially when the number of victims is so high. This has nothing to do with whether he will ever regain power; this has everything to do with prosecuting a man who has committed the most atrocious crimes imaginable...to people's children.

Thanks for that lovely bit of patronisation. Believe me, I was just as ready as everyone else to throw my money away and buy myself an 'action kit' and all that.

I don't mean to be patronizing; apologies if it came across that way. I just don't understand why you are asking certain questions which were explained quite clearly in the actual film.

Then I encountered news stories and videos and they just made me stop and think. So I look into it further, and turns out, I don't really find that giving these people this money is the best way to be helping. Especially seen as they only send 32% of the income they make to the people in Africa who need the help.

If they billed themselves as a charity whose sole aim is to help rebuild schools, and local communities, then I'd agree with you. However, that's not what they are, and it's not what they've ever pretended to be. They explained their organisation on their website, in a rebuttal post to all the claims made against them, and numerous times in interviews. Sure, if you want to donate to charities which are spending more of their money on charitable works, you are free to. Invisible Children operates differently; trying to lobby governments into taking action, and that sort of lobbying requires money. They are also about spreading the message, which is why they have a large budget for films, and why they buy and sell merchandise.

The one point I just want to make very clear, is that sending money to this organisation, is in my opinion a waste when there are hundreds of other charities who would benefit from it far more. You are simply paying for the people behind "invisible children" to have private jets to Africa and back.

I haven't seen any evidence that they use private jets, but I could be wrong. I would be interested in seeing it if it exists.

Riiight. And the government wasn't already doing something before this? We've already established they sent troops to Uganda before the video went viral. What have they done since? I've not seen any mention from any politicians that they plan on hunting down Kony because they saw a Youtube video.

They haven't removed them, and Kony 2012 is just getting started. Things rarely change overnight, or over the course of a couple of weeks in politics. You are making a strawman yourself if you think politicians are going to act "because they saw a YouTube video". That isn't what anyone has said, and it certainly isn't what I said. I was very clear that it would be the public reaction that would get politician's attention.

I'm sorry. I should of said, "getting people to like a video, and buy their action kits and put up posters and wear fancy bracelets". My bad.

Don't buy their stuff then. They have all the material online for free; you can print your own posters, make your own t-shirts if you really object to giving them money. The only reason they sell the stuff is so that people don't have to go to that bother. I haven't seen any evidence that they make any profit off of their merchandise sales, but again, I could be wrong and would be interested in seeing any evidence.

I have no problem with people taking action and doing something immensely powerful within social media to help other less fortunate people. I agree with the main point of the video. I just take issue with the way they intend to go about it. And I think a hell of a lot of people will be/already are suckered in to supporting a dodgy charity by a misleading video. An organisation which is described from Foreign Affairs to "manipulate facts for strategic purposes".

http://www.moneytrendsresearch.com/the-t...kony-2012/

I believe they answered those claims on their blog.

It is in mine too. Let me set it straight, Kony is a cunt, and needs to be apprehended. This video absolutely succeeded in getting the message out. However I think it is you who is missing an important point of the Kony video. To pay for these 'action kits' and to support 'innocent children'. I am merely questioning these two things. Not because I'm an asshole who wants to be a killjoy. I just think it's important to be skeptical, because no one really knows where their money is going.

I don't think it's a bad thing to question without jumping on the bandwagon. Something I expect many here to agree with.

It is important to be skeptical, and I looked into things as well, especially when all the controversy came out. However, they published their financial details, refuted the allegations, and in my opinion I think they are very good at what they set out to do, which wasn't to send loads of money to charitable causes (although they do do that as well), but was rather to try and get governments (i.e. the people with the most power and money) to use their influence and get the problem solved at the source. Building schools is great; more people should do it, but a school isn't going to stop Kony if he decided to start kidnapping children again. The only thing that will stop Kony is if he is arrested. That is what Kony 2012 is about.