More Kony Shit

[LukeMC]

Have a look at my post on page 5 -

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none of my criticisms include that. In fact, I think politicians WILL act under public pressure, which is precisely why I'm concerned. Politicians are (supposed to be) representives of the people, so it is expected they do what the public wants, but if they're caving under the pressure of an ignorant population that's not going to help anyone.

My primary concern with Kony 2012 isn't particularly specific to the campaign (although I also have secondary specific concerns). A concise way of putting my primary concern could be stated like this:

• Organisation X makes misleading and simplified but nonetheless persuasive argument for cause Y
  
• The general public, ignorant in regards to much of the subject of cause Y then heavily supports it
  
• Politicians, now under the weight of public pressure and close to presidential elections, support cause Y to maintain their own support and not look callous.
  

As you can see with the names (and their baggage) removed it doesn't particularly matter whether the organisation or their cause is good or bad. Provided the argument for cause Y is persuasive enough, people will act. And remember, it's incorrect to assume the persuasiveness of an argument comes from how well it is supported by facts. People are persuaded by many things - sometimes facts.

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Thanks for the response Tempus. I hadn't read all 6 pages of the discussion before chipping in so I apologize for overlooking your very important criticisms. The level of thought evident in your post is not what has seemed representative of the "unconverted" mainstream, whose lazy critiques I endeavoured to address. Some of your points have rested heavily upon my own mind, not least the potential for similarly uninformative media to inspire great evil. With the case of this video, as I mentioned briefly in my last post, many people have latched onto the campaign under false pretences and without critical inquiry. This is problematic even if the cause will do good for the world. But this criticism isn't (as you said) a direct criticism of the campaigns aims, but a healthy pondering of the means they have employed- perhaps better discussed in a general Propaganda thread than here.

It'd be like saying "people say McDonald's is unhealthy, but if they just visited their website they'd see this argument has been dealt with".

A fair point. Again (and at risk of sounding too apologetic) I was levelling this criticism against those who haven't even taken the time to investigate the basic claims of the organization. Checking the website should really be an elementary introduction before expanding your research into wider fields. I see that you have done exactly that and I commend you for it. Again, this point rests mainly on the tactics of IC and not on the content of the campaign, with which I still tentatively side.

There's strawman arguments on both sides. You're close to making one by seeming to assume that all critiques spout the same "iT's a SCAM guyz Kody isnt even in uganda anymore lol". Some people actually did do research and still have issues with it.

I'm frightfully aware now of the straw man I created. I wouldn't say I was "close" so much as I fully and unapologetically dove into one. I wouldn't level the same criticisms I made in that post towards the points you made or various others I've discussed the issue with. I understand that "those who dismissed the video without further investigation" are a large group but not representative of the whole, and I should have made that clear.

Instead of shouting down, making facetious remarks or outright ignoring actual criticisms maybe some of the supporters might address the actual issues instead of pretending we all think nobody knows Kony isn't in Uganda. That last sentence isn't personally directed toward you, LukeMC - it's more a general response to the replies I've seen by supporters to critics.

Again, thanks for the response. If I get a chance later today I'll look at making a proper response to your post on page 5.