Make Kony Famous (remember the Invisible Children?)

[Rozax]

Kony 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.

HOW TO HELP:
Donate to Invisible Children
Purchase KONY 2012 products
Sign the Pledge

Above all, share this video. Average, everyday people (that includes you and me...unless you're a 1% in disguise; you're pretty awesome for hanging out with us, then) are making history.

On a personal note, I was squeamish about watching the "Invisible Children" documentary (so I read up on them, instead), but this 30-minute video is safe for light-touches such as myself.

[Daluna13]

No lie my teacher just told us about this video before I came on here right now

[Paycheck]

Keep in mind that Invisible Children raises awareness for things like this, but does not completely spend their money on fixing the problem. They're not at fault, they're primary focus just isn't taking the problem away. Other non-profit organizations can do that.

war in the motherland woooo

[Rozax]

Yeah, there's only so much they can do, but it looks like they have at least one long-term goal: They're pushing for training from special forces (?) so that the afflicted countries can protect themselves. So if he isn't captured by the end of this year, they're not SOL.

[Elisto Dragonwings]

I'd say this belongs in the library

[Gojira007]

I've actually heard a lot of unsettling things about the Kony2012 campaign, most notably that they're not entirely honest about where their funds go, that they may have ties with other, equally vicious Ugandan militias, and that the primary target of their campaign actually isn't much of an active threat anymore.

[Mach]

That and half the "supporters" probably couldnt point Uganda out on a map.

[Elisto Dragonwings]

No offense to anyone here since this seems to be a problem everywhere I've seen this video posted, but why does NO ONE give an explanation of what this video is, just a "go watch it!", and then a debate about the quality of the organization? (I do now know what it's about, but it was only after someone else all but forced an explanation from someone on another forum)

That said though, I guess I'm surprised so many people seem to have not heard of this problem before. I've never heard of Kony specifically, but child soldiers, which is more than just recruiting children and does involve much of what he's done, I thought was a pretty well-known human right issue. If nothing else, maybe this video will get more people to learn about the broader problem, even if they're skeptical of this one organization.

[DeborahHedgehog]

www.rt.com/usa/news/kony-2012-arrested- ... ating-777/ THIS, lol, I think it's safe to say this campaign and soon this thread is veritably over Oh, and let us not forget this little tidbit for your facepalming pleasure www.tmz.com/2012/03/16/jason-russell-vi ... 2O8zhEgfCg

[Mi-24 Hind V]

I destabilized an African Warlord who hasn't been in Uganda for 6 years by liking a facebook status?

No one seems to respect the situation Kony is in. He's got the advantage of his force size (his militia is 1,300 strong at most) being small, enabling it to slip into wilderness very easily. The UPDF's are largely incompetent and unable to deal with it a small force like this. They're also crooked individuals themselves, albeit not as bad as Kony. His armaments are more than likely left overs from the Soviet involvement in Africa, such as the Biafran-Nigerian war of 1967-1970. His bread and butter are the simple wares of the Soviet Military-Industrial complex. Thousands of "donated" AKM's, PKM's, and other such weapons are floating around the continent, making world wide weapons trade restrictions and legislation worthless. His lack of dependence on vehicles, too, contributes to his greatest ally of stealth.

His largest disadvantage is that his force would be ineffective against proper military response. With that in mind, the best weapon against his force would be aerial surveillance. You put a slow moving airplane or helicopter equipped with various observation equipment, such as thermal imaging, and you'd apply pressure like he hasn't felt before. Keeping him on the run would place a lot of stress on him and more than likely cause him to slip up at some point. A lot of people draw similarities in the hunt for Kony to the hunt for Osama bin Laden. This is silly; Osama bin Laden had the benefit of having a politically apathetic and friendly Pakistan to hide in. Kony hasn't any such luxury, so someone like Timothy McVeigh is a much better comparison.

Either way, asking for action against Kony is, quite literally, asking for children to die as that's what Kony's troops are. Kony's organization is one of arrogance; I personally have doubts that he has a gameplan in place in the event he's killed. Without a leader, the group fractures.

In all likelihood, it might be best to leave it alone and let the LRA die on it's own.

[Rozax]

I'm glad that people are looking at this situation from different angles, or trying to at least. It definitely isn't a clear-cut matter.

[Mi-24 Hind V]

I'm glad that people are looking at this situation from different angles, or trying to at least. It definitely isn't a clear-cut matter.

I really do like how those backing the whole "KONY2012" project aren't painting those of more apprehensive states as if they support Kony in a "with us or against us manner." In fact, allowing criticism and then addressing said criticisms will do nothing but benefit the campaign.

In the end, there's no reasoning away the reality that is the LRA.

Sure, Russell's spending habits are a bit shady. He might be feathering his own nest or maybe he's just bad with money, who knows? That still can't even approach that Kony is: Yet another scumbag in need of a bullet to the head.