Kony 2012 Research Paper
United States Poverty
KONY 2012 On March 7, 2012 there was a video posted online informing all who watched it about a country in Africa called Uganda and a rebellion army named the Lord’s Resistance Army(LRA); that is accused of murder, enslavement, sexual enslavement and rape of mostly children and young adults. The video starts off by a man named Jason Russell sharing his story about his time in Africa and how he meets a young boy there named Jacob, who has fell victim to all the hate and atrocity that resides there. Russell than goes on informing us of the more than 30,000 children that have been abducted by the LRA’s leader Joseph Kony in his past 26 year reign. These children had an organization created in their honor called the Invisible Children and the video goes on to establish the ground works on how to stop Kony and …show more content…
persuade the viewers to be part of the movement to bring Joseph Kony to justice. “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.”(Kony 2012) The video on YouTube alone has received over 75 million views in one week.
(Russell) It has been shared all throughout Facebook, as well as celebrities supporting and reaching out to help their campaign. Celebrities such as Oparah Winfrey and Justin Beiber tweeted about their support and awareness of the campaign. After watching this short video via Facebook, I felt moved by the information that it portrayed. It made me want to be a part of what they call Kony 2012, that is, until I researched some more into it. The video shared throughout YouTube, Facebook and Twitter only shines light on a miniscule of information about Joseph Kony and his army. I don’t totally disagree with the video; I think that they have the right idea, but the wrong plan of action. I believe that bringing Kony to justice should be pretty high up on our to-do list, but not the U.S.’ list alone, more of the world as a wholes to-do
list.
What is the goal of Kony 2012? “Invisible Children has been working for 9 years to end Africa’s longest running armed conflict. Some U.S. Military advisors are currently deployed in Central Africa on a limited time mission to stop Joseph Kony and disarm the LRA. It’s said that if Kony isn’t captured this year, than the window of opportunity will vanish and it is likely we won’t have another opportune chance.” (Kony 2012) I agree with this statement, but not if “we” stands for the U.S. I think yes, we should do something to aid in the capture of Kony, but not if our country has to bend over backwards to see him in captivity. One reason being, the United States can hardly afford having a war in Iraq, let alone send numerous troops to Africa in search of a war lord that doesn’t want to be found. Second, is all the needless blood shed that would result in chasing after him and his army.
One question that should be answered is as follows: What are our responsibilities toward those who we share the planet with today? I think this is a great question that needs to be asked to all who want to support this Kony 2012 movement. It made me stop and think about what we should really do to put a stop to the LRA, and I don’t think it’s exactly to purchase merchandise from an organization whose top three representatives received over $80,000 each annually, solely from donations. That’s over $200,000 not including expenses back and forth from Africa and a minimum of housing and schools being built.
If you look on IC 's official website, the only infrastructure they have built outside of Uganda since the LRA left Uganda is a small rehabilitation center that can house 200 or so people. The rehabilitation center is a nice thought, but the fact that a 13 million dollar a year revenue charity can only build one rehabilitation center in the 7 years that the LRA has moved to South Sudan just highlights the inherent problem of IC being based in Uganda.
Works Cited
1. Josiah. "Concerning KONY 2012 - Nothing Suspicious Going On Here." Nothing Suspicious Going On Here. 7 Mar. 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. .
2. Manhire, Toby. "Kony 2012: Some Reading." â The Internaut â Commentary â New Zealand Listener. 12 Mar. 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. .
3. "Kony 2012." Invisible Children. Ed. Ben Keesey. 7 Mar. 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. .
4. Russell, Jason. "Kony 2012." YouTube. YouTube, 7 Mar. 2012. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. .
KONY 2012 On March 7, 2012 there was a video posted online informing all who watched it about a country in Africa called Uganda and a rebellion army named the Lord’s Resistance Army(LRA); that is accused of murder, enslavement, sexual enslavement and rape of mostly children and young adults. The video starts off by a man named Jason Russell sharing his story about his time in Africa and how he meets a young boy there named Jacob, who has fell victim to all the hate and atrocity that resides there. Russell than goes on informing us of the more than 30,000 children that have been abducted by the LRA’s leader Joseph Kony in his past 26 year reign. These children had an organization created in their honor called the Invisible Children and the video goes on to establish the ground works on how to stop Kony and …show more content…
persuade the viewers to be part of the movement to bring Joseph Kony to justice. “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.”(Kony 2012) The video on YouTube alone has received over 75 million views in one week.
(Russell) It has been shared all throughout Facebook, as well as celebrities supporting and reaching out to help their campaign. Celebrities such as Oparah Winfrey and Justin Beiber tweeted about their support and awareness of the campaign. After watching this short video via Facebook, I felt moved by the information that it portrayed. It made me want to be a part of what they call Kony 2012, that is, until I researched some more into it. The video shared throughout YouTube, Facebook and Twitter only shines light on a miniscule of information about Joseph Kony and his army. I don’t totally disagree with the video; I think that they have the right idea, but the wrong plan of action. I believe that bringing Kony to justice should be pretty high up on our to-do list, but not the U.S.’ list alone, more of the world as a wholes to-do
list.
What is the goal of Kony 2012? “Invisible Children has been working for 9 years to end Africa’s longest running armed conflict. Some U.S. Military advisors are currently deployed in Central Africa on a limited time mission to stop Joseph Kony and disarm the LRA. It’s said that if Kony isn’t captured this year, than the window of opportunity will vanish and it is likely we won’t have another opportune chance.” (Kony 2012) I agree with this statement, but not if “we” stands for the U.S. I think yes, we should do something to aid in the capture of Kony, but not if our country has to bend over backwards to see him in captivity. One reason being, the United States can hardly afford having a war in Iraq, let alone send numerous troops to Africa in search of a war lord that doesn’t want to be found. Second, is all the needless blood shed that would result in chasing after him and his army.
One question that should be answered is as follows: What are our responsibilities toward those who we share the planet with today? I think this is a great question that needs to be asked to all who want to support this Kony 2012 movement. It made me stop and think about what we should really do to put a stop to the LRA, and I don’t think it’s exactly to purchase merchandise from an organization whose top three representatives received over $80,000 each annually, solely from donations. That’s over $200,000 not including expenses back and forth from Africa and a minimum of housing and schools being built.
If you look on IC 's official website, the only infrastructure they have built outside of Uganda since the LRA left Uganda is a small rehabilitation center that can house 200 or so people. The rehabilitation center is a nice thought, but the fact that a 13 million dollar a year revenue charity can only build one rehabilitation center in the 7 years that the LRA has moved to South Sudan just highlights the inherent problem of IC being based in Uganda.
Works Cited
1. Josiah. "Concerning KONY 2012 - Nothing Suspicious Going On Here." Nothing Suspicious Going On Here. 7 Mar. 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. .
2. Manhire, Toby. "Kony 2012: Some Reading." â The Internaut â Commentary â New Zealand Listener. 12 Mar. 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. .
3. "Kony 2012." Invisible Children. Ed. Ben Keesey. 7 Mar. 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. .
4. Russell, Jason. "Kony 2012." YouTube. YouTube, 7 Mar. 2012. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. .