Social change in the digital age
The real problem with the Stop Kony video: Well-intended misinformation isn'tthe issue
Joseph Kony, the world's most wanted criminal, has lead the Lord's ResistanceArmy since the late '80s.Photo by Stuart Price/Environmental Protection Agency
It's impossible to turn a blind eye to the children with weapons portrayedin Invisible Children.
Kony 2012 aims to make Kony a household name.Kony 2012/Invisible Children
I vividly remember sitting through a screening of Invisible Children in a sparsely-filled campus auditorium during my freshman year at the University of Texas.
The story of tens of thousands of African children being kidnapped and made to fight as soldiers in Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, and the images of sleeping children piled against one another in a concrete room to avoid capture, brought me to tears. I felt compelled to act — and was sure that governments worldwide, confronted with the situation, would feel the same.
The Kony campaign has created awareness, yes — but advocacy doesn't translate to action, and this hip, grassroots blitz ignores the actual way of resolving a problem of this scope.
After all, Kony had committed atrocious war crimes and crimes against humanity. The International Criminal Court, which was founded in 2002 with the intent to find and demand the arrest of the world's worst criminals, ranked Kony as No. 1 on its list.
For many years, Kony's name has been unknown to the general population. His involvement in Uganda was a miniscule blip on the United States government's radar — and still is, though President Barack Obama sent 100 troops to advise in combating the LRA and hunting down Kony in October 2011.
Now, to make sure that the mission is not abandoned, and to ensure that Kony is brought to justice, the documentarians and activists behind Invisible Children have taken on the task of making Kony famous with a 30-minute film and a campaign — in their words, "not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice."
This explains #stopKONY and #KONY2012 trending on Twitter, the campaign-esque posters and stickers and the urgings of your Facebook friends.
Of course, as with most stories of this nature, there are many sides to consider. The organization itself has been criticized for its spending, its tactics and its sometimes-dissemination of (well intentioned) misinformation.
The Kony campaign has created awareness, yes — but advocacy doesn't translate to action, and this hip, grassroots blitz ignores that the actual way of resolving a problem of this scope is through diplomacy, politics and the involvement, first and foremost, of local leaders and activists.
