kony 2012

[Trimss]

oho

[B.A.D.]

I dont have time to watch the entire thing, can u explain what it is?

I read the comments and it looks like the video is a scam of some sort

[Steve Spag]

I dont have time to watch the entire thing, can u explain what it is?

I read the comments and it looks like the video is a scam of some sort

That's what I'm hearing too, I haven't watched the video myself but I seen a couple threads on other forums saying in detail how this is a scam and more propaganda to try to have U.S. Military intervention in ANOTHER foreign Country. Here's one of the threads from Above Top Secret that talks about it;
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread816896/pg1

I'm skeptical of EVERYTHING these days, lol....

[B.A.D.]

but what is it?

[Steve Spag]

but what is it?

From what I understand Kony is some sadistic guy who's running shit in Africa and people want to put an end to what he's doing. I'm not saying I don't believe this because we've all heard of the horrific mass genocides in Rwanda from the 90's, I just don't trust our own Government's motives. Plus, like someone said in that thread I posted, just because you remove the man does not mean you remove the problem, so going to war in Uganda just to take this man out would certainly leave a power vacuum for someone even worse to pick up where he left off. Truth is, sadly, the world will ALWAYS have these sorts of disgusting people in it, nothing we can do to change that. Africa's been like this for a long time and will continue to be like this for the foreseeable future.

[Steve Spag]

well its not that the government is "scamming", the government didnt even want anything to do with it,

if its a scam its by invisible children

Yeah you're probably right on that, I've been doing some more research this morning after having my Facebook Feed blow up with this crap. One of my friends found the rating for "Invisible Children" from the Better Business Bureau and their company is rated 44 out of 100 for business transparency. The company also takes 30% of the donations it receives and uses it as salary according to the IRS. Seems shady to me.

[B.A.D.]

well its not that the government is "scamming", the government didnt even want anything to do with it,

if its a scam its by invisible children

well, aparently to that thing spag posted, then Invisible children its the government itself, making this brilliant strategy to invade another country, but this time, with the people's support.

"the government didnt even want anything to do with it"...... hahahaha right

but hey, like spag, its only me being skeptical. Its just a matter of asking what does Uganda have that the US want?

[Steve Spag]

Its just a matter of asking what does Uganda have that the US want?

I'm not too sure about this area but maybe natural resources? Oil, gold? If not, it COULD be because China is taking lots of steps in becoming Africa's new best friend, and that would certainly go against America's plans for being the only superpower. In the past year alone China has set up a lot of contracts and new relationships all over Africa, think of it like a GIANT chess game.

[Steve Spag]

well its not that the government is "scamming", the government didnt even want anything to do with it,

if its a scam its by invisible children

well, aparently to that thing spag posted, then Invisible children its the government itself, making this brilliant strategy to invade another country, but this time, with the people's support.

"the government didnt even want anything to do with it"...... hahahaha right

but hey, like spag, its only me being skeptical. Its just a matter of asking what does Uganda have that the US want?

yeah but see how bad the world is, even if its for a GOOD reason a lot of people think its just the government looking for more stupid reasons to invade.

thats how fucked the world is now..

I blame it on the Media, they'll do ANYTHING to sway a story to fit their agenda. It's been like this since the first World Wars, it'll be like this after we're long gone too.

[Steve Spag]

Here's some more info about the organization who's in charge of all this.....
http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com.nyud.net/

[momentsgolden]

In my opinion, its just some viral video that feeds people who love conspiracy theories... who are now the majority of the world's popluation haha.

Will watch the video tomorrow

[B.A.D.]

so we we're right, they posted this on their website:

I do not doubt for a second that those involved in KONY 2012 have great intentions, nor do I doubt for a second that Joseph Kony is a very evil man. But despite this, I’m strongly opposed to the KONY 2012 campaign.

KONY 2012 is the product of a group called Invisible Children, a controversial activist group and not-for-profit. They’ve released 11 films, most with an accompanying bracelet colour (KONY 2012 is fittingly red), all of which focus on Joseph Kony. When we buy merch from them, when we link to their video, when we put up posters linking to their website, we support the organization. I don’t think that’s a good thing, and I’m not alone.

Invisible Children has been condemned time and time again. As a registered not-for-profit, its finances are public. Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production. This is far from ideal for an issue which arguably needs action and aid, not awareness, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they lack an external audit committee. But it goes way deeper than that.

The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces. Here’s a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People’s Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them, arguing that the Ugandan army is “better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries”, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission. These books each refer to the rape and sexual assault that are perennial issues with the UPDF, the military group Invisible Children is defending.

Still, the bulk of Invisible Children’s spending isn’t on supporting African militias, but on awareness and filmmaking. Which can be great, except that Foreign Affairs has claimed that Invisible Children (among others) “manipulates facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRA’s use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony — a brutal man, to be sure — as uniquely awful, a Kurtz-like embodiment of evil.” He’s certainly evil, but exaggeration and manipulation to capture the public eye is unproductive, unprofessional and dishonest.

As Chris Blattman, a political scientist at Yale, writes on the topic of IC’s programming, “There’s also something inherently misleading, naive, maybe even dangerous, about the idea of rescuing children or saving of Africa. […] It hints uncomfortably of the White Man’s Burden. Worse, sometimes it does more than hint. The savior attitude is pervasive in advocacy, and it inevitably shapes programming. Usually misconceived programming.”

Still, Kony’s a bad guy, and he’s been around a while. Which is why the US has been involved in stopping him for years. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has sent multiple missions to capture or kill Kony over the years. And they’ve failed time and time again, each provoking a ferocious response and increased retaliative slaughter. The issue with taking out a man who uses a child army is that his bodyguards are children. Any effort to capture or kill him will almost certainly result in many children’s deaths, an impact that needs to be minimized as much as possible. Each attempt brings more retaliation. And yet Invisible Children supports military intervention. Kony has been involved in peace talks in the past, which have fallen through. But Invisible Children is now focusing on military intervention.

Military intervention may or may not be the right idea, but people supporting KONY 2012 probably don’t realize they’re supporting the Ugandan military who are themselves raping and looting away. If people know this and still support Invisible Children because they feel it’s the best solution based on their knowledge and research, I have no issue with that. But I don’t think most people are in that position, and that’s a problem.

Is awareness good? Yes. But these problems are highly complex, not one-dimensional and, frankly, aren’t of the nature that can be solved by postering, film-making and changing your Facebook profile picture, as hard as that is to swallow. Giving your money and public support to Invisible Children so they can spend it on supporting ill-advised violent intervention and movie #12 isn’t helping. Do I have a better answer? No, I don’t, but that doesn’t mean that you should support KONY 2012 just because it’s something. Something isn’t always better than nothing. Sometimes it’s worse.

If you want to write to your Member of Parliament or your Senator or the President or the Prime Minister, by all means, go ahead. If you want to post about Joseph Kony’s crimes on Facebook, go ahead. But let’s keep it about Joseph Kony, not KONY 2012.

[trinell05]

My first year in college, we watched a video called "Invisible Children" that discussed the plight of the children who were at risk of being killed, raped, and/or abducted and forced to become child soldiers for this lunatic. I hadn't heard much about what was being done and I first watched the video in 2006. I haven't watched this new video, but I'm very shocked to hear that those dudes are scammers. My university acted like the first video, which is about an hour long, I believe, was cause for us to stand up against oppressed children in Uganda and try to offer them some support. The most that ever happened was a walk with an overnight to simulate the walk that those children have to do in order to escape the enemy. I have to admit that the first video was very moving. I'm not sure where those guys went wrong, but it sucks to hear that they may be taking advantage of sad situation and perhaps exaggerating their claims.

I'll try to watch the video later, but I'll probably just read more about the reactions instead.

[momentsgolden]

^That is fundamentally where the problem lies!!! 8 million dollars spent in "awereness campagns" when the first video they made received considerable academic exposure. At some point, awereness overtakes the more critical part... ACTION. So what we share it on Facebook? Then the U.S is forced to intervene by the masses when it has been well informed of the situation since 2000? Yo, the only benefit i see derived from this is that other causes are brought to light by these people

[momentsgolden]

http://s3.amazonaws.com/www.invisiblech ... iques.html

^Everyone read that. Its their response.

I've now watched the video and while i have MANY reservations and am not pledging blind support, i will say that there is some benefit in the campaign. Lets make KONY FAMOUS!!