I am hearing a lot of criticism about KONY 2012. My argument is that in general I am against the criticism, and pro- Invisible Children and KONY 2012.
(If you dont know what Im talking about, follow the links at the bottom of this post to find out abt it and also the criticisms)
Let me summarize the criticisms for you:
They say that there are three main issues with KONY 2012:
criticism1) That Invisible Children spends not enough of their percentage of money on strictly humanitarian aid and
criticism 2) IC favors U.S. ground intervention of our troops.
criticism 3) IC's money is supporting other corrupt militia in Africa to take care of things.
To address criticism #1
I think is invalid... IC clearly states that one of the main solutions to this is to promote the problem. How do you do that? Well, IC has become excellent at it. They make films, they utilize young people and social networks to spread them, and they advertise. So to say that millions of dollars and half of the money they spend is wasted is not correct. Is the money DIRECTLY going to the kids? No. However, I believe that IC's argument is that if you tell millions of people in the world about the problem, THAT is the solution, and it will eventually bring governments to help solve the problem quicker, whereas if you gave 100% of proceeds to the children themselves, it would help them on the immediate term, but only more and more funds would need to endlessly come in. So, IC is making the best of both words. They are sending millions in to help the kids, while also paying millions for awareness.
Another big problem is criticisms rarely point to better solutions. Some point to other organizations... but my question is, why do I know about IC and I dont know about them? Its because IC has paid for the advertisement, and its paying off. After all, why are we all talking about it now? They are succeeding.
To address criticism #2
I am very hesitant to say U.S. military intervention will help us. The bottom line is that sometimes it turns out good, sometimes it turns out bad. The US is hesitant because of what happened in Somalia during the Clinton administration. I wouldnt wanna lose our boys like that again.
So, I think that argument is valid. But the money thing above? I think thats from people that dont understand how to market a product well, while also directly helping the problem at hand.
To address criticism #3
Im not sure if this criticism is even true at all... IC I believe has denied it completely.
The bottom line:
IC is not perfect. But I think they are on the right track. I dont think the argument about the money is a solid one for the reasons mentioned above.
Please feel free to respond, and I will post your responses on this page for all to see.
Heres the links:
IC's video promoting KONY 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
The criticism page: http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com.nyud.net/
The LRA is bad news don't get me wrong. And Joseph Kony is a bad person, and needs to be stopped. But propping up Uganda’s decades-old dictatorship and its military arm, which has been accused by the UN of committing unspeakable atrocities and itself facilitated the recruitment of child soldiers, is not the way to go about it.
ReplyDeleteYou're still killing kids, they're just on both sides now because what the IC is promoting is to help the military that is doing much the same is what the LRA is, including using child soldiers.
The United States is already involved in helping rout Kony and his band of psychos out Kony is on the run, having been pushed out of Uganda, and it’s likely he will soon be caught, if he isn’t already dead. But killing Kony won’t fix anything, just as killing Osama bin Laden didn’t end terrorism. The LRA might collapse, but, as Foreign Affairs points out, it is “a relatively small player in all of this — as much a symptom as a cause of the endemic violence.”
Kony is just a scapegoat, but thinking that getting him and making him famous will do anything to resolve the issues in Uganda is a bit much considering he hasn't been active in Uganda since 2006.
I see many valid points from the comments above. As a matter of fact, I agree with each and every single sentence that was written. With that being said, this is the same bullshit that has been going around, with flaw rationales that is best left unsaid.
ReplyDeleteYes, IC might not be the most perfect organization*. Yes, killing Kony might not solve anything. Yes, this is relatively small - a symptom as a cause of the endemic violence. I'll even go as far as saying, this Kony 2012 campaign might do little to help, if at all. But finger pointing is too easy; anyone can knit pick and say what's wrong. But instead of saying "that won't work", suggest a solution, something tangible; act, do something more than just typing.
All I'm saying is...IC might not be heading in the right direction*, but one thing you can't take away from them, they're trying. They're doing something, instead of just talking.
*My previous points about IC were strictly conversational, as far as I'm concern, they're doing a hell of a job. Any speculation of corruption is just ridiculous. I'm not even going to defend that. Anyone following what they are doing will understand that is simply not the case. You can't make everyone happy, like it or not, someone will disagree with what you do or what you say.
Thanks so much for voicing your opinion! I respect very much when people stand up and speak out!
ReplyDeleteGo you :)
-Tom
Question, how valuable is American dollars in Uganda? Because if its more (as it is in Mexico) then that profit could be way more than these people know. Also, I agree AWARENESS is key! This whole thing started 2 days ago & it's already VIRAL! Just as it was planned. & I can't wait to see the results from the "cover the night" protest!!!!!
ReplyDelete