Ever hear of Joseph Kony??

smokedeels

I'm trying to find out more on this as it's spreading like wildfire on facebook.

A lot of sources have suggested that the group sends money to the Ugandan Military and others have suggested the issue itself is outdated.

This could be social networking at it's best or worst in terms of raising awareness.

Herb Powell

God... wrote: »

Sorry I might be brain farting but what do you mean???

Posting online to "raise awareness" is not "stopping at nothing" to have Kony brought to justice.
I think the guy's a ****head (to put it mildly) and he should be caught, but this whole campaign.......has a weird vibe to it. I'm very cynical of the whole thing tbh.

Samich

You'd swear he was the only one doing such a thing.

Eoin

sup_dude wrote: »

The rest went to:
Staff Salaries; big organisation, many would work full time at it and have no other source of income. They need to be supported somehow too.

Travel and Transport; They don't get to Africa by teleporting quite yet. I would imagine that they do a few talks in various countries too.

Film production; Exactly like the video. This raising awareness and is advertising. This part, I would consider, to be quite important as it would also document the whole experience.

About 30% of their proceeds goes to direct aid. That's a very low percentage by most measures. People bitch about Irish charity admin costs, but I think that normally at least 90% of their proceeds go to direct aid.

I hate the thought that facts are being manipulated to make their point. There's probably no need even to do that, if things are even half as bad as they say they are. It just cheapens their argument, and makes it feel like the blatant lies that Michael Moore uses.

Awareness is well and good, but it has to be done with as few question marks hanging over it as possible.

Edit - maybe they're just being smeared, I don't know...

TeddyTedson

Why have they chosen Hitlers birthday for this Kony day? :mad::mad:

ringadingding

he'll end up in celebrity big brother if this campaign keeps up

ScissorPaperRock

Some things just don't sit quite right with this campaign.

Making some sort of icon of the guy doesn't seem right.

It also makes a complicated issue overly simplistic, and might be a distraction from real deep, systemic issues people face in Uganda.

Also, it's concerning given the kinds of atrocities happening in other places right now, such as Syria. It might serve as nothing more but superficial campaign that distracts from from other important, urgent issues.

Brian_Zeluz

Started to watch the video, got bored after 3 mins and gave up. Just me?

God...

Herb Powell wrote: »

Posting online to "raise awareness" is not "stopping at nothing" to have Kony brought to justice.
I think the guy's a ****head (to put it mildly) and he should be caught, but this whole campaign.......has a weird vibe to it. I'm very cynical of the whole thing tbh.

I personally think it's absolutely amazing how many people now know who he is because of it. My facebook has people posting it that are from all corners of the world so in my view they really did stop at nothing to highlight the issue... it has everyone talking about it and it is not over.

But if I'm honest at the same time I can slightly get were you're coming from with the weird vibe! Don't know what it is. It will be interesting to see how this goes... or if it will be forgotten in a week.

God...

Brian_Zeluz wrote: »

Started to watch the video, got bored after 3 mins and gave up. Just me?

Think so yea.

tommyboy2222

The You Laugh You Lose 2 thread brought Kony to my attention.

God bless that thread.

ebixa82

http://www.vice.com/read/should-i-donate-money-to-kony-2012-or-not

Brian_Zeluz

God... wrote: »

Brian_Zeluz wrote: »

Started to watch the video, got bored after 3 mins and gave up. Just me?

Think so yea.

I read an article that explained it all in 60 seconds, dunno how he filled half an hour

Herb Powell

God... wrote: »

I personally think it's absolutely amazing how many people now know who he is because of it. My facebook has people posting it that are from all corners of the world so in my view they really did stop at nothing to highlight the issue... it has everyone talking about it and it is not over.

But if I'm honest at the same time I can slightly get were you're coming from with the weird vibe! Don't know what it is. It will be interesting to see how this goes... or if it will be forgotten in a week.

It is interesting to say the least.

Topper7

If this hype continues it will be bigger than Kates party! :P

On a serious note I dont believe violence can be solved with further violence. Look at what has happened on our own island over the years!

Also I believe that there are bigger problems that are facing the world at the moment and more deserving off our attention but a journey off a 1000 miles starts with 1 step.

Have I heard of Kony before this-No. Am I glad somebody is doing something about this-yes. But Ive heard too many shadey stories about the organisers of this campaign for them to get my support funding...

God...

Brian_Zeluz wrote: »

I read an article that explained it all in 60 seconds, dunno how he filled half an hour

He talked really slow.

nacho libre

Obama signed an order last October to send in 100 US special forces to help the Ugandan army track down Kony.

steddyeddy

nacho libre wrote: »

Obama signed an order last October to send in 100 US special forces to help the Ugandan army track down Kony.

America has put a lot of money into stopping this guy and many previous attempts have failed. The problem with direct conflict is the fact that he surrounds himself with kids.

Flojo

I'm still on the fence about The Invisible Children campaign. I think raising this level of awareness about the atrocities happening in Africa is awesome but this type of thing has been happening for years and is a lot more bloody complex then people think. Not impressed with only 32% of the proceeds going towards the actual cause either, while the 3 founders net themselves a nice 200k each for 2011. I'm on the children's side of course but trying to force it to be resolved before December could spark a major blow out with a lot of those young lives lost. Now that there's more attention spotlighting the issue an intelligent solution should come into fruition, more time is needed however. I just think people should hear the other side too.

tl;dr?
Awareness = Awesome.
Giving money to ICC = Not so awesome it seems.

Try http://www.africare.org/ instead. They have much better ratings on http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3220

Rastapitts

his phones are class Kony Ericsson

steddyeddy

Flojo wrote: »

I'm still on the fence about The Invisible Children campaign. I think raising this level of awareness about the atrocities happening in Africa is awesome but this type of thing has been happening for years and is a lot more bloody complex then people think. Not impressed with only 32% of the proceeds going towards the actual cause either, while the 3 founders net themselves a nice 200k each for 2011. I'm on the children's side of course but trying to force it to be resolved before December could spark a major blow out with a lot of those young lives lost. Now that there's more attention spotlighting the issue an intelligent solution should come into fruition, more time is needed however. I just think people should hear the other side too.

tl;dr?
Awareness = Awesome.
Giving money to ICC = Not so awesome it seems.

Try http://www.africare.org/ instead. They have much better ratings on http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3220

Well as you say it is very complicated. Im not being bad when I say Uganda is very much f-ed up to this day. Even Uganda's official army have been involved in some very shady activites.

Hande hoche!

This calls for a ten year old war nerd article:
http://exiledonline.com/war-nerd-onward-christian-soldiers/

cloptrop

So this fella is head of the Ugandan opposition party?? Is he leader of Uganda or is he just some fugitive.

Flojo

steddyeddy wrote: »

Well as you say it is very complicated. Im not being bad when I say Uganda is very much f-ed up to this day. Even Uganda's official army have been involved in some very shady activites.

Exactly... which makes this mess a lot harder to sort out. I doubt very much this will all be gone away by December 2012. It's the Western way innit. Click the share button and throw money at it, doesn't always work like that. But not only that Uganda is even on the mend at present. It's still dodge but it's getting better slowly. Kony has been off hiding in a hole in some other country for a few years now. Apparently the TICC have even exaggerated their statistics. This has all happened so fast. Dust needs to settle and then the truth will come out.

Sad thing is this is only a small portion of the horrible shit that plagues Africa.

creativedrinker

I seen the vid and thought it was horrible, I did also come across this http://sotontab.co.uk/pictures/2012/03/07/kony-2012-is-it-all-its-cracked-up-to-be/. It's only someone's thoughts on the subject but it's interesting, worth a read....

ocallagh

Flojo wrote: »

I'm still on the fence about The Invisible Children campaign. I think raising this level of awareness about the atrocities happening in Africa is awesome but this type of thing has been happening for years and is a lot more bloody complex then people think. Not impressed with only 32% of the proceeds going towards the actual cause either, while the 3 founders net themselves a nice 200k each for 2011. I'm on the children's side of course but trying to force it to be resolved before December could spark a major blow out with a lot of those young lives lost. Now that there's more attention spotlighting the issue an intelligent solution should come into fruition, more time is needed however. I just think people should hear the other side too.

tl;dr?
Awareness = Awesome.
Giving money to ICC = Not so awesome it seems.

Try http://www.africare.org/ instead. They have much better ratings on http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3220

Where did you get 32% from? They still have over 6m in the bank.

Also, they paid themselves 88k each including expenses which seems fair enough to me.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12429

squod

ocallagh wrote: »

Where did you get 32% from? They still have over 6m in the bank.

Also, they paid themselves 88k each including expenses which seems fair enough to me.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12429

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VajdHXR3VrM

steddyeddy

ocallagh wrote: »

Where did you get 32% from? They still have over 6m in the bank.

Also, they paid themselves 88k each including expenses which seems fair enough to me.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12429

I dont have a problem with what their paying themselves I just think are underestimating the problem but at the same time its a very good cause. I think their looking at it in very black and white terms.

Flojo

ocallagh wrote: »

Where did you get 32% from? They still have over 6m in the bank.

Also, they paid themselves 88k each including expenses which seems fair enough to me.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12429

[32%]
"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."
http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

[Financial statements]
http://c2052482.r82.cf0.rackcdn.com/images/737/original/FY11-Audited%20Financial%20Statements.pdf?1320205055


I just think the money should be given straight to African aid organizations. Let them help themselves, pump it into their own economy, and not have it lining any Western pockets and worse still have it lining the pockets of a shady military that have zero say in the now affected countries.
Don't get me wrong I appreciate the awareness that the 30minute video created. It just saddens me that it takes this kind of funky editing/music and emotional porn to get people up in arms.

Yeah I ****ed up with 200k, that was a figure that was floating around yesterday before the proper facts came out. I've had a long day and I'm wrecked. M'bad! Their expenses are not included in that 80+k actually. The organization expenses include their wage.

This dude/tte sums it all up nicely...

http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/qlejg/kony_2012_is_a_campaign_that_aims_to_make_joseph/

Got a bit of a giggle out of this. http://i.imgur.com/K3mgn.jpg


They've got a stupid amount of people now interested and that money could easily go and fund a war machine. Hopefully it won't but this could very well back fire.

4zn76tysfajdxp

That video is the biggest load of simplistic rubbish.

FrostyJack

Though the cause is kind of a good one, this is a stupid way to go about it. Spend loads of money on posters and stuff? Then plaster them all over the city, very environmently friendly. Hopefully it won't turn out like Live Aid, where they end up extending the war. Machine Gun Preacher was a much better film for raising awareness than this tripe.

Xavi6

The Kony test

bradlente

It all smacks of smugness.That picture of the three CEO's holding weapons like they're the expendables is ****ing hilarious.

It seems the situation over there isn't half as bad as it was before,Yet these guys promote a new wave of atrocity over an already ravaged region.

J. Marston

Xavi6 wrote: »

The Kony test

It's around the middle right-ish. Kinda. Maybe.

See, I care!

Doc

Are people saying that because someone like myself, didn’t know about this but watched the video and sent it on to others that there is no value in doing so?

Isn’t the whole point of the video to raise awareness of what is happening and who Joseph Kony is so that it dose not fall off the politicians radar?

Why do some people always have to be negative about something like this?

It was a very well made video that millions have now seen who would otherwise never have known about the situation. Even if it is simplistic in certain ways it will cause others to look into the situation and call for action against a brutal man.

True there are other people around the world who are evil and deserve to be captured and prosecuted just as Kony should, and if this video or the publicity it has generated leads to his capture then what is stopping a similar thing happening again to another?

I can only see this as a positive initiative by the film maker. Just because something becomes popular doesn’t mean it doesn’t have merit or should be attacked.

Duggy747

Doc wrote: »

Are people saying that because someone like myself, didn’t know about this but watched the video and sent it on to others that there is no value in doing so?

No, raising awareness about Kony can only be a good thing.

Isn’t the whole point of the video to raise awareness of what is happening and who Joseph Kony is so that it dose not fall off the politicians radar?

He never has and never will "fall off the radar", the US and UN have been sending and training forces to capture / kill him for years now which have all failed. Last Oct, Obama signed off an Act (Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act) which results in that 100 special forces are sent to find him.

He'll fall off the public's radar far quicker than the politicians.

Why do some people always have to be negative about something like this?

Because it's better to question a charity and it's methods before hopping on their bandwagon instantly and blindly. InvisibleChildren have some questionable associations and methods for getting Kony, which is support of armed conflict and getting people on their side to wage conflict against him in an already highly unstable region.

I can only see this as a positive initiative by the film maker. Just because something becomes popular doesn’t mean it doesn’t have merit or should be attacked.

Just because it's popular doesn't mean it shouldn't be questioned and accepted "as is", either.

Raising awareness about Kony is good, letting people know what happens in other parts of the world. But, for the percentage who donate to Invisible Children, they should know where their money will be going and what it will fund.

V_Moth

Doc wrote: »

Are people saying that because someone like myself, didn’t know about this but watched the video and sent it on to others that there is no value in doing so?

Isn’t the whole point of the video to raise awareness of what is happening and who Joseph Kony is so that it dose not fall off the politicians radar?

Why do some people always have to be negative about something like this?

It was a very well made video that millions have now seen who would otherwise never have known about the situation. Even if it is simplistic in certain ways it will cause others to look into the situation and call for action against a brutal man.

True there are other people around the world who are evil and deserve to be captured and prosecuted just as Kony should, and if this video or the publicity it has generated leads to his capture then what is stopping a similar thing happening again to another?

I can only see this as a positive initiative by the film maker. Just because something becomes popular doesn’t mean it doesn’t have merit or should be attacked.

Regarding your first point, of course there is value in something like this given prominence. However, personally I view these kinds of viral campaigns as sometimes being a little superficial in their treatment of the subject.

On your second point, Kony is wanted by the ICC and I think it is up to the Ugandans to arrest him and ensure that he is tried in the Hague for his crimes.

I think negativity stems mainly from disinterest or cynicism towards these kinds of viral campaigns. Personally, it reminds of the Save Darfur campaign, which was largely funded by various US oil and mineral companies pissed off that the Sudanese President awarded the oil and mineral extraction rights to the Chinese (Source: Peter Scholl-Latour, Arabiens Stunde der Wahrheit [2011]).

On your last point, I think there should always be a healthy degree of scepticism on these kinds of campaigns - it is always good to ask by whom is it being financed and why. Taking things on blind faith is never a good idea, especially if the source is relatively slickly edited online video.

jaja321

Kony is not even in Uganda anymore, so basically Invisible Children are advocating for the equipping and training of military forces (with their own record of abuses) to go into neighbouring countries, that are for the most part unstable (Sudan and DRC), to find him. Their approach is not only simplistic, it’s very dangerous.

Gummy Panda

invisible children update

keano_afc

I'd have loved to seen his face this morning when he checked his news feed.

WindSock

Gummy Panda wrote: »

invisible children update

Further update

im invisible

keano_afc wrote: »

I'd have loved to seen his face this morning when he checked his news feed.

and saw he was trendy on facebook, or something...

El Weirdo

I watched the video and was absolutely disgusted.

A video to pull at the heart strings and not one instance of Sigur Rós' Hoppipolla in the background.

For shame.

shancoduff

When I watched the video I was obviously impressed as it's admittedly a well made documentary. Interested to see if social networking could be used for good in this instance. Think it could be like a threshold putting some power into the hands of the people through internet activism.

However, they lost me when they started asking for money, I'd rather donate to a reputable organisation rather than some twenty-something Americans who went on a heart wrenching CV building trip to Uganda and decided to change the world!

That said, I just refreshed the youtube video a few times and it's amazing how many likes it's getting every few seconds!

OctavarIan

Brian_Zeluz wrote: »

Started to watch the video, got bored after 3 mins and gave up. Just me?

A substantial portion of the video is basically the guy using his own child as a "look at this cute kitten, imagine someone wanting to hurt this cute kitten!" emotional device. It was pretty juvenile and weird but stuff like that obviously works.

Eric Cartman

not supporting this kony lad, but giving any money to / paying any attention to 'invisiblechildren' is a retarded idea, its all a scam people

Eric Cartman

OctavarIan wrote: »

A substantial portion of the video is basically the guy using his own child as a "look at this cute kitten, imagine someone wanting to hurt this cute kitten!" emotional device. It was pretty juvenile and weird but stuff like that obviously works.

youtubes own stats "the video is most popular with girls and young women aged 13 to 24"

its just emotional heartstring bullshít that people are going mad for. This has been going on for some time, but you cant fund anybody near uganda to stop him as theyre all corrupt as each other.

Caliden

Wouldn't surprise me if this was a propaganda video so that if (when?) the U.S. invades Uganda it looks like they're doing the right thing and has nothing to do with the recently discovered oil.

El Weirdo

Caliden wrote: »

Wouldn't surprise me if this was a propaganda video so that if (when?) the U.S. invades Uganda it looks like they're doing the right thing and has nothing to do with the recently discovered oil.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=77483009&postcount=9139

Loomis

Joseph, Joseph...cá bhfuil tú i do Kony?