# Joseph Kony 2012



## BadgerTrapper (6 Mar 2012)

Hey people, normally I wouldn't really get involved with these causes. Though I'm making an exception, instead of writing 2-3 paragraphs as to who Joseph Kony is, this video says more than I ever could. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc



To Mods: If there's a better thread for this, I apologize and please re-direct it. I did not find a thread containing this yet.


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## Stevenhh (6 Mar 2012)

I'm curious as to when that video/movement started popping up. If it was a big enough movement to sway the US government, it's weird how it didn't receive much media coverage before.  
I'll be waiting for April 20th to see if much happens.


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## BadgerTrapper (6 Mar 2012)

The Video was posted to Youtube yesterday, March 5th 2012.


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## HeavyD (6 Mar 2012)

Below is a link that has recently started getting a lot of attention in social media. It is a very good cause, and it will be interesting to watch play out. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

The video is half an hour long, but it is well worth the time. It is very informative, and also very creatively presented.

This is the official website of the movement; on it, pledges can be signed and you are able to donate to the cause.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/kony2012/kony_new.html


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## Cui (6 Mar 2012)

It was definitely eye opening to see such a thing, it's really sad to see that children that young were drafted to fight as child soldiers, and sex slaves.


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## HeavyD (6 Mar 2012)

I did not see it in there.

I am also surprised at the lack of media attention it received up until recently.


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## Shinobi (7 Mar 2012)

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Truly a moving video not just to bring Kony to justice but also the implications doing so has for our generation. When I finished the video I went to post it on facebook and saw over ten others had already done the same. I'm glad to see this is spreading fast.


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## Silverfire (7 Mar 2012)

As seen on Facebook,



> This whole Kony 2012 thing has shown me something; people are extremely hypocritical.  Now don't get me wrong, I think Kony is as bad as the next guy; he should be stopped.  But logically, how do you propose on stopping him? The video says the Ugandan army needs tech in order to find him.  Ok, fine, but when they find him do you really think you're going to just serve him a warrant for his arrest and he'll come in quietly?  You're going to be Seth Rogen and serve him like its Pineapple Express?
> 
> Yes Kony needs to be arrested and punished; but realistically it will not happen like that.  Kony will not sit by twiddling his thumbs and waiting to get served.  He will make sure that anyone who tries to capture him will be killed.  If someone is trying to kill you, you will most likely return the favour.  So no, this isn't just arresting someone.  This is called a conflict/war; bullets will fly and soldiers and civilians will die. The mass population is supporting the Kony Movement; in theory, this means they also support any military operations in the area.  While the video states the military sent advisors, they really mean soldiers.
> 
> ...




Now it's not so cut and dry, obviously there are different factors here, but it's pretty reasonable.


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## Zartan (7 Mar 2012)

If anyone missed it in the article above, the Americans months ago deployed forces in support of operations against the Lord's Resistance Army. 

Naturally, _back then,_ all the coverage of it condemned the Americans for getting involved in another war. It's good to see that people have caught up. The LRA has been a scourge of that part of the world for too long.


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## opp550 (7 Mar 2012)

When I watched the video I too noticed that they seemed to skim over the whole military aspect. The narrator is talking about forming "an army of peace", to campaign for action  but what he fails to underline is the fact that it would only be acting through the government, which would be acting through the military to deal with Kony. He also only talks about capturing Kony, and Kony himself. Any military operation against such a target would, by necessity, involve taking out a number of his forces protecting him to even get to him and possibly kill him, due to his (what I would imagine to be) desire to fight against those attempting to bring him to justice. 

Another thing is the scale of desired involvement as well. Do they simply want to maintain the current military presence of a small number of advisers who do not actually deliberately go into combat themselves, or do they want the whole deal and a full scale military presence hunting him down? 

Another huge obstacle would be that of child soldiers. Certainly they would be standing in the way of military forces and Kony. Would they be willing to accept the fact that military action would involve sending our troops into combat against brainwashed children?

While I agree with them that Kony is a capital S Scumbag of the highest order and deserves a JDAM dropped on his head, I have some doubts about their willingness to see done what must be done to take this guy out.


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## Silverfire (7 Mar 2012)

The Kony video is an extremely effective form of propaganda.  We're still talking about war but somehow people still support it.  This ties very closely to the thread that was posted about Canadian troops fighting child soldiers.  Pretty good discussion there as well.  

For what its worth, all these people will repost this all day and night on Facebook and when the next big thing in social networking appears, whether that's Snooki and Jersey Shore or some new Twilight flick, people will forget about this.  

Maybe we should start calling Canadian soldiers in OP Attention, 'advisors'.  We sent military advisors, not soldiers.  Maybe that will get more people supporting the mission.


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## opp550 (7 Mar 2012)

The Soviet Union had the idea first I think. "Soviet" means adviser, therefore, they actually just sent tens of millions of advisers to help "advise" the Nazis that invading the Soviet Union was not a good idea. They took a while, but they finally got around to that idea!  ;D


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## Silverfire (7 Mar 2012)

Not sure how factual or reliable this is, but interesting read nonetheless.

http://ilto.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-visible-problem-with-invisible-children/


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## Journeyman (7 Mar 2012)

Isn't that cute. Kony's been doing this since at least the late-1980s.....and now, suddenly, Twitter's 15-second attention span generation is ready to "drop JDAMS on his head."

True enough, Snooki or Twilight will cause this thread to whither in a day or so.   :


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## opp550 (7 Mar 2012)

I even see some of my friends who tried to dissuade me from joining the army making the "(Link to the Kony video here), Help make a Difference!" posts.


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## mba2011 (7 Mar 2012)

Its interesting how viral its gone in 48 hours. People have been re-posting, sharing, and re-tweeting it without looking at it critically. A friend and classmate of mine wrote this. Whatever your view on the "KONY 2012" campaign is, its worth taking the time to see both sides. 

http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/


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## The Bread Guy (7 Mar 2012)

A bit more of the REST of the story.....


> .... with the Kony 2012 campaign refocusing the attention on the LRA, some activists have raised concerns about the methods Invisible Children has used to raise awareness.
> 
> A request for comment from Invisible Children was not immediately returned.
> 
> ...


_Washington Post_ blog, 7 Mar 12


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## opp550 (7 Mar 2012)

Another thing, WHY ON EARTH did they have to pick 4/20 as the "day of action"? In Vancouver, at the Art Gallery, where they are planning to meet up, the marijuana cigarettes will still be warm. Are they trying to be ironic (The guy in the video does seem like a hipster) by getting pot-smoking hippies to support military intervention?


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## RHFC_piper (7 Mar 2012)

Interesting rebuttal to the Visible Children blog... there's way too much to quote; just watch and be amazed.
I'm pretty sure this guy has no idea how conflicts actually work... 

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8431706/kony-2012-filmmakers-respond-to-criticism


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## opp550 (7 Mar 2012)

> Interesting rebuttal to the Visible Children blog... there's way too much to quote; just watch and be amazed.
> I'm pretty sure this guy has no idea how conflicts actually work...
> 
> http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8431706/kony-2012-filmmakers-respond-to-criticism



You can start with"you cant go in and kill anyone"


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## RHFC_piper (7 Mar 2012)

opp550 said:
			
		

> You can start with"you cant go in and kill anyone"



I thought the classic line was; "we put a man on the moon..."


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## ballz (7 Mar 2012)

RHFC_piper said:
			
		

> Interesting rebuttal to the Visible Children blog... there's way too much to quote; just watch and be amazed.
> I'm pretty sure this guy has no idea how conflicts actually work...
> 
> http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8431706/kony-2012-filmmakers-respond-to-criticism



Holy curse words. That's gold.


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## PJGary (8 Mar 2012)

RHFC_piper said:
			
		

> I thought the classic line was; "we put a man on the moon..."



"We put cream inside a doughnut, many many years ago... CREAM... inside a DOUGHNUT!"

Yay relevance!


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## Hewitt (8 Mar 2012)

Here is Invisible Children`s response to all the criticism against them. http://s3.amazonaws.com/www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html


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## vonGarvin (8 Mar 2012)

If you ever wanted to know what ad hominem looks like, here it is:


> A Tumblr blog has pointed out that rather than dedicating their efforts towards on-the-ground charity work in Uganda, Invisible Children spends the bulk of donations on awareness campaigns and operating expenses, mostly in the US.
> "*That critic is a high school student in Canada,"* Mr Russell told TODAY.



Mr.  Russell says nothing about the accusation.  Instead, he wishes to make people give it less credence due to the age of the person saying it.

Hypocrite, much, Mr. Russell?:


> We don't like war — we want to end war. I'm a pacifist at heart," he said.
> "This is going to take a strategic force of last resort to go in and capture him."


I'm fairly certain that Mr. Russell realizes that if someone such as Mr. Kony doesn't want to get captured, then it would take "war-like efforts" to go in and get him, right?


			
				PJGary said:
			
		

> "We put cream inside a doughnut, many many years ago... CREAM... inside a DOUGHNUT!"
> 
> Yay relevance!



Best.  Post.  EVER!  (well, at least in this thread)  ;D


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## The Bread Guy (9 Mar 2012)




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## jollyjacktar (9 Mar 2012)

RHFC_piper said:
			
		

> Interesting rebuttal to the Visible Children blog... there's way too much to quote; just watch and be amazed.
> I'm pretty sure this guy has no idea how conflicts actually work...
> 
> http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8431706/kony-2012-filmmakers-respond-to-criticism


  I did not know there was such a thing as a "valley boy" accent.  I was waiting for him to squeal "OMG".   :nod:


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## KanD (9 Mar 2012)

Two interesting reads on the subject matter at hand (and the associated #KONY2012 campaign):
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2012/mar/08/kony-2012-what-s-the-story?newsfeed=true

2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17306118


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## The Bread Guy (15 Mar 2012)

And how did the video play to Ugandans watching it?  Not as well as the producers might have hoped - highlights mine.....


> .... A local charity, the African Youth Initiative Network, thought that the communities worst affected by the LRA, when it operated in Uganda, also deserved an opportunity to see what all the fuss was about, and so organized the event.
> 
> It was heavily publicized on local radio stations, and a crowd of thousands turned up at the Mayor’s Gardens in the centre of Lira for the sunset screening.
> 
> ...


Al Jazeera English, 14 Mar 12


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## Wookilar (15 Mar 2012)

"It seems that the while the film has a viral power never seen before in the online community..."

Really? I'm pretty sure the dancing baby beat it.

Just like the OWS, this internet-fueled rage will only last as long as their collective attention span.

Wook


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## ballz (15 Mar 2012)

Wookilar said:
			
		

> Just like the OWS, this internet-fueled rage will only last as long as their collective attention span.



Last week I got some flak from the newly born social activists for criticizing this "movement," and most of the people of the people sharing the video.

They have all already forgotten all about the Kony thing this week...


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## vonGarvin (15 Mar 2012)




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## The Bread Guy (15 Mar 2012)

Action Figure Therapy has its own, NSFW take on this as well 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7NRCkxivwo&feature=g-all-u&context=G22a43b0FAAAAAAAACAA

An excerpt:  "Which is it, treehuggers?  Is the U.S. military this big bad scary thing that needs to be shut down and replaced with the Ministry of Hugs and Sunshine, or do you realize that a strong military is necessary to keep dips**ts like this Kony guy from pulling bulls**t like mass murder and child slavery all over the world?  You can't have it both ways."

Gold, Jerry, gold!


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## Cui (15 Mar 2012)

Didn't they say that Obama only signed the bill to capture Kony only this year? 

He's running for re-election this year, and most of the people involved in the Kony movement are in their late teens and early 20s, who will be voting for the first time this year.

Seems legit.


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## Pieman (15 Mar 2012)

Wait everyone, what about that Kony guy?? You know, everyone was going to save the child soldier from war n' rape n' stuff?.....Well, that lasted a good 72 hours.


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## The Bread Guy (15 Mar 2012)

Just spotted this - an MP even got in on the action in the House yesterday:


> *Mr. Jim Hillyer (Lethbridge, CPC):  *Mr. Speaker, on Monday the students of Chinook High School joined their voices with thousands across the country and around the world to condemn the heinous war criminal, Joseph Kony. Kony and his LRA fighters regularly rape and pillage and mutilate and massacre civilian populations in central Africa. They kidnap children to force girls to be sex slaves and boys to kill their own parents and mutilate their friends, as child soldiers.
> 
> These students are shocked and appalled at these atrocities. I am inspired that they have responded with this spirit of optimism, convinced that their resolve to make a difference will make a difference. One student said, “I saw my peers... inspired and full of empathy and passion. I saw hope that justice would be served and the innate goodness of humankind would prevail”.
> 
> Their hope is not in vain. Canada will continue to support and contribute to the international community's resolve to stop the LRA, save the child soldiers and bring Joseph Kony to justice.


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## Thompson_JM (17 Mar 2012)

Oh but wait.... 

There's More!!!

(I hate posting anything from the Toronto Star... because I hate the Toronto Star.... but this is at least a good story...)

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1147729--kony-2012-co-founder-of-stop-kony-movement-arrested-for-lewd-behaviour-reports?bn=1



> Kony 2012: Man behind Stop Kony movement arrested for lewd behaviour: Reports
> 
> Jason Russell, one of the founders of Invisible Children and the man behind the “Kony 2012” viral video campaign was detained by police Thursday for lewd behaviour, according to MSNBC and TMZ.... ***MORE ON LINK***


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## aesop081 (17 Mar 2012)

Cui said:
			
		

> Didn't they say that Obama only signed the bill to capture Kony only this year?



The US started sending SF teams to help deal with Kony and the LRA in October of 2011.


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## jollyjacktar (17 Mar 2012)

And another story, far more entertaining, this side of the guy.  He came off on TV as rather full of himself when I saw him interviewed earlier.  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2116184/Kony-2012-video-director-arrested-drunk-performing-sex-act-public.html   Photo's too.   :


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## The Bread Guy (21 Apr 2012)

Easy to click, not so easy to show up?


> The activist organization that set a record last month with 100 million views in six days for its Kony 2012 viral video struggled to turn that burst of digital enthusiasm into concrete action, with few supporters answering the call to plaster their cities with demands to bring long-time Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony to justice.
> 
> The keen initial interest fizzled into a lacklustre action in Canada and elsewhere around the world for the appeal to “cover the night” this weekend, undone by a backlash against the Invisible Children activist group behind the appeal, the sensational meltdown of its co-founder, and the sense that Kony 2012 was a fad that had passed.
> 
> ...


_Globe & Mail_, 21 Apr 12


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