Joseph Kony

[MrLanceVanceDance]

So guys, recently on Facebook and the Internet, there has been some talk going on about this Ugandan guerilla leader called Joseph Kony. So guys, what are your views on these guy?

[Dirty Harry]

Well, this guy is obviously "a bad guy", but you need to watch out and get some more info on this movement, on Invisible People and Kony himself before you decide to support the cause or buy stuff from them.

http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

[MrLlamaLlama]

^this.

I have no doubt that he's an evil, sick, wrong human being. But the frankly - kick ass social media campaign isn't layered on that strong just to make you want to fight the cause. Money is being made.

[Sherman]

Money is being made. I know there is bad stuff going on everywhere.. but this pops up all crazy. Where do you think these people do for a living? Oh yeah, take the donation proceeds.

[MrLanceVanceDance]

Guys, for your information, I do not intend to purchase anything from those anti-Kony guys, nor do I intend to donate them anything. I am simply asking what are your opinions on this guy.

[kokane]

I've watched the video and yea, it made me sad and angry to see all these bad things happening in the world. But Uganda is not the only place where this kind of violence and injustice is happening. There are a lot of bad things happening in Africa and the Middle East and South America. And it has a lot to do with the leaders.. corruption and poverty. There was another movie called "City of God", inspired by real events, about the crimes and violence involving kids with guns in the Cidade de Deus, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro.

Anyway, the anti-Kony campaign video is well made. It is influential and very subjective. But just by being so popular and all over the internet made me feel a lil' suspicious. And it was clever for them not to say buy the banners and the bracelets but saying donate and you will get them free. Another thing is they tell u to donate every month. They shouldn't tell you how often to donate...

I'm not against it. If people wanna donate they should do it, it's their money. But I won't. I'm sure there is a lot more to it than they let you know. I'm sure there are a lot more reasons to do this. Why in 2012 and why does it expire at the end of the year? Is it an election year? Does it have anything to do with it? Another good video that influenced a lot of Americans. Is it supposed to have a happy ending and America to save the "world"? Is Kony already dead?

Trying to be as objective as one can get in this situation, even tho it's about cruelty and violence, we all should do some research, there are a lot of things they missed out in the anti-Kony video, on purpose or not.

Here's an interview with Kony:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdBcypx1DfE&feature=player_embedded

[Dirty Harry]

http://boingboing.net/2012/03/08/african-voices-respond-to-hype.html

This is another interesting take on this situation.

You know, since us Europpeans discovered Africa, we have pretty much been raping it. Took resources, occupied the land, enslaved people. Fucked that shit up, didn't give them a chance to be a country.

In the colonial times (which went on until the last century) we also didn't really let them be proper nations.

After WWII they started to gain independence BUT the (perhaps necessary) financial aids and political allegiances to USSR or USA so despite having the ideals of things like the Declaration of Human Rights, they really didn't get their chance to be a country either.

And in this modern day, with this white saviour complex, we are also not recognizing them as nations with potential to solve their problems (because most countries had or have this and they slowly progress out of those situations, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Russia, Italy and other countries had brutal opressive and terror based regimes not long ago).

So at least from my perspective, that whole caring attitude towards the third world is a load of shit. I believe that despite their political, military, health and econimic hells, African nations will one day overcome that, by themselves, without the hand of the white man up their anus. We have our crisis too, which we must attent to, and honestly, if you go to some sort of Kony awareness rally isntead of a rally that's pointing out and drawing attention to shitty situations in YOUR country you're not doing your part. You are contributing nothing to Uganda and their troubles, or your own.

[Ivan]

I know some colonies were totally raped but let me tell you that Angola, for example, was a hell of a lot better when it was in the hands of the portuguese. My mom lived there pretty well and she was shocked to see how undeveloped Portugal was when she escaped.

I don't know, I think they have conflict and war in their blood, so many years have passed and things are still so bad in Africa. You can blame the white men but now that they are free they have done nothing but slaughter their own people.

I don't think they'll be able to pull through on their own. I mean, in Europe we had some pretty screwed up situations but we had a different mentality. Like the germans that rebuilt their country after the war so quickly and effectively. I don't think africans have the means to do an equal ammount of effort.

Anyway, been reading up quite a bi on this subject. Must say I don't trust Invisible Children at all.