I'd just like to say before I begin this blog, that I have literally just sat down and decided to write a blog on this particular topic and so have no idea what I intend to write or how far this discussion will go. I'd also like to add that although I feel I don't really have a definitive view on everything that's been happening, if I do say anything that may sound controversial or perhaps out of place, I don't mean to cause offense it'd just be my own opinion on how I feel.
This subject about Joseph Kony and Invisible Children, was brought to my attention at the beginning of this week and has increasingly been pooping up around me since, through means of peoples Facebook posts, news articles, and just general word of mouth. I've not really gone out of my way as of yet to research deeper into what's going on, so so far I guess I've had about the same exposure to this story as everyone else. In regards to this, I feel that I don't particularly have the knowledge to answer questions that are being asked or start a debate in this blog, so instead I'd like to just give my thoughts and opinion.
Since the first time that I heard about the Kony 2012 campaign going on to raise awareness about what is happening in Uganda, I've not really wanted to read into it any further and I have not yet actually watched the whole 30 minute video. As bad as that may seem, I did have a couple of reasons behind this.
Firstly, whilst being told about Kony 2012 they said that this was primarily a campaign to help raise awareness as all of these things had been going on for so long and no one supposedly knew what was happening. By not dwelling into this subject meant that I have actually been able to see this campaign spread over the course of this week and how much awareness its raised.
The second reason, and to me the more prominent reason why, I've kind of avoided this subject is because I couldn't really face getting into it. Obviously what has happened in Uganda, specifically to the children being forced to fight and kill people is immoral and a terrible thing, however it is another devastating thing, adding to the growing list of terrible things to occur within the last few years. Whether that's a good reason or not to not have paid as much attention to this subject I'm not sure, but I didn't feel I could get behind it at that point.
Nearing the end of this week and having heard all the new news, specifically about the Ugandan Government and Invisible Children, my opinion hasn't really changed. I would say that I am now more interested in whats happening, however the more thing's I find out the more confusing everything seems to get.
This week I've heard views from mainstream newspapers saying that governments aren't intending to take significant action against this problem, from social networks organising large gatherings to promote the cause, from other news sources saying that the charity Invisible Children aren't all that trustworthy when it comes to receiving donation, and even from the hacker group Anonymous saying that although they too support the cause of raising awareness, they feel that by just highlighting this one individual getting governments to put large amounts of resources into dealing with Kony, the majority of this year could be spent trying to resolve just this one problem, instead of combating many of the other problems we have at the moment as well as figuring out a viable way to get rid of Joseph Kony.
The last view of Kony 2012, that I heard about was from Hank Green, of the Vlogbrothers on YouTube, (there is a link to his video at the bottom of this blog if anyone would like to check it out) and it's his view that I agree with the most.
To summarise, basically, this situation is bad and should be stopped, but its also very, very complex and confusing no matter what anyone says. No one at the moment really has any viable plan for what to do, so in my opinion, yes people should continue to raise awareness, whilst at the same time being careful how they help e.g with donations, but people shouldn't rush head first into this. Even with all this awareness Governments should continue to fight the problems that we already face, whilst now at the same time coming up with a method of combating Kony and the LRA.
Hank Green's, Kony 2012 and complexity video -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO_tSVSg0qc&feature=g-u-u&context=G29d25daFUAAAAAAAIAA
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