So Londis and Gentlemen if you have been living within the confounds of a rock or you simply have things going on in your life, then you may not be aware of who or what Joseph Kony is so I’ll enlighten you.
Joseph Kony is a Ugandan rebel leader and head of the LRA (Lord’s resistance army) who has a distinct tendency to steal children in their sleep to train them up as soldiers for his cause. This started the “Kony 2012” campaign by Invisable children Inc which involves “making Kony famous” via social media. (Just watch the darn video!)
Now if you have watched that or just got the jist of I can only assume you are up to date. So this whole situation has exploded my Twitter and Facebook homepages and after sitting through 30 minutes of it I have to admit, I was sold. I don’t usually buy into propaganda, and it is propaganda but this time I did because it was positive subject matter for a change.
The video itself is a well crafted mini documentary and it pleads its case well. It uses all the classic persuasive media language, such as the innocent child and images of people suffering etcetera etcetera and I especially love the way it forces the viewer to feel like they are part of some kind of rebellion because well everybody loves a good rebellion.
It begs the viewer to participate by simply spreading the word which of course many will oblige to because it’s free and requires no effort. So the instructions are clear, and those who are simply talking about it are helping the situation because it survives on publicity alone. Many of us were sold in the first ten minutes and many people neglected to research the campaign but it is a legit social media force.
There are a few factors that I found astounding about this though. First of all I’m amazed that people actually sat though half an hour of what is essentially an advert and what is amazing Is the amount of people actually seem to give a rats ass about something that does not concern them. You often find that humanity can be fucked up at times, but it truly was enlightening to see how many people actually cared.
What wasn’t as amazing was the small amount of people who denounce the campaign and those who could sit there and watch the video and call it dumb. So Stephen Fry gets behind it and so yes it most certainly must be a dumb concept to spread peace. Equally annoying are those who use this as an opportunity to leap on a pedestal and literally dictate those who simply don’t care about the campaign. Telling people how to think and feel is something I am opposed to, but caring about one simple internet campaign should not make you an exceptional person; it should just make you simply “a person”. You are not a revolutionist by participating in the event; you are just a half decent human being. Ignoring other global concerns makes you a terrible person altogether lets be fair.
From a personal perspective, I do not see the harm in supporting the project. As a pacifist, I am behind anything that promotes peace. It does not kill to take time out from re-blogging pictures of half naked girls on Tumblr, asking your friends for “a wee para” on Facebook or Tweeting about 1Direction to talk about the campaign and let it be known. I don’t see myself plastering pictures of Joseph Kony around my hometown but I am interested to see whether something can happen concerning his arrest. It may restore my faith in charity work and if money donated can be utilised correctly then all the hype will be worth it.
