Social media dominate our culture and movements, so it is no surprise that the "Kony 2012" video, created by the nonprofit activist group Invisible Children, has swept the Internet.
The video introduces Joseph Kony, the Ugandan leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Kony, an international war criminal, is at the top of the International Criminal Court's most-wanted list. While many know about Kony's child soldiers, until recently few could actually name the man behind the plans. That's the problem that Invisible Children aims to fix.
Invisible Children first began in 2005 when Ben Keesey, Laren Poole, and Jason Russell went to Uganda and encountered the effects of the conflict there. They created their first film and their organization took off.
The organization asks people to spread the word about Kony by purchasing a kit from them and writing to celebrities and policymakers. The group even sells bracelets for $10 to support their cause.
It all sounds pretty great, doesn't it? The whole world unites against one man, whose crimes are notorious and atrocious.
It would be pretty difficult to find a person who says that Joseph Kony doesn't deserve to be punished for what he's done. After all, the man captured more than 30,000 children and took them into sex slavery and into his military, forcing them to mutilate others and even murder their own parents.
While just about everyone can agree Kony needs to be found and stopped, Invisible Children's ambitious campaign has come under fire. Critics' main concern about Kony Invisible Children is that only 32 percent of the $8,676,614 the organization spent in 2011 went to direct services to help those in need in Uganda. The rest was put into filmmaking, travel expenses and the salaries of Invisible Children's three founders. Charity Navigator, a leading charity evaluator, rates Invisible Children only 3 out of 4 stars. UNICEF received 4 out of 4 stars. Invisible Children's low rating calls into question the organization's accountability to donors.
Even those who aren't bothered by that aspect have a bone to pick with Invisible Children. One of the aims of "Kony 2012" is to put pressure on politicians and policy makers to involve U.S. troops in arming and training the Ugandan People's Defense Force and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. This goal seems pretty middle-of-the-road as far as foreign policy goes; America gets to play the hero and none of our own troops get hurt. Again, sounds like a good plan. It would be, if both the Ugandan People's Defense Force and the Sudan People's Liberation Army hadn't been accused of raping and murdering civilians, just like the LRA.
The Obama administration has already sent troops to Africa with the purpose of capturing Joseph Kony, but Invisible Children and their supporters fear that politicians are supremely susceptible to public influence during this election year. That's what the campaign is all about: keeping the troops we have there training the Ugandan People's Defense Force.
Other critics of the "Kony 2012" campaign question whether any kind of military action should be used against Kony. The entire point of bringing Kony to justice is to liberate his child soldiers and sex slaves, but how much justice will we be delivering by attacking them? With the LRA's ranks now depleated, one can only assume that any military attack on Kony is going to result in the killing of children. The fact remains that Kony hasn't been active in six years, and all attempts at capturing him have led to violent retaliations. This raises a moral question: Is doing something better than doing absolutely nothing?
I've tried to look at the facts with an open mind. As an awareness-spreading tool, I think that "Kony 2012" has been largely successful. In practice, however, it also feels like a bunch of upper-middle-class white guys with visions of grandeur manipulating old footage of an extremely sensitive conflict.
While thousands of survivors of the Ugandan conflict continue to struggle with physical and emotional trauma, Invisible Children's main focus is to spend their cash on their salaries and on movies.
I, for one, would rather have my money go to helping improve the lives of those affected.
It's important to remember that the complex history of this war can't be explained in a 27-minute video or even in a short op-ed article. Now that Kony has the spotlight, it's up to you to decide what, if anything, you plan to do about it.