Kony 2012 is an internet phenomenon that has had over 85 million hits on YouTube. I have mixed feelings and thoughts on it. On the one hand I am very gratified that social media is being used to raise awareness of important social and international justice issues. I am grateful that young people are engaged in a cause for justice and peace. Certainly, bringing attention to childhood exploitation is a good thing.
At the same time, I think that we need to be responsible regarding the complexity of the issues. The simplistic personification of evil as residing in one charismatic figure is not helpful and contributes to cartoonish caricaturing. I also think that we have to be careful of the colonial mentality that suggests that the children are "invisible". The implication is that the only way children can be visible is if a white, middle class Western male makes them "visible".
Additionally, in discussions on this subject a colleague caught a gap in the Kony 2012 video. America has deployed 100 troops to central Africa. Uganda is more on the eastern side of Africa. The actual country that is in central Africa is the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has the largest reserve of Coltan/Tantalum which is the material used to make cell phones, Ipads, etc. It is probably not accidental that there is a global interest in the minerals that can be harvested there.
I hate to be the skunk at the picnic and I am glad that there is a movement that young people are gravitating to. I just do not want to see them becoming jaded and cynical later. I think it would just for Kony to be captured and brought to justice for war crimes. However, there are other current issues that we can and should be turning our attention to. At least this is a beginning of bringing global awareness to young people's consciousness and that fact alone justifies the entire phenomenon.
Consequently, I am not going to "hate on" (as the young people say) Kony 2012. However, below is a video that a young woman who is from Uganda posted in response to the entire Kony 2012 phenomenon that is useful for young people to see to provide balance.
At the same time, I think that we need to be responsible regarding the complexity of the issues. The simplistic personification of evil as residing in one charismatic figure is not helpful and contributes to cartoonish caricaturing. I also think that we have to be careful of the colonial mentality that suggests that the children are "invisible". The implication is that the only way children can be visible is if a white, middle class Western male makes them "visible".
Additionally, in discussions on this subject a colleague caught a gap in the Kony 2012 video. America has deployed 100 troops to central Africa. Uganda is more on the eastern side of Africa. The actual country that is in central Africa is the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has the largest reserve of Coltan/Tantalum which is the material used to make cell phones, Ipads, etc. It is probably not accidental that there is a global interest in the minerals that can be harvested there.
I hate to be the skunk at the picnic and I am glad that there is a movement that young people are gravitating to. I just do not want to see them becoming jaded and cynical later. I think it would just for Kony to be captured and brought to justice for war crimes. However, there are other current issues that we can and should be turning our attention to. At least this is a beginning of bringing global awareness to young people's consciousness and that fact alone justifies the entire phenomenon.
Consequently, I am not going to "hate on" (as the young people say) Kony 2012. However, below is a video that a young woman who is from Uganda posted in response to the entire Kony 2012 phenomenon that is useful for young people to see to provide balance.
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