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[Farlord]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc#!

Very shocking, this really touched me.

THought i'd share!

[Mr Chug]

Deadly's been researching this more than me, but it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out once mainstream media gets on this and turns the full journalistic glare on the makers.

Haven't actually clicked through by the way, but assuming this is that kony video. Either that or the my little pony 2012 range has been announced.

[mode_seven]

Changed to slightly more straightforward thread title.

Haven't done enough of my own research either, but seems like there's a fair bit of controversy surrounding this story.

[Farlord]

Yea I am wondering how this is going to turn out. Way better title now .  I have only seen the video, any more info is very welcome .

[Millicent Bystander]

The child soldier thing in Uganda has been reported on and off for years.  Maybe this massive campaign will see some positive results.

For those of you who couldn't be bothered to watch the 30 min video it's all about the campaign to bring Koni motive, a rebel leader in Uganda to justice.  His mode of operation is to kidnap children, make the girls sex slave and make the boys soldiers fighting for him.  The children have to kill their parents to prove their loyalty.

It is estimated that around 30,000 children have been kidnapped so far.  His organization has no political or idealogical motive.

[Hzza]

Is there a tl:dw? I need to make sure whatever the fuck this is is worth half an hour of my time.

[Mr Chug]

Milli's is a pretty good summary. The argument as I understand it:

Kony is a massive dick who needs to be brought to justice

vs

True, but Invisible Children (video makers) are also dicks, and the methods they're advocating aren't great either

In conclusion:

[Brahms]

What's the problem with the video makers?

They do seem sort of corny but I mean... whatever gets the job done, right?

[hawt!]

Right, Iv'e looked into it a fair bit as well.

The tl:dr version for Hzza is basically this:



 - Man named Joseph Kony, currently #1 on the ICC's 'Most Wanted' board for violations against humankind, kidnapping children and the like for the intents of creating child soldiers and sex objects.

 - American group want to stop this.

 - Plan for said Americans is admittedly, very effective and quite a good plan. They plan on making Kony famous, by getting his name, face, everything, out into the public domain so they are as recognisable as George Clooney.

 - Currently, they were able to lobby the US government into supplying a couple of hundred troops to the Ugandan army to serve as 'mentors' and aid in the flushing out of Mr.Kony, hopefully leading to his eventual arrest.

 - Plan is that by mass sharing on facebook and the like, coupled with a worldwide event where every major city / town will be set upon by supporters, posting Kony's face everywhere they can to further promote his image within the public's eye.

 - Ultimate goal (which isn't too ambitious either, not like they're trying to end hunger or something which I personally see as an absolutely ridiculous statement and a complete impossibility) is to end the existence of the LRA, of which Kony is the leader of, thus ending the hardship for Millions of Ugandans.



Obvious this is very admirable, and I actually am incredibly impressed with the fundamental principle of their plan. There are however, quite a few points you need to take in to consideration about this group.

Bear in mind the points themselves are not necessarily negative depending upon your point of view:

- Roughly only a third of all income obtained by this group actually makes it to the cause, the rest paying salaries and travel expenses etc.

- Whilst obviously they are not in the same league as Kony, who is seven shaded of evil, the Ugandan army is more than guilty of some of the very crimes which this campaign seeks to stop. By supporting this cause, you are otherwise showing support for the Ugandan army and the dictatorship head of state (undoubtedly they are having a HUGE pr boost as a result of this)

- Kony has not been known to operate in Uganda since 2006. The main course of action explicitly involves the Ugandan army as part of the US's pledge for support - effectively it is promoting involvement in neighbouring countries by one army, which as we all know, can not be pulled off without bad consequences.

- The US has actually had several attempts at taking this man out in the past, all of which have been unsuccessful and have in fact caused the deaths of hundreds in retaliation attacks by the LRA.

- Kony himself will be very hard to touch without a PR disaster. It is well known that he has a large squad of child soldiers as his personal bodyguards for this very reason, when it ultimately comes to the capture of Kony, a large number of children will inevitably die.



That's pretty much it, like I said, it's an admirable cause, providing you do not mind supporting the Ugandan army and the inevitable campaigns that will be taken with a high chance of failure in neighbouring lands

Don't even get me started on how organisations such as the LRA work, the old saying of 'cut off the head' is a complete farce.

[DeadlyAvenger]

Basically, the guy the whole thing is about (Joseph Kony) has done some pretty bad things. He was the leader of the LRA which abducted and forced children to become soldiers.

The organisation behind the campaign seem pretty dubious to me though.

For some details/information about the organisation:
http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/
http://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/qlc3u/invisible_children_stop_kony/c3yil0i
http://ilto.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-visible-problem-with-invisible-children/

From the sounds of it, the organisation is only using about 32% of their fundraising for supporting programmes in Africa (compared to 90% of other charities), at least some of which has been used to fund an army (which has apparently done some pretty bad things too). The rest goes on making their high quality videos which are reportedly very manipulative (which they started 8/9 years ago - which merchandise to go with each one) and they draw a $90k salary.

People have also said that Kony hasn't been active since 2006 and that the US/Africa has taken action against him. (http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/136673/mareike-schomerus-tim-allen-and-koen-vlassenroot/obama-takes-on-the-lra?page=show) The charity are looking for military action against Kony, but it doesn't really seem like they have a viable plan in place to do what they want and what happens if they achieve what they want to achieve?

The whole situation I find rather disheartening for the human race. The massive amount of hype it has received and how viral it's become because of the number of people blindly supporting the organisation without actually looking into it is pretty bad.

Don't get me wrong, the man has done absolutely horrific things so raising awareness is good - but a viral marketing campaign to raise awareness/sell merchandise for your unscrupulous charity (and to fund college tours etc.) isn't the way to do it.

What happens if *all* charities decide to go for viral marketing campaigns?

Meh.

Edit: Lol, hawt was also typing an epic post.

[hawt!]

Edit: Lol, hawt was also typing an epic post.

Too slow :>

Either way, I'm leaving this here, as well as the LOL thread.

[Brahms]

At least watching that video has helped me get that joke.

[Tommy the Cat]

Decent cause but there are cat charities that I don't give money too first.

[Berath]

No easy answers.

I think at the moment if I was going to send money in that direction, I'd focus on smaller, direct charities working with the children to rehabiliate them or focus on the non-flashy hardhitters like Amnesty International.

[e90]

Give me a rifle, a map and a gun.  I'll forfeit heaven, and it wont cost millions of pounds.

http://ilto.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-visible-problem-with-invisible-children/

Not saying I agree... but fair points.