Nearly a month after the viral video urging American troops to capture Joseph Kony, it’s clear that many people in the YSU community don’t really care.
Instead they raise questions of the video’s authenticity and message while embracing that, yes, the Lord’s Resistance Army leader is a bad man.
Let’s briefly dissect the meaning behind the video.
Joseph Kony is a bad person, check.
Sign our pledge to find Kony, check.
Buy our action kit for $30, check.
And, finally, if you really think that you can assist in bringing Kony down, make monthly donations to Invisible Children, the organization behind the viral video that has 86,637,328 views on YouTube.
More people should be aware of what Kony has done. He should answer for his crimes.
It’s evident that the atrocities Kony has been a part of for nearly 30 years are sad, sickening and upsetting.
Invisible Children was founded after it stumbled upon the unfortunate situation many Ugandan families are faced with every day — child abductions, rapes and slavery.
So what better way to promote your organization than to shoot, edit, produce and market a video that would make every American support your cause?
That’s what Invisible Children did, and it worked.
But the video will not “change the course of humanity.” Killing one man will not eradicate poverty and injustice.
Kony may be the most wanted man by the International Criminal Court, but civility will not follow the ousting of one man.
The video’s creator, Jason Russell, has our attention. Now what will he and Invisible Children do if and when Kony is captured?
If Kony 2012 pledges to make a difference, then the organization must focus on the issues and not the incidents.
It must sustain the hope that could rebuild Uganda.