Off topic. I have been getting a shit-ton of email about “Kony 2012″. In 3 days, “KONY 2012“, a production of Invisible Children, has gained nearly 40M views on YouTube.
I heard about Invisible Children a long time ago when it became popular amongst my friends in high school. Something felt strange about IC, and while I couldn’t really articulate it then, I didn’t get into their cause. It felt uncomfortable that they commercialized poverty to sell wristbands & t-shirts. It seemed strange to send culturally ignorant people with cameras out to invade the lives of struggling people in the name of “helping” them. While Invisible Children appeared “trendy”, I couldn’t get into it.
When this viral video came out, it had FISHY written all over it. I was like – woah, since when do people actually care about social ills? Imagine if people always became so passionate OVER NIGHT about widespread problems! Lol.
Since it hit, I have been investigating Invisible Children, the film, and all the resources around it. The debate around it is confusing. Using the facts, trustworthy sources, some Ugandan history 101, and my own social analysis, I am going to give you my current thoughts on the matter.
By my current research, Invisible Children and “Kony 2012″ are doing more harm than good. I do not support the Kony “campaign”. Here are my reasons.
(1) Violent Intervention
A statement by Invisible Children’s Director of Communications has indicated that Invisible Children is now working with the Ugandan Army and Sudan People’s Liberation Army, both of which are violent forms of intervention. I understand that sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures, but as I will discuss in sections 2, 5, and 6: violent military intervention is not necessary or even justifiable in this case.
Additionally, the Ugandan military & SPLA have wreaked havoc on its people, including raping them and stealing from them.
Here is a picture of the founders of IC posing with weapons and the SPLA.
Nice one, IC….
(2) Ugandan Protest
Ugandans (yknow…the people who actually live there) are expressing their alarm with the viral film. Ugandan community organizers & activists have spoken out against “Stop Kony”, saying:
“What that video says is totally wrong, and it can cause us more problems than help us,”
“There has not been a single soul from the LRA here since 2006. Now we have peace, people are back in their homes, they are planting their fields, they are starting their businesses. That is what people should help us with.”
-Dr Beatrice Mpora, director of Kairos, a community health organisation in Gulu, a town that was once the centre of Kony’s activities
“Suggesting that the answer is more military action is just wrong.”
“Have they thought of the consequences? Making Kony ‘famous’ could make him stronger. Arguing for more US troops could make him scared, and make him abduct more children, or go on the offensive.”
-Javie Ssozi, influential Ugandan blogger
“This paints a picture of Uganda six or seven years ago, that is totally not how it is today. It’s highly irresponsible”.
-Rosebell Kagumire, Ugandan peace & conflict journalist
“To call the campaign a misrepresentation is an understatement. While it draws attention to the fact that Kony, indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in 2005, is still on the loose, its portrayal of his alleged crimes in Northern Uganda are from a bygone era.”
“Today most of these children are semi-adults. Many are still on the streets unemployed. Gulu has the highest numbers of child prostitutes in Uganda. It also has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis.”
-Angelo Izama, Ugandan journalist
(3) White Savior
To hold the solutions of 3 American filmmakers above the African activists who have lived and worked in the affected communities their whole lives stinks of imperialism and colonialism. This happens so often that the phenomenon has been coined “white savior”.
“White savior” refers to western people going in to “fix” the problems of struggling nations or people of color without understanding their history, needs, or the region’s current state of affairs. This sort of “activism” is presumptuous, arrogant, and typically causes more problems for the native people than if they had been left alone. Blind to their nuisance, “white saviors” walk away from their work feeling good about themselves for no reason.
“Kony 2012″ is a white savior film in a purest sense: 3 westernized white guys with cameras come in, make an emotionally moving film which goes viral, creates alarm in the community, and has little to no effective value because it is not an accurate reflection of the real problem. “Kony 2012″ is a white savior film because it is detached from Uganda itself, its communities, and Ugandan voices.
(4) Shady Finances
“I suspect that if that’s the impression they are making, they are doing it only to garner increasing financial resources for their own agenda.”
-Fred Opolot, spokesman for the Ugandan government
Because the government is tied to the violent military, it’s worth being skeptical of Opolot’s claims. However, the evidence suggests that he is correct. When they aren’t spending money on the military, IC only spends 31% of its funds on direct aid.
Where is all the money going? We can’t know for sure. The Better Business Bureau has indicated that Invisible Children won’t allow their financials to be audited. Charity watchdogs have given IC a low accountability rating for its shady financials.
Alas, IC are filmmakers (obviously powerful filmmakers at that), and millions of dollars in donations go toward their white savior films. These films hold little to no practical value except to sell wristbands, t-shirts, and other crap that makes people feel like they’ve done their social justice deed of the year.
(5) Manipulating the Truth
On the approach of Invisible Children in addressing Kony and the LRA, the Council on Foreign Affairs has stated:
“In their campaigns, such organizations have manipulated facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRA’s use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony — a brutal man, to be sure — as uniquely awful, a Kurtz-like embodiment of evil. They rarely refer to the Ugandan atrocities or those of Sudan’s People’s Liberation Army, such as attacks against civilians or looting of civilian homes and businesses, or the complicated regional politics fueling the conflict.”
IC has for awhile been the subject of criticism by scholars, having been described as “naive”, “misleading”, and “dangerous”.
Since the film was released, better educated folks have come forward about the misleading nature of “Kony 2012″. For Foreign Policy, Michael Wilkerson, an Oxford PhD candidate who has lived and reported from Uganda, writes:
“But let’s get two things straight: 1) Joseph Kony is not in Uganda and hasn’t been for 6 years; 2) the LRA now numbers at most in the hundreds, and while it is still causing immense suffering, it is unclear how millions of well-meaning but misinformed people are going to help deal with the more complicated reality.
First, the facts. Following a successful campaign by the Ugandan military and failed peace talks in 2006, the LRA was pushed out of Uganda and has been operating in extremely remote areas of the DRC, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic — where Kony himself is believed to be now. The Ugandan military has been pursuing the LRA since then but had little success (and several big screw-ups).
…Additionally, the LRA (thankfully!) does not have 30,000 mindless child soldiers. This grim figure, cited by Invisible Children in the film (and by others) refers to the total number of kids abducted by the LRA over nearly 30 years. Eerily, it is also the same number estimated for the total killed in the more than 20 years of conflict in Northern Uganda.”
Michael brings to light something “Kony 2012″ conveniently ignores: reality.
(6) False Solutions & Faux-activism
Do not get me wrong, I want this Kony asshole caught as much as the next person. I would never condone or support such inhumanity. I hope this would be obvious.
However, the solutions proposed by IC to catch Kony are strange. The film sets out to make Kony famous. This operates so that Obama will keep pressure on Uganda with American advisors until Kony is either captured or dead. Fine – but I can’t find anything saying that Obama/America will pull out. So uh…..what is prompting all the urgent “save the world now” “put posters everywhere” crap? 0 effective value.
Further, the proposed military solution is oversimplified. To quote Wilkerson:
“One of the biggest issues with a simplistic “Stop Kony” message is that discussions of Navy Seals or drone strikes are inevitable when patience runs out with Ugandan-led efforts . But what about the dozens or hundreds of abducted and brainwashed kids? Should we bomb [the kids too]? Will they actually stop fighting after Kony is gone? What if they shoot back?”
So….KILL KONY! (?) AND ALL THE KIDS TOO!! (?) OR….JUST MAKE SURE YOU DON’T HIT THEM WITH YOUR BULLETS! Right? Or what? How can so many people support a goal that is so vague & unclear?
“Coming back to the ‘Kony 2012′ video and its celebrity endorsements, what are the consequences of unleashing so many exuberant activists armed with so few facts? Defining Uganda in the international conversation by issues that are either geographical misfires (Save northern Uganda!) or an intentional attempt to distract the international community (Death to the gays!), do a disservice to the many critical problems Uganda has.”
This brings me full circle to my frustration with people becoming so “passionate” over something they know nothing about while constantly turning a blind eye to the issues informed activists try to bring to light every damn day.
This could speak to how easily manipulated people are….and/or to how the obvious medium for social change is (you got it):
film.
All signs point to Invisible Children being a farce. The evidence suggests that “Kony 2012″ is an emotional propaganda film that is factually questionable, stinks of white savior, will cause more violence and/or incoherence, and goes against the solutions of actual Ugandan people. This happens while conveniently making Invisible Children a shitload of money to fund more useless emotional blackmail and while fauxtivists on Facebook falsely believe they’ve done something helpful. Now what?
If we have in fact been mislead, which is what it looks like, it’s never too late to change lines of support. Here are alternatives to Invisible Children that do similar work, have high ratings, good financials, external audits that are made public, and positive outcomes:
AMREF USA
Africare
Children of the Nations
Water.org
Here’s to practical, culturally sensitive, humane, and informed solutions to finding Kony.
THANK YOU LACI.
Take a look at the picture of them posing with the guns…look over the shoulder of the white dude with brown shirt…found Kony…
hahaha totally!
racist bastards
Glad to see you did your homework.
How ’bout we let a professor give us some homework? https://www.facebook.com/notes/kristen-melelani-walker/directly-emailed-from-my-professor-dr-adam-branch-in-kampala-uganda-march-8-2012/10150569690241991
Interesting, good info, thanks. I have had similar doubts. Thia in no way lessens my revulsion at Kony and his rebels but it is obvious that the Ugandan military and gvmt is no better.
Why are all atheists against this? One of my friend’s is an atheist and he’s saying the same thing.
Honestly, what’s wrong with some people? How can you say something like,”this Kony thing isn’t our business”? First, you obviously didn’t watch the video, in which case I doubt you even know what you’re talking about so you just shut up right now. Second, it’s not about where you live or what your political views are, it’s about innocent children. Its about being human, and the right to live, and be safe, and happy. Its about the universal language of love. It’s about a cruel sick man who needs to be stopped at any cost for the sake of people’s lives. It’s about a better earth, and a better future for your children. Open your ignorant eyes and stop thinking about yourself for once!
I am not atheist. At first I was for it but when you think of all the information that is here that is not in the vid on youtube ect… It can cause more harm then good it could do.
“all atheists” meaning two people? hm.
No, the atheists at my school say the same things.
It’s all the skeptical thinking and fact- checking us atheists are prone to doing, I think ;)
Pretty sure there is an fairly even number of fact checking atheists as believers. And a even number of ignorant believers and atheists. Granted I dont have numbers to back this up but I am fairly sure you dont either.
I am a believer, yet here I am checking the facts… Just saying
Those must be some pretty amazing atheists at your school to represent all the atheists everywhere.
“The atheists at my school…”
Wait, how old are you?
Wow. Just wow. Not only did you make presumptions about the actions and intentions of these “atheists”, but you also called them ignorant despite the fact that many of them have done probably more research than you did.
The problem isn’t a clear-cut “kill kony, mission accomplished”. You go after Kony, he steps up his abduction rates, more child soldiers meaning more collateral. Would you like to have the blood of a hundred or a thousand children on your hands, or would you rather let Africa deal with their own problems and feel satisfied that you didn’t make the situation worse.
Doesn’t look like you actually read what Laci said, Jen. There were four organizations that she urged people to support that work in Africa to help people, children included. She also pointed out that a mission to extract Kony from wherever he is hiding runs the high risk of causing the suffering and death of the same children you are expostulating about – because they are the soldiers he is recruiting to fight for him. They are the ones who will be at the front line if Kony 2012 results in a concentrated military campaign to bring Kony to justice.
If you have a solution for that, by all means, post it. I’m not saying that the world should leave Kony alone, but what the world should do to stop the killings, mutilations, rapes and kidnappings in an area that most of us will never see is another matter. I don’t think it’s as simple as Kony 2012 makes it appear to be.
Because nothing says “universal language of love” better than a heartfelt “so you just shut up right now.”
And do you really think she took all this time to search the web for articles, stats and reaction, but didn’t take half an hour to watch the video she is writing about? Considering your “this Kony thing isn’t our business” remark, I actually doubt you read every word of Laci’s piece.
Wow, I hope you are not serious!
The facts that Laci pointed out are pretty straight-forward and have nothing to do with her religious belief or whatsoever!
Generally speaking, being against or for this campaign is not influenced at all by ones religious beliefs.
I feel rather sorry for you that you lack the ability to actually understand and to process the information given above by Laci, instead of mixing in (or rather mixing up ) things that are completely off topic.
Actually peoples’ religious views greatly affect their everyday decisions and the campaigns they support. I am an agnostic myself and have friends who are atheists and very strong Christians. Christians sometimes feel it is their duty to do whatever they can to help people (for obvious reasons) and atheists tend to be skeptical of such campaigns (again, for obvious reasons). Just a disclaimer i will be bashing both Christians and atheists in this, so don’t be offended. Christians can be very naive and think anything that says “donate” on it is automatically a good cause. They then say anyone who doesn’t support that cause obviously doesn’t love God and is going to hell. Atheists have a nasty habit of hating everything that Christians like, especially if it involves evangelism. Not that they don’t care, but they are sometimes hesitant to join a cause that is predominantly Christian. So, Atheists think Christians are naive and ignorant, and Christians think Atheists are arrogant and selfish (this is a stereotype). In short, Christians and Atheists will never get along and will usually choose whatever viewpoint is not occupied by the other party. this is the reason there are so many more Christian conservatives than liberals. Some choose political parties solely based on religious views. So peoples’ decisions are greatly influenced by their religious views.
I agree with your last sentence.
To bells.
Jen doesn’t lack ability. She may lack some understanding,- as well as all of us – yet you don’t need to condemn her for it, or anyone for that matter, even if she provoked you. Be strong, Be tolerant, this is a hot issue.
Okay, we’ll take a vote. Everyone who supports Kony 2012 say “I love America and I am a patriot!” and everyone who is against Kony 2012 say “I love to burn the flag and I am a child molester!”
Excellet, it’s decided. We’ll send in Team America to take out Kony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce8CgJRkr_I
Uhm im sorry, but this whole comment here, is a very immature and uneducated opinion. You should rethink your outlook here and actually try to be openminded about the situation.
I can’t figure out if you understood the satire or not.
But I am leaning towards not.
I can’t stop laughing… :D
YOU obviously didn’t read this WHOLE post.
Jen: Rather than asking “Why are all atheists against this”, which just comes off as an ad hominem attack, how about you go through Laci’s post and show any errors that she may have made? Until then, th eone coming across as ignorant is you.
Have you even read the text? She never said “it’s not our business”! Quite the opposite, she’s making it her business to research and help inform people of what’s really going on.
At any cost, really? Even at the cost of the lives of the children you’re so desperately trying to save? Because, think about this for a sec, if the guy has an army of children, who do you think he’ll use for bodyguards? Who do you think would be defending him if the Ugandan military was to find him and try to capture him?
I’ve seen the video, and I thought there was something weird about it at once, even though I never heard about IC before. So I RESEARCHED! And came to the same obvious conclusions as Laci. It’s not that hard, really!
Hats off to you, Laci! Excelent work!
I’m a strong Atheist, and I disagree with this post. I support the Invisible Children campaign.
Same. Same.
Way to clump everyone into a category. *eye roll*
it’s because us atheists try to actually think about other options. We are openminded. Not wanting to start a god debate, but you christians believe in god right, but have you ever REALLY thought about other ways life could have started? Us atheists had.
because we believe there is only one way… you guys dont want to believe there is only one way you want to believe you can control your own life and you dont want a god meddling in your affairs
Once, on a three day river trip in Alaska, a member of our party’s canoe was capsized by a fallen tree in the river. A foolish person in another canoe tried to by the big hero by jumping into dangerously cold Alaskan water to rescue the overturned canoeists. But, he did not appreaciate the speed of the current, nor did he take the time to notice that, while the overturned canoeist were in the water, the current had washed them up against the fallen tree and they were easily able to climb the branches to the trunk and then simply walked ashore. Meanwhile, the current carried the wannabe hero two miles further down the river before he managed to crawl onto a rock in the middle of the river. By the time HIS rescuers reached him, he was severely overcome with hypothermia and very nearly died that night.
So, what does this have to do with Kony, and your post? Knee-jerk reactionism. People often see something that provokes their emotions and without thinking about motivation or consequences they jump into an action that is often poorly planned and ill-advised.
IMHO that is what the KONY 2012 video is all about, manipulating the viewer’s emotions to acheive questionable results for the personal gain of the video’s producers.
Is Kony real? Is it a problem to be addressed? Probably. But ‘look before you leap’ is probably good advice in this situation.
Jesus follower here, and I love children and would gladly give my life to save any of them; however, the author of this article did nothing but present truth and facts. Whether you want to admit it or not, situations like this are far more complex than the film makers lead us to believe.
Again, the author of this article presented pretty solid facts that IC’s methods of involvement in this situation will lead to more bad than good.
We all know that the livelihood of these children who have been abused and taken from their families under excruciating positions is a serious situation…. That is NOT the argument here. The argument is that this film seeks to propagandize and oversimplify these situations that these young Ugandan soldiers have been forced into. If we can find a charity that will actually help these children instead of creating sensationalism overnight, we’d all like to hear about it. But this organization is not the good guy.
Did this guy even read the article?
you know what did it for me?
the actual people who live there think its a bad idea. Are you really going to imply that you know more about the issue than they do?
come on now, when you bring anything about religion into this kind of stuff you just look like an idiot so leave it out, you could have made all those points without mentioning atheism.
also the critical thinking thing, i kind of see where the guys coming from. MOST religious people are raised like that, but if you are an atheist that has come from a christian home you would have to think really really hard to completely reverse what you have been taught. Thats not to say there arent any stupid atheist most of my friends at school are.
also i resent that just because you are young that makes your argument invalid, just because this guy may be young doesnt mean he doesnt deserve to voice his opinion, i’m 14 and i think i have voiced my opinion well.
and clearly you did not read the above article…?
I’m not an atheist either…maybe you should read this as well:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/166724/what-does-kony-viral-video-say-about-us
Religion has nothing to do with morality and helping one another. We can still help one another regardless of what we believe. Of course we need to help children and stop Kony, however the proposed plan of action (KONY 2012) is not the most appropriate manner of bringing peace to the people. Laci is asking us to think outside the box and to think of different ways that we can help with out benefiting IC. We CAN do this with out the IC. You just need to have a little faith in yourself and what you can do as a single being.
There are arguments flying around all over the place on this sensitive issue
IC responded to many of these critiques:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html
From an accademic perspective (for me personally a psychological/social psychological one), the entire situation is fascinating.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQABpjCalJk&feature=youtu.be
As always, a well done and well argued case about, what can only be described as posers. I commented on this in my blog on the issue, where I focused on how its more about us feeling better about ourselves rather than a genuine effort to improve the situation in Uganda.
http://vgt890.wordpress.com/2012/03/08/kony-2012-an-opinion/
Not quite as well written as yours, and written before I discovered more information on the situation. By the looks of US intervention is neither wanted nor neededn the region.
Bit of a grammatical error there, when discussing posers, I meant that IC are the posers, I did not intend to refer to Kony as a poser. Apologies.
Laci–
Thank you so much for bringing this to light. I will admit that I was not well informed, and was a supporter of KONY 2012 before I read this. I am shocked by this information. I will no longer support KONY 2012. Thank you Laci for being much more informed ! Btw, I am a HUGE fan of you, saw that I am now in your circle on Google Plus and almost had a heart attack, lol.
Much Love,
Tori.
Well this changed my mind. I did support it ’till This information came to me. Thanks for bringing all of this other information to light.
First I heard of it was on Fb, through a friend. Afterwards, sxpehil on YouTube. Thankfully, he retracted his support for the video the following day (he was smart enough to do some research of his own, like you did). For some reason I never went with it (didn’t even see the video). Something felt wrong. That, and sharing the damn thing on Fb wasn’t gonna DO anything.
Well said, Laci. Thank you for the education! :D
I, too, don’t agree with the methods proposed in the video, but when I watched it I didn’t notice a focus on Uganda today (As it mentioned that Kony already left Uganda, which allowed some of the people to leave and come to America). I do not support giving money to the charity, as I don’t see a good purpose in wearing a bracelet and putting up posters and everything, but I still think it’s important that people start caring more about what’s going on in the world, even if it starts with something misleading. This video will (and has already) bring to light issues that are (or should be) important in the world’s minds.
I am in no way saying that your criticisms are wrong (in fact, I agree with pretty much everything), but I would like to hear what the REAL issues are that everyone keeps saying that this video does not address, but REAL activists know about. Everything that keeps coming out is saying how misleading this film is, but little is mentioned about what problems could actually use help, if they need outside help at all.
I think the point is that they do not need outside interference from ignorant people and if you don’t understand then don’t interfer.
Do your own research if you want to know more. (i.e. stop being ignorant)
https://www.facebook.com/notes/kristen-melelani-walker/directly-emailed-from-my-professor-dr-adam-branch-in-kampala-uganda-march-8-2012/10150569690241991
The film made me uncomfortable once I watched it; it makes Michael Moore look like an honest filmmaker. It also increased my (already free flowing) cynicism. It seemed like such a positive, new idealism: an entire, international Internet community rallying behind one cause. And then it proofed to be bogus. When ‘charities’ like this or Pink Ribbon are a scam, I can’t do anything other THAN be cynical. The lack of activity needed for something like Kony 2012 also adds to the problem. Researching a good cause or charity takes time and energy, and donating costs money. Clicking ‘Share’ or ‘Retweet’, or going out for a Live8 concert is easy enough, and those who do it can then wash themselves in a warm bath of political correctness and moral satisfaction.
I’ll just be honest; I barely give to charity (although since recently I have an income with allows for a 10 or 20 euro donation a month). So the one positive thing for me is that it inspired me to start donated some paper. But it’s going to Unicef (or something similar) and not this shit.
I felt the same uncomfortable feeling
you should be ashamed of yourself
no you should not be ashamed of yourself, none should. Can you see how shame brings more violence?
One good thing is that it has brought this issue to the light, to be discussed and to find out the truth about IC and Kony.
I was compleatly against the movement as a purponet of nonviolence but now i have other aguments to support my postion to my non pacifist colleges
Laci, this was a great post with fantastic information. Don’t worry about the hatters. They probably just skimmed your article because they want to keep feeling good without the work.
What have the milliners done to stoke your ire?
GOD DAMN THOSE HATTERS!
HOW DARE THEY MAKE HEADGEAR!?
Well written Laci, I agree completley. When I first heard of the Kony 2012 campaign it was admitedly hard not to be swept up by it, at the end of the day everyone spreading this video etc has their heart in the right place. However, I looked into all this myself and came to the same conclusions, and have since posted to facebook about not supporting Kony 2012. I think it’s possibly quite good for raising awareness, many people are very blind to such situations, but it’s an issue far too complex to be solved in the ways Kony 2012 suggest.
Best comment I think I have read so far haha
My thoughts about this are fairly simple. If you watched the video, that’s awesome, at least you aren’t just following along like little sheep. But, honestly, posting the video to facebook or simply updating your status as “Kony 2012″ does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. If all these people that support it actually did as the video stated and contacted these senators and set up meetings about it, that’s great. I seriously doubt that every single one of those viewers (32 million the last time I checked) did that. I’m sure most just posted it to facebook, updated their status, and went on about their daily lives. Raising awareness, which is what the video was intended to do, is fine but absolutely useless if you don’t act. And I guess you could consider me one of those heartless people that wants to see us take care of our own problems before we worry about others. Just my two cents.
Shut up
“Shut up”
Is not a useful, or appropriate response to anything.
If you think this comment is wrong, say why.
I have a few questions/counter-arguments regarding this post:
(1) Violent Intervention
“violent military intervention is not necessary or even justifiable in this case.”
I didn’t see your explanation for this point, I’m all for avoiding violence, but how would you go about stopping a warlord nonviolently?
(2) Ugandan Protest
They did mention in the video that Kony no longer operates in Uganda. They went on to say that they are still committed to stopping him, wherever he is.
(4) Shady Finances
” IC only spends 31% of its funds on direct aid.”
As they state in the video, they are focusing their efforts on the U.S. Government, via the U.S. people. They really seem to be more of an activist group than a charity.
(5) Manipulating the Truth
“…Additionally, the LRA (thankfully!) does not have 30,000 mindless child soldiers. This grim figure, cited by Invisible Children in the film (and by others) refers to the total number of kids abducted by the LRA over nearly 30 years.”
In the video, they did say that 30,000 was the number that had been abducted, not the number currently being held.
(6) False Solutions & Faux-activism
“So….KILL KONY! (?) AND ALL THE KIDS TOO!! (?) OR….JUST MAKE SURE YOU DON’T HIT THEM WITH YOUR BULLETS! Right? Or what? How can so many people support a goal that is so vague & unclear?”
I think the point is more to make sure the government takes action. Obviously we can’t let ordinary citizens make tactical decisions.
And from your final paragraph: “and goes against the solutions of actual Ugandan people.”
I didn’t see you present any Ugandan solutions, that section was dedicated to stating that Kony was no longer in Uganda.
I’m all for skepticism, however, it seems like you misinterpreted several things the Kony 2012 video said when building your argument against it. If you have anything you would like to add, or rebuttals to my points, I’d love to hear them. I will be checking back.
Almost all your counter arguments to her research (from trustworthy sources), starts with “In the video”. I mean…
I refer back to the video in those situations because Laci seems to be insinuating that people are being mislead by the video, when in fact, the video is saying the same thing she is.
the video is definitely not saying the same thing she is, the video is propaganda this article is factual.
(1) Kony is a small figure now, with a couple of hundred men. If he is to be with with handcuffs on his wrist, or a bullet between his eyes, great, I’m happy. But their are issues, rebels, armies and dictators (like Museveni, ever heard of that name?) in that region which cause far more harm at this moment. To spent millions of dollars on catching Kony is not the best way to help that region (this also answers point number 4).
(6) “I think the point is more to make sure the government takes action.” And that is exactly Laci’s point here. What action? Where? When? And the biggest of them all: HOW? If Kony still has child soldiers, do you want to blast them away to?
Point (5) might be valid (don’t remember, have to check that first), but you have to admit the movie barely contains information, and is big on sentiment.
On point (3), I’ll have respond later. I guess.
” If Kony still has child soldiers, do you want to blast them away to?”
Have you heard the term acceptable losses? Would you rather 300 kids died or 3000 over lets just say a 10 year period.
The fact of the matter is; we are not Ugandans/Africans, and as such have NO RIGHT to make the decision about whether or not these children die.
I should have elaborated further to avoid some confusion.
When I wrote
“I think the point is more to make sure the government takes action.”
What i should have added was:
“and the government should be the ones that decide what form that action will take, because they are the best equipped to make that decision.”
I do understand that taking brash, or poorly though out actions could lead to disaster. If we put money, equipment, advanced training, or weapons in the wrong hands, we could easily create a bad situation.
I agree that that is something that definitely needs to be kept in mind, however like I said, the government would be the group best suited to make that decision, they’re the experts at this (at least we would hope :P).
Let me say first that i’ve served in 2 branches of the U.S. Military and have served with all the branches. And I believe I can promise You that the Government is NOT the experts. But when the money starts rolling in for the support of this, They will be. – for a long time.
Who says we want to stop him. Doing nothing doesn’t make thing worse but violence probably will. Gaddafi, Bin Laden and Hussain are gone and yet the world is more dangerous than 10-15 years ago. Would you have dropped a nuke on Kim Jong Il?
A good point.
“Doing nothing doesn’t make thing worse but violence probably will.”
Care to back this up?
And perhaps this one as well;?
” the world is more dangerous than 10-15 years ago.”
“I didn’t see your explanation for this point, I’m all for avoiding violence, but how would you go about stopping a warlord nonviolently?”
Obviously what you are missing is that it is a lack of a need for violent intervention and not a lack of a need for violence.
The point is that there doesn’t need to be military forces brought in from outside the country.
I agree, there may not be a need to bring in outside forces, but no matter who tracks him down; whether the soldiers are African, American, UN, NATO, or whatever other group, isn’t it still violence?
Thanks for this! I appreciate the information and am going to check into some of the organizations you listed :). p.s. found you on twitter by typing in Kony 2012
Thank you, Laci.
So, let’s do nothing — it’s only African children who’s being killed, raped, and destroyed. There is a reason that Kony is #1 on ICC’s Crimes Against Humanity List. It’s so easy to call something a scam when you haven’t been over there –boots on the ground — I have — and it’s very real; the war; the atrocities. The people in Uganda are afraid to speak out — that’s why they haven’t. And do you really think — money is the reason? We live in the most capitalist country in the world — there is no need to every go to Africa to make money honey. Oh, but let this very heinous act happen in Israel — and we would be waging War World IV right now. But since these African are black– let’s not be their white saviors? Excuse me. How about just being decent human beings. People standing together and to say we are united and believe that it’s simply dead wrong to rape and kill a child any child. So, no thank you Laci – I’ve done my research also — COVER THE NIGHT — KONY 2012!!!
KONY2012 critics are not suggesting to “do nothing.” Nor did Laci say we shouldn’t help Africans because of their skin color. Don’t twist words, and don’t try the emotional blackmail. It’s not impressive.
Haha, BLACKmail. =P Sorry, all this stuff is so obviously ridiculous, it’s hard to stay serious. I mean, “cover the night”? What the fuck does that even mean? Silly sheeple =P
Bad joke, good question, Rubz.
Well, I’d say do nothing over making it worse which is what the ignorant are inclined to do.
Kanye you can’t fool me I know its you.
Thank you so much for posting this, Laci! When I first saw the video yesterday, I’ll admit I was captured by it. At first, facts seem believable and the video does spark a mixture of emotions all wishing to have some solution to the problem, which they then give. Of course, the solution the video gives isn’t (by far) the best, but it is misleadingly simple and assuring, enough so that many believe it. The thing that I was most skeptical of was “Why charge so much for posters when not much goes to direct efforts and why even make Kony 2012 shirts?” I went looking for more information but it was mostly sparse. This summarizes everything perfectly!
Thanks, Laci.
Rob
Perfect is a huge word. Don’t you mean “good enough for you”?
I support kony2012. And if it was you captured by Kony, i’m pretty sure you would want help.
Did you even READ this?
how can u be so ignorant??? did u read the article?
how do u think ur “liking” a post on facebook will bring back the captured??
Besides, Kony isn’t even in uganda!!
Well said. When I first saw the Kony 2012, I had no idea who he was so I did a little bit of research. Clearly the guy was no good. Then I watched the video and I was moved. I almost purchased a piece of their merchandise, but then I got to thinking and like you said, there was something fishy about the whole thing. Exactly what is the money going to do? What is all of this propaganda going to do? Make Kony famous; check. But by blowing up his name, wouldn’t that make matters worse? Being aware of a situation doesn’t do anything, and that’s all we are; aware. My thoughts are pretty scattered, but you hit it right on the nail. The guy needs to be stopped, yes, but putting propaganda stickers and posters around town won’t do anything.
White Savior? Really? Could we get a little more racism mixed in? “3 white guys with cameras come in” Why white? Why does their skin colour change anything? You can’t be seriously telling me that if they were black, doing the exact same thing, the outcome would be any different. I’m skeptical about some of the things you point out as well but the fact that these guys are white or some of the people wanting things to be fixed are white is completely irrelevant.
No it’s not. White people, especially American white people, feel a strong urge to make up for their history. Look around you, it’s so f’ing apparent is ridiculous.
I don’t feel an urge to make up for anything and I’m white. Look at that, not all white people fit into the stereotype created for them. Geez, how dare us white people call others racist for accusing us for acting a certain way because of our skin colour!
Besides, that still doesn’t explain how the outcome would be any different if three non-white people were the ones behind IC.
If everyone always fitted into the stereotype, it wouldn’t really be a stereotype now would it?
The question of ‘what if they weren’t white’, isn’t relevant. They are white, and that raises certain questions. Those questions lead you to do research into todays relationship between white people and black people, especially in the context of foreign aid and charity. If you’ve done the research, the mere fact that these 3 peoples ‘happen’ to be white, isn’t as much coincidental as it is inevitable.
Ugh. Go look up what it actually means before you start throwing around accusations of racism against white people. The whole concept that Westerners need to go rescue the poor natives from themselves was used as a justification for imperialism. It is an intrinsically ethnocentric and racist power fantasy. The fact that it’s still such a large part of our culture shows how little things have actually changed since the 19th century.
I think I’m going to quote you on that. Well said
After about 3 minutes into that video I already wanted to turn it off. There was something greatly off-putting about it. Later I watched the whole thing anyway, because apparently this was getting a big deal. Some very basic research let me to the same conclusion Laci drew after her much more extended research. I’m glad she took the time to use her voice, and show us the side of reason (as always <3).
Let the following be very clear to all the people being giant squids of anger right now. We do not condone Kony, what he and his people did, have done, are doing, will do, etc, etc. The only thing we are pointing out, is that IC isn't what it appears to be. That the facts bring things to light they try to obscure by emotional propaganda. Their cause might be just, but their ways of getting there, are far from anything righteous. Don't let yourself be blinded by emotion.
And I mean, that picture of those 3 guys holding guns. Pictures really do say more than a thousand words, don't they. Those guys are probably the 3 most douchiest looking guys I have ever seen. I'm not an aggressive person, but they just bring it out in me.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html
Thank you! When I first saw the video and all the support for Invisible Children, I was initially rather skeptical and slightly suspicious of it all. Now I know that my hunches were correct! I will be doing more research into this subject to further my knowledge, thanks to you!
*like*
Thanks for all the compelling info, Laci. I have to say, when I first saw the video, I was really supportive of it. It’s hard not to get drawn in when the video is so specifically designed to pull at the very core of your humanity..
But then, I had that prickly something-doesn’t-feel-right moment, and looked into it a little further. Once I began seeing all the flaws in the entire situation, I felt really.. used. I think that at the the end of the day, people really just want to feel like they’re part of something. We all want to band together and fix the world.. But I guess the world is just so full of shit, that we all kind of get lost, and don’t know where to start. It makes me sad that people can be so easily manipulated by a well-put-together video.. and it makes me sadder that crooked people are taking full advantage of it.
I think something Laci failed to mention and many people are not aware of is that President Obama has already sent over a number of US Special Forces to aid in the search for Kony. So it is not as if The United States has not done anything to assist in this case. One thing that bothers me so much is that we are so concerned about finding a singular person who has caused so much suffering. What is affecting Ugandan children and other children in Africa the most is disease…most recently, the Noddling disease. I don’t know why people aren’t spreading more awareness of this, disease because of the poverty in Africa is contributing to many more deaths of children AND adults than Kony ever did/will. I’m not trying to minimize the horrendous crimes he’s committed against humanity but seeing as there are a number of forces out there looking for him, shouldn’t we try to focus our efforts/money on trying to find a cure or get medication out there to the kids afflicted by all these diseases?
Obama is a ninja <3 Don't worry, one by one these notorious bandits will fall. Small teams of special forces will hunt them down and assassinate them quickly and cleanly. You don't need thousands of troops and a whole war. Good information and a few highly trained individuals are all you need. Bin Laden learned that the hard way… =D
Obama is Bush W with a tan and an education. Bin Laden was a nice bit of propaganda for the administration (although may not be true) and will have won him votes, but the world is not in any way safer. Now to find the next guy that can’t fight back, Kony will do.
Well, Obama is also trying really hard to fix all kinds of other things, but the general public seems to get most exited over some old loner being murdered than anything else, so… You can’t blame Obama for being the president of a country governed largely by, well… you know…
And Europe is ignorantly following it’s big bro btw, so yeah, awesome…
One tin foil hat, coming through!
I have to say I agree with this.
Thank you Lonnie Smith. You have literally inrertupted my line of thought and way of dealing with certain issues. This is so much more pressing. I will be sending this video to many; just as soon as i remember how to do that(smile). May Father God continue to bless, guide and keep the producer(s) and writer(s). of this information. I am with you. Artemis Williams, Single On Purpose Ministries.
You’re amazing. This article is perfectly written, and I’m genuinely confused as to why some people read articles like yours and still say things like, “open up your ignorant eyes and stop thinking about yourself for once!” — LOL
perfect? you mean, you are satisfied. Surely her intentions are benevolent, however, she is not an expert, nor is she even qualified (as far as I am aware) to be presenting an extremely influential audience with her limited perspectives. Be careful using words like perfect. Learn to observe rather than evaluate and you’ll help a lot of people, and you know were gonna need all the help we can get.
What exactly is your deffinition of qualified? This isn’t a topic of educational or positional standards. It is an opinion that is backed up very thoroughly and flawlessly with facts. I challenge you to find flaws in this article. Just because you may disagree with her opinion, does not mean it is wrong.
Amazing! Thank you Laci! <3
Also Laci IC has taken money from a Ugandan General to support the counter terrorist campaign against the LRA. I hope they revoke IC NGO license because these assholes are violated the definition of an NGO is. If they want to make propaganda videos and make money, well the can join the Ugandan or Sudanese government. For all I care those guys can died because they’re instigate violence, and soon they’ll pressure the US government to use Hunter Killer Units such as the navy seals or CAG and Drone strikes. They’re promoting US foreign policy in Africa.
I know they have Advisers in the region, these are the green berets. They haven’t use their tier 1 assets yet from what I know. Once you see the president authorizing special operation units, not SF because they are there already as advisers. Once special operation units are there, that means they’re going to take an offensive approach such as the hunter killer units i talked about.
ALL OF YOU ARE STUPID EXCEPT FOR THE SUPPORTERS!
GO WAKE UP TO REALITY AND GO IN A HOLE!
ITS CALLED GETTING HIM AWARE TO EVERYONE!
HEARTLESS PEOPLE, YOU WILL ALL BE IN HELL!
There is no such thing as hell, nor are there any ten commandments.
I am sorry for you.
Great essay on the subject, Laci. Looking back on the film, I got very suspicious when they started asking for money. I also didn’t like the filmmaker’s use of his 5 year old son to manipulate people. I don’t care what your justification is, you don’t go out of your way to inform your preschool age child about terrible issues like child slavery and violent death.
The proposed solution is also absurd, like you said. I’m all for raising awareness of what goes on outside the Jersey Shore, but IC has taken it to an ineffectual extreme.
Should be aware of a few facts>>
They just didn’t send the cameras in there on a once off, they’ve actually been there for the past ten years. The issue with the children was raised before, but swept under the carpet by governments
They left Uganda in 2006, and are now in the Congo which is where much of this abduction of children is taking place.
Unfortunately people that don’t watch the video don’t get this information.
While many people are all too willing to pocket money in the name of charity, there are genuine charities that raise funds by selling items – simply check out the charity, and how much of what you pay actually goes to the cause.
So people who watch the video and then do Independent research using trustworthy sources are less informed than people who just watch the video? Wikipedia citing IC’s FY11 audited financial statements:
“During the course of the fiscal year, Invisible Children spent roughly $8.9 million, of which $2.8 million was spent directly on projects in central Africa. Other major expenses included salaries, transportation, and production costs for films.”
Almost 10% of that $8.9 million was spend of ‘production costs’. They have to get their point across, sure, but does that have to make up 10% of their total expenses?
dude, you just cited wikipedia. wikipedia.
didn’t you learn anything in school?
Uhm, when Wikipedia is using information directly from the records of IC, providing me with a link to the actual PDF file containing the numbers they quoted, I think it’s pretty safe for me to quote from WIkipedia. It’s why they use citations, heck it’s why everyone using citations uses citations. Dismissing everything on Wikipedia is rather ignorant. They use sources just like any scientific paper would, it’s your job as a reader to evaluate those sources. Something I learned in University…
Thems fighting words, Rubz.
I have to say I was one of the people who sent you a message after seeing the video, because I had no idea about this and felt something had to be done. Then I did research after seeing people disagree with this campaign and found out all these things and how most of the money doesn’t even go to helping people. I wish had done research first.
of course we have to go in to kill a few people. But think about it. Would you rather have hundreds of dead guys that were just going to go out and kill innocent children. Or thousands of dead innocent children? However i do understand that we need to watch it. We need to be sure of where were going and that, that place is being attacked by Kony
Honestly, I’d already started watching that video once but stopped after just a couple of minutes. I didn’t quite know what it was about but it seemed like overly sentimental propaganda. Now that you brought it up, I watched the whole thing. At first I thought, “Ok, it’s a good cause, I’d definitely support this”… but then I heard about the solutions they propose and I just can’t help feeling that guns isn’t the way to go. Have these people heard about Iraq or Afghanistan? Because this might just start with a little help and then, one day, your government decides 100 men isn’t enough…
Also, I think they had a very simplistic view of the situation in Uganda. One thing that stands out to me every time I read about conflicts in Africa is how extremely complicated it is. It often seems chaotic and it is hard to decide which the “good guys” are. As you said, Laci, the Ugandan military and the SPLA have done terrible things as well… so how can one send people to help them? Perhaps because they are the lesser evil…
From what I see, I think the answer to the problems not only of Uganda, but of many other African countries, lies in education. Don’t give them guns, give them schools, books, teachers (and perhaps also a megaphone, so we can’t pretend that we can’t hear them). As a friend of mine once told me: the solution isn’t revolution, but evolution!
This makes sense. The video seemed…not objective at ALL. But I think it is important to create awareness. I think awareness if really fucking beneficial. But violence, and involving our country isn’t the way to go about it. Americans have this annoying, arrogant desire to fix the problems of the entire world. We usually just cause more shit to happen, unfortunately. Meh, white guilt and arrogance result in chaos.
Thank you Laci! I’ve been hearing about this for a few days, and while I found it fishy too, I was behind it. I’ve changed my position since … but I still felt bad. You’ve really helped settle the issue for me!
Here’s what I dont understand, yes I read the whole post and I knew about invisible children earlier when it first became popular. I understand where Laci is saying that so many people reposting and reblogging the video aren’t really doing anything, and giving money to a charity that doesn’t use funds for their cause is useless, but I just don’t understand why making this guy “famous” is such a bad thing. I know it’s not here at home, and I personally don’t like the US butting in on all the worlds problems, but obviously something needs to be done about this man, even if he’s not as powerful as before. So although I don’t agree with the video and the shirt making with expensive wrists bands, I think its a good thing that this guy is beginning to be known. Maybe instead the video should direct people to support what the Ugandan government or Sudan or any other country affected by him and their efforts, not for America to butt in, but to say hey, we are here for you if you need us kind of a thing. I realize that may sound like a “feel good” thing to say, but really what else can be done. I feel as if its could kind of be on the same lines of Hitler during World War 2, yes Hitler did much more damage to a ton more people, but the Holocaust really only came to the public eyes because those who knew about it spoke up. I mean I believe its a good thing the public is learning about Konye even if they aren’t doing anything, people need to realize horrible things are going on in the world. I know almost all of you will disagree with me on what I’m saying and call me ignorant or foolish or to “shut up” but I’m not trying to be offensive, I’m merely saying I agree that this video is out of bounds and misrepresents the situation, but wouldn’t you rather have a misrepresentation with uninformed followers then everyone pushing it under the rug? Things in history are overstated all the time in order to get people rallied up into action, and i think thats exactly what the video is trying to do here, sorry if that bother people but if anything it lets the word out. Like I said, I agree with Laci saying that we should be cooperating with the African goverenments, lets help them the way they want not just go blasting things up because we can. I don’t know thats just my thought. I dont know the subject well enough to consider me an expert or justified in what I’m saying, this is just what came to mind. I dont know what for sure should be done about Konye, but I do know he should be stopped and I think thats all most supporters are trying to do.
Obama already send 100 soldiers to help out, so the US is already doing something. And the Allied Forces were well aware of the Holocaust from early on, but were unwilling to intervene. They tried to avoid war at first.
Basically, your point is that it doesn’t hurt to make Kony famous. Well it hurts in the sense that people are fed false information; that’s never good. Also, it distracts the public from far more pressing issues. Kony is not, to put it mildly, the biggest problem in Central/East Africa right now.
Thank you for educating me Laci. When I first saw the video I kind of freaked out and had the urge to help, but then I analyzed it a little more and after reading your article I see why after my initial reaction I felt strange about the whole thing. :)
On the spot imo. Very good article. And for those saying “all” atheists are against this, maybe its because atheists tend to look beyond the shallow, mainstream brainwash that society wants to spill on them, hence doing the research on these types of organizations, many of which are a scam. In the end, the western society doesn’t actually help anyone. Not in afghanistan, and sure as hell not in Uganda. We always think we are the saviours, that everyone needs our help, that others cannot help themselves. The truth is, we make situations worse, we don’t understand their culture, nor do we respect it. We just go in guns blazing and say “Oh man, what a great day, killed a couple of ‘terrorists’ and now the world is a better place”. We tend to forget that white supremacy and Imperialism caused these issues in the first place. We split the tribes, we split the cultures, we forced our religions on them. The thing is, the situation is so messed up now, that no one really knows what to do, we just throw money at these organizations that bluff that they do have a solution. I know I’m going to flak for this so nab away, but i stand by this. Im totally for world peace, but anyone with a bit of wit knows that that will never be reached. Not with so many different cultures, religions, perspectives and the fact that we are human beings, we are not clones or robots that can all be synced on one goal and one purpose, what kind of life would that be anyhow? We will not help by interfering in their problems, never ever did we in history either. WW2, well we just killed off multi millions of innocent men women and children on both sides of it, and then $bought$ Europe so we could fight against the next enemy. Then we almost all died in Nuclear fallout. The world has been in tension ever since different cultures interacted, the mixture and influence of a plethora of different cultures in modern globalizations isn’t going to help that issue one bit lol. You guys tell me how we are going to solve this issue? Kill more people? Force some “peaceful” christian values on them? Throw money at them? Kill a dangerous leader who has many zealots and followers who are just going to arise and replace him? Get together and sing so loud that Uganda can hear us and have its problems be solved? Buy tons of advertisement crap? How about we all work on solving our own problems, before we try to save the world. And if you really want to help, adopt an orphan in Uganda and raise him/her somewhere safe, because anything less than a personal connection and hard proof of one of these childrens safety won’t change a damn thing.
I knew this IC shit looked fishy! I heard about them about 4 years ago and while I thought it was a noble cause, I didn’t see how wristbands would help abducted kids. I’m still pissed the fuck off that this shit is even happening at all (or has happened).
A bit off topic Laci, but you listed Children of the Nations as an alternative organization to support. Children of the Nations is involved in Christian evangelism in Africa. Just throwing that out there for fellow nontheists thinking about donating. This is not to say that I don’t appreciate what this organization does, but I prefer to support organizations that respect a nation’s culture and diversity instead of actively indoctrinating children with Western religion.
thanks!
Thank you for making a comprehensive post on this. There’s been so many posts going around that I could hardly start on it all. It’s a shame that something that got people so motivated, is so flawed. :\
OMG THANK YOU. Gosh how I hate figuring out that I’m an ignorant band-wagon jumper. With all these youtubers telling me it was a great cause, along with my teachers, at first i was skeptical… but then I watched the video and was like woah…. then a couple hours later I read this and i’m like wow im EASILY fooled. Thank you for posting this otherwise I probably would keep living my life thinking this was a good cause. Very good points, I feel silly for not recognizing the shady-ness of it earlier…… AH HOW MY OWN IGNORANCE SCARES ME.
You take a shot at Kony 2012 without putting IC responses yet YOU won’t respond to the same if not worst accusations about Love 146. Love 146 is telling children that being gay is wrong and homosexuality is the cause for child sex slavery. People post and email you and you have not put up a post on your own channel to address this. I may be treated like a troll but people gave you money for Love 146. What happened to that money, please we would like to know. You use YouTube to promote Love 146 now please use it to address the issues that have been long asked of you.
Invisible Children IS trying to stop child rape isn’t that a good thing? Don’t give them money but stop the child rapist.
Wait what? The money raised was donated to Love146, how it was spend by them, is not something Laci can control, so it’s insane to suggest that she has to tell you what happened with it.
I’d also like to see you back up the accusations about Love146 with some proper sources.
Also, I don’t think that you get to decide what Laci writes about. Even if every single person in the world would e-mail her, it still doesn’t mean she has to make a video or a blog post about it. The reasoning that, because she writes about this Kony business, she also has to write about this Love146 business, is even more insane.
Debbie, I can remember Laci making a video directly addressing Love 146, after she found out more about it, so she DID reply to that. Furthermore, the fact that Laci doesn’t respond to all e-mails cannot be held against her. She gets ALOT of e-mail, because she is a very popular blogger. Looking through, and replying to every single e-mail would probably take up 30 hours per day for her so…
I’m sure she does her best. And she DID reply to the love 146 thing. The video is up on youtube somewhere. You just have to look for it.
In reality Laci works for Kony; this is all subsidized by him…
this is stupid u have to learn about charity finance before u talk about it most charitys give about 27 percent of their money to aid and, some CEOs of charity make up to 500,000 dollars a year, while the CEO of IC only makes 90,000 a year. and so what if kony was that bad 10 years ago he still should be caught and punished for what he did. and the military is probably corrupt but with the help of US troops the wil help them. i respect that this is your own opinion but, i feel like people here are trying to be hipsters and not like Kony because it is to mainstream. KONY 2012!!!!
Only 90.000? Yeah some shitty deal he’s getting. 25% of IC’s expenses are made up of ‘production costs’ and travel expenses. These are well intentioned filmmakers, nothing more, nothing less. We’re not questioning them out of principle, we question them because the facts are forcing us to.
You are manipulating the truth yourself.
In what way? She might well be, but if you don’t back it up in any way, how can you expect anyone to take your statement seriously?
I’m the kinda person who believes in survival of the fittest. It seems the native tribes in Africa are doing just fine, but the people exposed to all this stuff they don’t need end up overpopulating and spreading disease. You don’t see that with the tribes, they believe you must kill to live, and only when its necessary, even the cannibals act that way. So of it works for them, why are we still interfering with our shitty foreign aid? Shouldn’t that money be coming back here for our own unemployed and our multi-trillion dollar debt?
Why do we have to interfere with out shitty foreign aid? Because we also interfered with our shitty raping their land and resources. Yes tribes left to their own devices work great, mostly because we let them be. But you can’t just rape someones land, and then let them rot away. I agree that how we help matters a lot, but a lot of charity work is very constructive. Like http://www.kiva.org/ where you can give people in developing countries micro loans. That way they can start a business or improve their living conditions, which will ultimately lead to a more healthy and productive life. By giving these people a chance to make something of themselves, you give them so much, without actually spending any money! These are loans, and you have a 99% chance of them paying you back! You won’t spend any money, but you still help people grow and develop in a very big way. Charity isn’t all bad…
In the mean time lower middle class Americans like myself couldn’t get a loan for a fucking trailer in the middle of winter if we needed it. I’m sorry, but people should take care of their neighbors first.
This article was a great read. Thanks. :)
now i know what all this “Kony 2012″ stuff is about on Facebook. i had no idea what people were talking about. now i’m more informed on the matter. thanks as always Laci!
WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!?! the people that support the KONY 2012 or the video never said that their
is war still happening and that person that said that the LRA hasn’t been there since 2006 well so what there are other countries in the world dur! our campaign is to stop KONY in all not just stop him from abducting kids only in Uganda. and why even make this whole thing…? i mean you’re just looking for a fight why dish on what people STRONGLY believe in?!?!??!?! go live you life your way and leave everyone else’s alone. What KONY is doing is real and what we are sending in all our money to is real. Don’t you think every single human being that sent in money to support this checked every last detail for it to be ANY part of a scam??!?!?!?!? So go screw yourself. ALL OF THIS IS REAL AND AFFECTING PEOPLE’S LIVES AND FAMILIES! so check your facts sweetheart(: oh ya screw you.
WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!?! the people that support the KONY 2012 or the video never said that there
is war still happening and that person that said that the LRA hasn’t been there since 2006 well so what there are other countries in the world dur! our campaign is to stop KONY in all not just stop him from abducting kids only in Uganda. and why even make this whole thing…? i mean you’re just looking for a fight why dish on what people STRONGLY believe in?!?!??!?! go live you life your way and leave everyone else’s alone. What KONY is doing is real and what we are sending in all our money to is real. Don’t you think every single human being that sent in money to support this checked every last detail for it to be ANY part of a scam??!?!?!?!? So go screw yourself. ALL OF THIS IS REAL AND AFFECTING PEOPLE’S LIVES AND FAMILIES! so check your facts sweetheart(: oh ya screw you.****
I had a nice big comment ready for you, but there was just too much to say. I sincerely hope you skipped over the article and just decided to post that. Then went back, read it and said to yourself “wow, i can’t believe I agreed with this.” However, I highly doubt that is what happened and can only say this….you are CRAZY <—-caps
shut up, i read the whole thing. Go find something other to do then hate on a real life changing campaign! go screww yourself and ur the CRAZZZZZzzZzZzzzzZzzZzzZzZzZY one!
Hey, just for the sake of good, clear communication: would you mind checking your posts before you post them? Also the talking in caps thing, is a little obnoxious, you might want to do that less. Also it’s not very nice to tell someone to screw themselves.
And if you knew Laci, you’d know she needs no encouragement to fuck herself… =P
SHUT UP! I WILL DO CAPS IF I WANT TO! CAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSSS, CAPS, CAPS, AND ONE MORE GOOOOOOOOOD CAAAAAPPPPPPPPSSSSS! and i’ll tell her to screw herself if i want to, thanks(: she’s being a douche for hating on KONY 2012 all of what is happening there is real. so deal with it and you can go scew yourself too(:
screw*****
What is really sad about your post is that you look to want peace and justice, but you can not even be yourself be peaceful in what you write.
As long as we can’t change ourselves, there’s no use trying to change the world.
eff off no one wanted ur opinion and im fighting the the U.S. to grow a pair and step in and stop Kony not for justice
Before you posted this, I might have gone and screwed myself, but now I’m not in the mood anymore… =P
Soooo much immaturity… lol
wellll guess what.. nobody cares what you have to say! just go back to ur no-life room and sit there alone like i’m sure you do everyday anyway. and u probably live with ur mom.
I dont really care about either one of you guys’ opinions here, but attacking someone because of their grammar on the post is ridiculous, all your other posts were educated. What happened to that? It’s like you’re some politician that couldn’t think of a good opposition so you used ad hominem as a scape goat, sorry but that’s just what I see. I’m not saying I agree with the other person or you, I just want to point out your fighting style. I’m really sorry if that seemed rude, sorry.
What can I say, sometimes it’s just fun to feed the troll.
There is a big difference between making mistakes when it comes to grammar, and just not giving a fck. Mistakes are honest, show you care, but just can’t do any better. If you just not care, your words become ramblings. And people will have a hard time understanding you. I’m not so much attacking him/her, as I am trying to help him/her…
thanks you to Rebakah(: and for Rubz what the heck are you talking about “help me?” and can you not read my name is savannah, so why would you write him/her savannah is a girls name! no boy in the world’s name is savannah. And i was not rambling, i was trying to say the the Kony 2012 campaign is real. okay. every campaign has faults but some of the ones that this girl that made the page posted aren’t true, she probably got her facts from wikipedia where whoever has an account can change what they want. And i’ve looked through a lot of the comments on this and i see your name commenting on other peoples comment SOOOOO FREAKING MUCH! why do you care so much if people like and support the Kony campaign nobody asked for your opinion. Peoples comments (not comments on other ppl’s comments) are meant for the girl who made this page.
For all the people wanting to read more insightful articles about why this feels fishy:
http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2012/03/08/why-you-should-feel-awkward-about-the-kony2012-video/
It begins with the brilliant words:
“Most Americans began this week not knowing who Joseph Kony was. That’s not surprising: most Americans begin every week not knowing a lot of things”
I think that, in spite of what Ugandan activists may have said, there is an obvious need to terminate Kony. I let the tears of that child in the video speak, not the politics, not a few quotes from a small number of sources, but the feelings of the people directly affected by what Kony is doing. Invisible Children commercializes poverty and world issues in order to raise awareness and make VISIBLE what is going on the world. Not only that, but they have to fund these efforts somehow–things don’t pay for themselves.
Ultimately, I’m sure if those children’s parents were still ALIVE, they would be glad for whatever kind of attempts to help were made, and wouldn’t question it. So my question to you, Laci, is this: What would YOU do to stop Kony–if you even care?
I don’t like to speak on behalf of anyone, but I think voting for Obama would be a good start… =P
Since when did Obama come into this? I feel like you’re again using off topics for your argument. The debate here is a man in Africa hurting people even if a small amount, not who should manage our country. Maybe voting for Obama is the greatest idea in the world, but that doesn’t answer the kony question directly, it just a round about way of “fixing a problem” is that your stance on what should be done about far off countries? Elect a man here in the US? I mean if thats what works for you its cool, but it doesnt really answer the previous person’s question.
Obama took initiative to have some US forces’ boots on the ground to help the Ugandan people fight back if they need to. I think that does more than giving some filmmakers more money. I think that ‘socialists’ like Obama care about these things. So yeah, I think keeping the ‘leader of the free world’ someone who cares about these topics, and who is willing to do something about it, in a reasoned and educated manner, is a good start. And that, if you do not live in the US, it’s also a good idea to make sure you are being represented by someone who cares. Governments are the ones with the intelligence (as in information, and also partly as in smarts), and the resources. All we can really do is point and shout, in the hope that we won’t lose interest and forget about it, before someone actually listens. As I think will happen with this Kony2012 business.
However, I do agree that westerners should not impress our ideas of life and ‘civilization’ on other people. But I don’t think this is a cultural issue we’re dealing with. The issue is the threat on the lives of innocent children. What kind of crime is more vile than one against someone who is defenseless?
At first, I totally agreed with what you said about how we should pound our culture into other people, but when talking about innocent children , what if their culture is different and they all think differently on the subject? I dont personally know if they are or not, but is it impeding our thoughts on them if we tell them how to think about innocent children and our right to help them as if they can’t take care of the problems themselves? That question just popped into my head about what you said, where does the line cross for imposing our culture on others? what right do we have above anyone else? hmmmmm.
This article is almost as sensationalist as the video itself.
The charity responds to many of these criticisms here
http://s3.amazonaws.com/www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html
Yes, the video and the information are exaggerated. But the message they deliver is still a pure one at heart.
Their message being pure at heart is not being questioned. But you can still be wrong or counterproductive, whilst being well intentioned…
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
I think that accurately describes Invisible Children.
I agree100% ^^^
Thank you (Laci) for looking into the issue before just blindly supporting it.
However, Invisible Children have made it clear that they’re just trying to raise awareness and get people to care about this issue enough that government powers will do something about it. They have also stated that killing Kony is not the answer; bringing him to justice is. Personally, I agree with the cause, but I realize that there are good arguments against them as well.
Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but we all need to do some research on both the pro-IC and against-IC sides before we go blasting IC or the people who oppose them.
This, this, SO MUCH THIS. Thank you so much, laci. Wonderfully researched, elegantly written. Puts everything so clearly it can’t be avoided.
you mean you agree with it. Its got many serious flaws. I dare you to find em.
I dare YOU to point them out Balian, because I see none. Back up your statement with proof.
I agree 100% with this. So tired of the overnight activist blowing up my FB wall.
Agreed
The cynicism, self righteousness, and hypocrisy of you people makes me sick.
“Oh no! A group is bringing attention to the things I think they shouldn’t! How dare they!”
Its plain to see Laci Green and the posters here have no clue what an ideal is.
A friend of mine visited from Greenland a few months ago and while living here got really into North Korea for some reason. I suppose it is just the usual of cruising around the net and finding some random article or video and getting caught in it. However it happened, all of a sudden he had spent the better part of a day reading, and watching videos about North Korea. In the evening he told me about all the things he had read and showed me some of the videos.
I had known for a long time that North Korea was a terrible place, and that many people where suffering terribly there, but after hearing about, and seeing testemonies from individuals the whole terrible situation got so much more emotionally powerful for me.
It is a holocaust on a massive scale what goes on in that country… What does any of us intend to do about that?
The fact is, terrible things happen all the time all over the world… We SHOULD do something, ANYTHING, about all of it… But we don’t… That’s not to say: “Therefore Kony should be free to go about his business”. It’s just saying that Laci cannot be faulted for looking deeper into the issue. More knowledge, and more facts can NEVER be a bad thing. But if you want to stop Kony you HAVE to want to stop the KIM’s of North Korea as well, and the Junta in Myanmar, and all other bad people around the world, lest you become a hypocrite… Why care about 300 children in central africa, but not care about 3000000 children in North Korea?
I’m sure you, like me, care about ALL children, as well you should, but don’t make it out to sound as though Laci, or I, or anyone else does not care about children because we are sceptical about the effectiveness of Kony 2012.
Thank you for putting this up Laci. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this whole Kony thing. Funny thing is, I felt like I’ve seen this guy before in a book or the news somewhere. And then all this KONY 2012 stuff comes up and I’m thinking, what the…?
But yeah, thank you for posting this.
so yeah ever since the whole Kony 2012 got trending i thought bout watching the 30 min video, but before i did i decided to read about what people think, and i found the occasional haters saying it was stupid to support causes and all… but this post enlightened me about the possibility of Kony 2012 being a fake and dangerous campaign, then again, for someone who points out this MIGHT be a way of making money out of a social awareness campaign you actually assure it is…
After reading this i watched the vid… and indeed some of the stuff said is rather odd.. but there’s something good about it… the amount of people who actually went to Uganda and helped, not to cause violence but to work in the communities and whatnot.
I’m not saying it’s entirely true, but if it makes people get together and do something about it… then it i’m guessing it can’t be that bad after all…
Now for the military support part of the deal. They don’t want troops to be sent, as far as the video goes they are just trying to help the local forces catch Kony by keeping the militar advisors in Uganda. It’s not aiming for an occupation of uganda or anything…
You said you want this dude to be caught… me too, is despicable what he did and he deserves punishment, so… as far as i’ve learned from both ends, they’re not supporting an armed conflict between the US and Kony’s troops…they just want to help them find the bastard.
I might have miss understood but they’re not trying to get the us involved in some war…
And if it’s shady and stuff well people don’t really have to donate, the goal getting people to care about this, so the goverment will consider it’s important to help the local troops find this dude so up to that point, i’m in favor, as well as maybe going to Uganda and help the comunities build houses and stuff…
I’d like an opinion about this, you can be objective or hate but seriously at least this creates consciece, it made you investigate and make the longest entry ever right?…even if it’s against it…so it worked.
I really really enjoy your post and the way you look at this, just thought I’d let you know that I’m thinking the same way, :)
Charity Navigator seems to imply that the 31% is outdated. Here is the link. I am not sure if this is more up to date. But I hope it helps.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12429
While I completely understand the point you make in this article. I think you’re making a mountain out of a molehill. I watched the video and the guy states that all of this stemmed from a promise he made to a young boy to do something to try and help him and his friends. To try and politicize this is as you say, doing more harm than good.
this article is bullshit… Kony2012!! Find him!!
Goes to show you really can’t trust anyone other than yourself and the information that has been provided. Oh don’t worry this whole organization stuff will drown out in a couple of weeks. In exactly two weeks everyone will forget who Kony is and what he actually did. People like that love getting everyone pumped and ready to donate just so they can get that warm fuzzy feeling. This is just another temporary video that went viral and will most likely not be remembered.
Very thoughtful and well researched. I think it is important to support the cause of helping nations who are suffering from violence and child-soldiering. But I think its more important to make sure the means you did this by is ethical. Not all charitable organizations are doing what they say they are. I believe activism, means “acting” in a thoughtful, sensitive and informed way. Retweeting a highly emotional youtube video is still very passive to me. But that is an entirely separate issue I have with this whole “KONY” madness. Anyway, wonderful post Laci!
Very thoughtful and well researched. I think it is important to support the cause of helping nations who are suffering from violence and child-soldiering. But I think its more important to make sure the means this is done by is ethical and culturally sensitive. Not all charitable organizations are doing what they say they are. I believe activism, means “acting” in a thoughtful, sensitive and informed way. Retweeting a highly emotional youtube video is still very passive to me. But that is an entirely separate issue I have with this whole “KONY” madness. Anyway, wonderful post Laci!
^like^ ;)
here are my reasons in a nut shell why kony 2012 movement is bs to me and i got alot of s**t for it when i told peole but i just don’t care anymore:
a) The beginning of the video “we are gonna try an experiment” and its never explained, sounded like a scam right off of the bat
b)It had the same qualifications as every other scam out there in the world.. show you kids sad and destrot, then demands money to help them. melt people to their knees then rip their wallets open.
c)Although it’s not as bad, sex slavory and ALOT of crazy s**t goes on in America just no one knows because the fbi and the cops keep it on the laylow. the overwhelming amounts of cases in the sex slavery and stuff done to kids is over flowing.
d)We are always so quick to help other countries but heaven forbid a homeless man wants a sanwhich, we ignore them.
e) last but not least, war is not as simple as one thinks. posting a status wont get him arrested, deployting yourself to Africa will!
I got many many other reasons but those are my top ones.
I am with you all the way :) Also… I was wondering about the whole “experiment” thing as well… I still don’t understand. Lol. Thanks for commenting
I totally agree with (a)! I thought that whole experiment thing was just said because it’s a good line to make people continue watching the video…
And bringing in his son and trying to explain who the “bad guys” are was just way too sentimental.
there are thousands of companies that take part in supporting breast cancer research, and breast cancer awareness. some of these companies take 90% of profits they advertise to be going to breast cancer research and awareness. do you think that suzy q in the hospital is going to find a cure for her breast cancer because someone sold a pink tennis ball and gave 3 cents to a breast cancer awareness charity.. no. but its all about the silver linings. when people buy that pink tennis ball instead of a yellow one that doesn’t donate 3 cents to a breast cancer awareness charity, they feel like they did something good. and everyone who shares the kony video is feeling like they’re doing something good. so congratulations for pulling out every negative detail you could find about the issue.. but the kony campaign is about arresting the #1 international criminal..i think thats a damn good cause if i do say so myself, and there are plenty of respectable people; including the president of the united states.. who support the cause as well. dont be bitter because you couldn’t raise awareness of anything but your annoyingly unnecessary opposition of a perfectly good cause on your shitty blog.
I still support the cause. If Invisible children are doing this for the wrong reasons, then thats between them and the God they serve. My hearts in the right place so I’ll bite. I believe however many of those leaders who say the country is being portrayed wrong covering their butts in fear of retaliation from the L.A.R
So we have learn we must do our research. So I advise all of you to not make your decision based on this single article. The IC has responded to the critics as well.
I support Kony 2012 because it encourages our youth to look beyond what we have here. I don’t plan to donate large amounts of money. I will encourage awareness.
My question for all these bandwagon supporters is this:
Have you given up on American and that’s why you’ve decided to support another country? Why not shell out your money to American causes trying to save American children? It always amazes me how Americans are so quick to get up on their soap boxes to spread the word of other countries yet turn their backs to the problems right here in our backyard. Instead of sticking our noses where it doesn’t belong we should be fixing the problems in our own country, instead of setting up crusades to go somewhere else. We aren’t knights in shining armor; we’re retards in tin foil.
I desagree. I think we should all support them cuz it’s free. We’re humans not selfish animals.
When I watched the video, I felt very uncomfortable, almost as though I was being “brainwashed” for lack of a better word. People are very easily deceived by it because, naturally we feel drawn to help and support Kony 2012. Does he need to be stopped, yes. Is it our place to stop him, sure if you want. Is Kony 2012 going about this the right way, no… I disagree with the way the video was made, the way we intend on making Kony “famous” and how misleading this whole movement is. Laci, thank you so much for taking the time, effort , and guts to post this. The worlds eyes need to be uncovered, and I believe you are helping tremendously to do that. I thank you.
Thank you so much Laci! I was eagerly waiting for a blog on your opinions about this video. I believe that I have almost all the same views as yours although I still think I need more information about this (which I intend to seek out). I agree that Kony should be stopped and that the video did not have much information (also that their finances are kinda suspicious) although it has been raising awareness about this issue and making people seek out information and education more (the real information) which was one of their goals.
* I have also read some comments and don’t think that people should be stating the matter of religion in this (of course religion is in everything but…)… I mean does it truly matter how many Christians and Atheists are for or appose this issue… isn’t that causing more fights guys? o.O
It makes me so sad all of the criticism this organization has come under because most of it is shallow. I come here and I so respect you because I believe you will do your research before you sound Off. I find that I am right and you bring up points that other critics did not, who I believe do not really want to do anything and being a critic makes them feel better. However, on some of the points of criticism I wish people would research that as well. A lot of the criticism comes from unreliable sources so I am glad that you found more reputable sources. Unfortunately many of the criticisms can be levied against the most reputable charities.
Unfortunately groups like the BBB are just as much a scam as anything else. My family has a business, and the BBB being a voluntary and by no means necessary precaution it is highly suspect that anyone would bring that up as an issue. Though since they are a small organization they do not have enough board members under the title of an NGO to be in the BBB so they actually have to find another board member first. “Thems the rules” as they say. I also know that no business that I could find have had the problems that you may think just because they are not in the BBB. If they really had any sort of whiff of fraud like they are saying they do, yes even the heat that is placed on them now would be sufficient if they really believed it, then they would have investigated already. Under the rules an NGO is under more scrutiny than other businesses and are not able to get away with anything unless they were paying the BBB, and many do. The BBB would not say anything if that were the case as well as the fact that IC is not a part of the BBB and therefore have no protection from any sort of investigation.
I have given money to this organization and worked with them and the only thing that has made me question it is that picture with the guns. Although they may have felt it necessary to show support for the cause I still do not like it. On the other hand the insanely high amount of reported sex crimes perpetrated on women in our military is actually scarier because many say the numbers are far higher than those that reported the instances of sexual misconduct. You can check that story out on the Young Turks and they have link to where they got the information.If they want to catch him they have to back whoever is the strongest, hopefully it is not as you say a violent solution. I am going to need to research more because as far as I know they do not work with them in any other capacity. They also do not fund them.
As for the finances, they actually aren’t shady at all, though critics would have you believe they were. I have worked with finances in my family’s business and it all looks above board. The largest part of their finances goes to the Direct charity, while the second largest goes to awareness (yes bracelets and all). The third goes to their full-time employees and their trips back and forth to Africa. Then comes the production costs,The equipment, and office supplies. I will tell you renting and maintaining an office is expensive and they are not paying as much as one might think they would have to. My best friend works in photography and even that alone is about as expensive as the equipment these people use.
Lastly I have never heard of an issue like this being resolved without the awareness of people. Including but not limited to the Holocaust (because believe it or not the killing was in the newspaper before we got involved), Rwanda ( look it up if you haven’t, it is fascinating), and Darfur. Those are a few examples that if you take the the time to research aren’t the only examples of this. So there are more steps than just awareness. So the test will be if the spend less money on awareness campaigns. Since Kony is wanted by the ICC and I can not imagine why these men would want to kill the kids to we shall see.
Also I find the mention of the White Man’s Burden disappointing, Distasteful, and reeking of modern day pretension. I am mixed so it has come to my attention that I would not understand the concept.I do not smell the stink of imperialism nor do I see the fact that people who are white wanting to help black people in Africa as a sign of the white man’s burden. It bothers me to hear this when I read these comments, because sure why would white people want to help out any other race without there being an ulterior motive. I do not see any imperialistic undertones in these particular men though if you would like an example our own country, the good old USA, is an example of it. The new interpretation of the white man’s burden is the rich, which these men are not believe me if they were they would live better, wanting to better the lives of the poor whether they want them to or not. Only these men are only trying to stop Kony from kidnapping, rapping, or killing young children and then offering , not forcing, them a better education. They have not mentioned doing any other work. I have spoken to these kids and many of them cry when they talk about not being able to get an education. By the same token why is Oprah not being criticized for doing the same. Also many of those in Kony’s custody THAT ARE STILL CHILDREN, yes he still has kids not just semi-adults, can get help from charities in the region like WARCHILD who are there to help them. So if you do not trust and won’t give Kony 2012 a chance to prove themselves you can give money to these organizations, because they really need it.
My main point is that I do not believe that the critics are making any substantive arguments against this organization. Excepting you no one has brought up the possible violence of the situation. Even that is speculative because there are only so many ways to find this man and the military is the only real option. Who else would bring him in. The people that they have said they interviewed seem to also think that the video still portrays this man as in Uganda. The organization says clearly that he is no longer in Uganda and has west. Yet he was still gathering these kids up until the point when the military, with the help of the US, was backed into hiding. So the point is now to capture him and have him stand trial.
abcnews.go.com/blogs/…/president-obama-talks-about-joseph-kony/ here when asked President Obama make no mention of Killing Kony or putting him on trial. so I will have to do more research on this.
I just think that anyone taking a strong stance against the IC is going to far, because there crimes are no greater and actually less than other major charities, especially given their mission. I completely understand anyone not giving to the IC because they are unsure of the charity, but the accusations that I am seeing are not enough real evidence to believe them to be a scam. If you want to see one of those check out PETA now they are an awful organization but they get a major pass.
Thanks Laci.
I’ll admit that I was swept away by the video (it has to be said, it was well done, and brought about the reaction it intended).
Aaaaand then after I posted it on facebook, a friend linked me to a post saying why IC wasn’t all that (it wasn’t a well-rounded as yours though). More and more articles came out about how their finances were shady, and the reasons against military action.
It’s kind of depressing that they were allowed to be called a charity with such a low percentage of donations going towards direct services, and they themselves earning well over the incomes of an American household – these kind of “charities” piss me off…
I don’t think $30 (or £19) is unreasonable for a T-shirt, a bracelet, a stack of posters and a book. Neither do I think that spending 34% of donations on Uganda is unreasonable. Hello! Charities have things called overheads; marketing, staff salaries, premises etc. The ‘pink ribbon’ campaign spent $47 million on marketing in ONE YEAR ALONE. People seem to be pretty ignorant on how charities work. They are slick operations with sophisticated marketing strategies. And these strategies work (look at the pink ribbon campaign). Volunteers standing outside Asda shaking a money box isn’t all that effective……
i feel like a lot of the issues you brought up were actually addressed in the film. not to mention the picture really doesn’t prove anything. it’s not like this group of people is trying to get funds to stir up problems in africa. i don’t really care that you don’t support the effort, but there are a lot of other factors that go into why IC does what it does. i promise there is no charity that sets aside 100% of its funds for their cause.
Why you should get your facts straight: http://wp.me/p2aVgb-j
This is VERY informative. I applaud you for checking the facts and not just “jumping on the band wagon”. Kudos!
Wow… I wish everyone who watched the KONY 2012 video, would also read this… and inform themselves more. But a lot of people can’t be bothered…
Your points are bang on.
This is my video just, recording some of my thoughts on Kony 2012 if you’d like to check it out… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W376fTuPIgs&list=UUSvNSpr2xl2-ouWKW_z1yaQ&index=1&feature=plcp
A balanced response, including links to IC’s response to the charges above if anyone is interested: http://jmsmith.org/blog/kony2012
You basically described every single large Charity organisation, IC is no different for UNESCO or PETA, they all have parts of them we can criticise. Like the part where PETA kills the nearly all of there animals they capture, or that the UNESCO has an extremely bloated budget. In fact, why is know one blaiming the UN for not doing shit about Kony. Its been 20 years and they haven’t done anything. Criticising the IC is good, but they are not the only ones to blame in the situation.
I find it interesting that when we were on a manhunt for Osama Bin Laden, who made open threats against the United States, so many people were anti-violence, anti-war, bring home the troops, etc… Not to mention that Kony may, at one time, have been the number one most wanted man on the ICC list, but there are numerous lists that don’t even have him currently listed in the top 10 but rather many other heinous world criminals whom most probably haven’t heard of. I am all for educating people on what is happening around the world, especially those of us in the United States who at times are so out of touch with reality. Just do yourself a favor and research and educate yourself further on all sides before getting wrapped up in a soundbyte or docudrama.
At this point whether you are for or against the kony 2012 campaign, as long as you’re talking about it, you’re contributing towards the main goal of this film, which is to get everyone to know about Joseph Kony, the #1 criminal in the entire world. Whether you believe that this is a genuine attempt to get the world on board in stopping the worst criminal in the world, or just a couple film makers trying to sell tshirts to make money, you still said something about it; which will cause more people to watch it, and form their own opinions about it. You’re just another drop of fuel to the fire whether you realize it or not.
personally i support kony 2012, i think its a great idea and i think it proves that words ARE powerful, and there are more people than you think willing to support a good cause. Just think, back in WWII, propaganda was being created to manipulate people into thinking Hitler was an amazing leader. Clearly, they were all fooled. But what would have happened if in WWII we had facebook, twitter, blogs, etc.? What would have happened if someone created a STOP HITLER 1933 campaign? Hitler was arguably the worst criminal/dictator who ever lived. And now Joseph Kony is taking his place. Of course their crimes aren’t the same, but they’re equally evil and inhumane. So why the hell not post this video to my facebook so other people can know who he is and post it for their friends to see. If awareness is what its all about, then sharing the video is the least I can do.
if ANY charity blew up over night there is going to be people like this who oppose it. i say kudos to the creators of this film they achieved something that laci green (whoever you are) will most likely never achieve in your life time. if everyone was supporting BLUE 2012 you’d probably be saying well why not YELLOW 2012. get over it.
Way to plagiarize half the article from one source without citing them. First of all your ‘research’ is outdated IC has responded to many of those critiques as another reader has commented. Second, all you are doing is following the ‘trend’ of hipster skepticism that media outlets have established making IC look more shady than they are. The 32% they do use for direct aid does not go through the corrupt Ugandan govt and they have clearly been successful in their publicity campaign. The so-called white savior comllex is also overstated since the video is simply addressing its chief target audience in the US. It seems to me like you’re the one trying to justify your inaction. Kthxbai
I got as far as the first comment about atheists and I got confounded by the stupidity on display. Atheists? That is just the dumbest response to an intelligent argument I may have ever heard.
Thanks for the info, I was suspicious after seeing the video and think I’ll look into this a little more closely now. And for the record I’m not an atheist.
Ahhhh! I am so unbelievably confused on this whole subject now.. I was totally for it (without looking into it) and then became sort of against it after looking into it but I just have no idea what to believe nor can I truly find anything that’s going to make me believe one side or the other because the internet is full of false statements. Anyone know of any good books I can read about current Ugandan conflicts? Also I think we should still try to capture Kony no matter where he is or what he is doing now.. What if he’s making these crimes in other places now? I think if anything it would at least bring justice and more peace if he was captured. Can anyone give a good list of websites, journals, newspapers, or books that I can look into to really figure out what I want to do to help….
Thank you.
So this article suggests we sit back and not raise our voices against injustice in our world? Every plan to rid the world of hate will have flaws, because people themselves have hatred for something, and people are flawed. There will always be reasons to take the easy way out and do nothing. Then you can relax and keep focusing on the important issues like your bad hair day and what you feel like having for lunch, instead of the genocide taking place far from your home.
amen.
Yall can call it what you want. If it is a scam oh well. You cant control what other ppl do. all you can do is what you think is right and act on it. thats just like when you give a bum some money, how do you know they arent just gonna get get a beer or drugs? you dont know, all you know is that you tried to help and thats what ppl who support Kony2012 are doing. You guys are so worried about “not being fooled” and being “smarter” than everyone. who cares? this doesnt mean your better than anyone…im sure yall didnt send any money to Haiti a few years ago cuz that was a scam too…
We don’t think it’s a scam. We just think it’s flawed enough not to support it. And no, I don’t give a bum money because I know he might spend it on something non-essential. I give a bum what he needs: food, water, shelter and a listening ear. This isn’t about being fooled, or being smarter or better than someone else. This is about reason. We want to help, but we want to help effectively.
so you dont give a bum money? so what do u do when your not carrying around food and water? and im sure youre know for giving bums a place to stay…If you say you have never gave a bum money youre lying….You can say all you want. Just let ppl do what they want and help they way they want to. At least ppl are trying to do something about it. Isnt that the only thing that matters?
No, we need people to realize what they are doing is sensible. We didn’t get the medical advances we have today just by ‘at least trying to do something’. We got there because a small group of people knew really well what they were doing. Just doing something isn’t going to get you anywhere. So yeah, I don’t give a bum money directly. Never have, never will. I spend my money on organizations known for their experience and effectiveness helping bums. In my experience they are the local religious institutions and the Salvation Army. Because even if only half of every dollar I spend goes to helping the bum effectively, it’s still better than all of it going to waste on say drugs when I give the money directly. Helping other people is awesome, but we should be sensible about it.
Here’s a joke:
Raise your hand if you still talk about Haiti! (I hope you get this)
I do. did you get that?
Laci. You are just friggen awesome. :)
Great, article.
Lets try to find reasons why I shouldnt help. Then lets put try to convince others why they shouldnt help.
Look, if you want to help and send money, go for it. I’m supporting this cause. If you dont suppot it, please stop trying to keep people from helping. I dont care if i waist a few bucks trying to help stop a murderer. I’m trying to help, not trying to make reasons why i shouldnt help.
Thank You laci for this article! You are really intelligent and the first “popular” person from the internet I read / watch who is against this Kony-campain. It is really an example how quickly people get manipulated…
I agree!! People are making a big deal about her posting this. Laci does research, and has actual facts and quotes to back her up. SO this isn’t solely her opinion. I am against it also, way before I saw the article!
If you actually look up their vision statement, you will see that their main goal is to spread awareness of the issue with Kony and have a goal of “justice”. I don’t see harm in the Kony 2012 movement, it is free and does no damage. I think that the whole argument of raising awareness will make him “stronger” is quite silly… when a criminal likes this gets put in the spot light they flee & dwindle, they don’t make themselves more susceptible to capture. Yes most of the profits go toward the video, and the video is misleading in the sense that it isn’t current. But in my opinion there is no harm in letting the damage that took place be known; without this video, 40M plus people would still be clueless of the cruelty that took place in Uganda. The whole reason the numbers of abductions and attacks have decreased are due to Kony not being able to keep up with the forces of the ICC and fleeing for his own safety. IC’s main goal is not to fund Kony’s capture, they are just making sure everyone knows his name and demands justice so that this won’t get brushed off like so many other issues. I personally think it’s quite a strong display of leadership and passion how the makers have managed to get so many followers and use those numbers to sway our government to get involved. People don’t just wake up one morning and do all this work with the intent of pure monetary profit. For this reason, I don’t think its fair to attack the makers as money hungry “white saviors”. The way I see it, if you don’t like IC’s purpose than don’t donate, it’s simple. But don’t go out of your way to tell people with good hearts that are doing their best to make a difference through donating to IC feel like idiots. On the other hand, the Kony 2012 movement is something completely different, and as long as you see something wrong with the events that took place, there is no reason to bash the people who participate simply because it’s associated with IC. The message that should be taken is that no child deserves this treatment, and any child that has received it in the past should not just simply be forgotten because things are “better” in Uganda now.
^This. Their main aim was to raise awareness – check. Skeptic or not, anyone talking about it is contributing towards Kony 2012′s goal and therefore supporting its cause.
Raising money for IC will of course be a goal, if only secondary. It is a fact that charities poor hundreds of dollars into administrating the organization (mktg, salaries, overhead etc). This is why people should consider donating their time rather than money to the causes they support if possible. Besides, volunteering is personally much more rewarding than sending off money you’ll probably never see the direct effects of!
My favourite Facebook reaction is those who post a picture of CIA agent Dillon from the Schwarzenegger movie The Predator with the text “Gotta love this guy”. The reactions are hilarious and worrying at the same time, and very telling.
So you wrote an article like this because you have been to the affected part of Africa right? Let’s forget about it because they aren’t in Uganda anymore…WHAT!!?! Let’s ignore who they are killing now? Is that what you support? Or are you just hopping on the trendy bandwagon of people who are calling KONY 2012 bullshit? You are nobody. You have no clue just like the rest of us who haven’t actually been there. I haven’t read a single account yet of someone who has been there to see this first hand. WAIT A SECOND I HAVE! SHUT THE FUCK UP! AWARENESS IS THE GOAL!!! GIVING MONEY TO THIS PROJECT IS SOMETHING PEOPLE DECIDE TO DO WITH THEIR OWN FREE WILL! IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SUPPORT THAN FINE. DON’T DONATE! SETTING TIME ASIDE TO WRITE A FUCKING BLOG POST ABOUT NOT SUPPORTING SOMETHING THAT IS CLEARLY NOT OVER SHOWS YOU ARE SELFISH, COLD-HEARTED AND WANT ATTENTION….Isn’t that what blogs are? Getting attention because you are a selfish person feeding their ego off of other people’s approval? GET REAL.
I think the bigger picture for everyone is what to do now, regardless of which side of the fence you sit on. I don’t know that the argument could be made that this has not been one of the most significant awareness campaigns in the history of the world, no matter if it is flawed or not. Should we just let it fizzle away because there is criticism of how its being run/delivered? I think that more focus needs to be put on this campaign, to make sure that its not all bs. There sure are enough people blasting it, that we could come up with some better ideas. Why not try to use the momentum of this campaign to do it the right way, so that the world can come together to discuss this issue to help solve it in a way that works WITH Uganda. I want to believe that as a society, we can come together when we feel injustice has been done on a scale like this. That is a world I hope we can become.
Regardless of the campaign itself, there has been a monumental shift in the awareness on the planet. For the first time globally we have seen the world come together with a united voice to discuss this issue.
I’ll leave you with this quote.
“The best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing.” -Theodore Roosevelt
I feel like there are better ways to raise awareness than the emotional blackmail that the filmmakers have put out on the internet. Exploiting a child to raise awareness about other children is rather counterproductive wouldn’t you say? Acting self-righteous because you shared a video on facebook or liked a status doesn’t really do anything, and hating those who look for more constructive outlets to help doesn’t either.
For those who are criticizing Laci for being a “hipster”, perhaps you didn’t check that she provided a list of other respectable charities that are trying help just as much as the Invisible Children. When a charity doesn’t want to be audited, in my mind that brings up the question “what do they have to hide?” I feel that she has written a very thought provoking essay on the subject of Kony 2012 and she does credit to our human capability of critical thinking.
Great information Laci, thanks. Just had a similar conversation with my 15 year old son when he told me about all the hype surrounding Kony 2012. I was able to share with him that social activism is good as long as you take the time to be informed about the real issues. Over simplified solutions only serve to make us feel like we are doing good while it does nothing to truly help people. Thanks for caring enough to really investigate the issues.
Thank you Laci for that.
During your web searches, things you should consider are the corruption of governments, the Ugandian oil industry (yep, Oil again!) and the struggle between USA and China to be the best trading partners with Uganda. Yep, Kony is the new bogeyman to get things done once we’re there.
What was the plan? Underline a real problem (while considering your real interests), wait for the right time, make a movie, aim for the heart, ask for money (while blurring your view about what’s right and what’s not, and how to act things out accordingly), equip and seize, bring guns. TRY to get rid of the bad guy (even though he’s not really there anymore, try Congo for a while), follow a trail to other surrounding countries.. Kill people because they were trained to do just that and then YOU also become a threat to people in the area. Take control of the places you go to, break resistance and trade with the corrupt governments in place (you did the dirty job, haven’t you!).. Bingo, you’ve earned your rights to make money out of oil, again. Golf clap.
What’s the good side to all of this? Let’s bring awareness about the fact that Washington knows that people have hearts and they use social networking tool as means to change things. (like in the film, duh). The idea of using an IDEAL (as in social justice, peace) as a force will turn against those who USE that IDEAL for economic reasons. Yes, our time will come, but our real «NOW» , for them will not be when they want it.
Follow these links to get the details. (among many others)
Petrodollars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN6k3-XLrdQ&feature=related
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/world/africa/uganda-welcomes-oil-but-fears-graft-it-attracts.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/201110180227.html
D.
Thank you Laci.
When i saw IC’s film, it touched my heart; i wanted to do something but then after getting out of shock i experienced, i started to think on it and saw that someone was not right; there was a mistake there… and thank you to make me be understand completely what was wrong there.
yeah bla bla… and what have you done…
Mate its people like you that is the problem, your obviously a very negative person who tries to find negative things in anything you can. You are a absolute wanka plain and simple! Someone tries to do something positive and you have spent all this time trying to dig up dirt on them, you would prefer that he done NOTHING? Fuck head!
I can’t believe out of all the great topics covered on the website, this post sparked the most comments :/
About IC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm80OUkf0mc&
“We can have fun while we end genocide”
They’re nothing more than useful idiots…
About Kony:
He’s not a good person clearly. But we shouldn’t send troops overseas again, no more war for oil.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=1359
Charity Navigator doesn’t seem to be as critical of IC as Ms. Green implies. I find it a bit offensive (which I understand doesn’t mean much these days) to say that Kony 2012 has done ‘more harm than good’. While only 37% of their funding goes to their operations in Uganda, I support IC because it succeeded in raising awareness, and I feel that it’s a cause worthy of continuing, with or without the group, and even in the face of their co-executive’s recent melt down.
As for the foreign policy aspect, I challenge those reading this to consider the US Gov’ts insertion of (mostly special operations) troops into Uganda as part of a larger Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, as was done in Libya, and if all goes well, Syria. This doctrine allows for international coalitions to use appropriate military force, not to occupy or invade, but rescue and assist the victims of oppression who cannot help themselves.
I’m not wishing for endless, global conflict. After the fiasco of Iraq and Afghanistan, I would like to see the United States finally learn how to fight smaller wars, and decide more effectively which ones to fight.
Frustrating ambiguity unfortunately sets in even as I make this argument when considering the crimes of the UPDF itself, but It’s my hope that the United States forces involved can lead by example to dissuade and diminish this behavior in order to create an effectively disciplined military in Uganda.
With that said, I admire Ms. Green’s vehement truth seeking and will be visiting the charitable organizations she’s listed in the near future.
I appreciate you writing about this but I have trouble believing you when some of your facts are false. The Invisible Children website (http://www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html) addresses critiques and provides answers. I feel like you did not research this enough. (1) IC is working with the Ugandan government because coordination is required to find and capture Kony. They do not support any of the abuses that the government or army has committed. (2) IC is an advocacy and awareness group. They are attempting to raise awareness of Kony and the LRA, stop the LRA and protect civilians, and operate programs that provide protection, rehabilitation and development assistance This information is on their website. They divide they’re funds equally between these three objectives, because they are trying to accomplish multiple things using different angles. These are the two that most irritate me because I hear them so frequently. I wish people would stop critiquing IC because they are doing something. At least they are doing something!
To David,
We’re all entitled to our opinions. And it is great to see such lively discussion on the topic (although there are many other great subjects covered on this site). You don’t have to agree with Laci’s position, she’s just speaking her mind, backed by her research. I personally think she’s correct, I also think IC is doing more harm than good when they ask the viewers of their film to petition the government to keep troops to Uganda.
In order to make my case, let’s do a little thought experiment:
Assuming you’re an American.
1. Imagine if Ugandan troops are here in the US on a law enforcement mission. Would you consider them as invaders? What if they’re only here on a small scale? Let say only one hundred special operation members? Would you still consider them as invaders?
2. How would you feel if Libyan troops are here with the objective of “to assist victims of oppression who can’t help themselves”? For example the 300 OWS protesters arrested in Oakland in January, or the 700 arrested protesters in NY last October. Would you say that the Libyans are violating our national sovereignty? Would you change your mind if Libya only sent their jets here to drop bombs instead of sending ground troops? What if they leave as soon as our government is toppled and our leaders dead, would you change your position then?
3. How would you feel if a non-American comes to our country to make a documentary about the faults in our own system (and there are many!), and when he goes home, he rallies and petitions his government to send troops to the US? Would you change your mind if the goal of the foreign troops is neither endless conflict nor occupation, rather a short, decisive war with efficient surgical strikes designed to take out the intended targets? What if the United States is sitting on a huge reserve of strategic material that Ugandans are after?
I’m not a mind reader, so I don’t know what your answers will be, but I suspect that you and I will have the same reaction of aforementioned things are true. Let’s not kid ourselves, we wouldn’t want the hypothetical scenarios to come true. If they’re unacceptable to us, why do you think Ugandans will feel any differently when we send our troops to their country? Are we, Americans, just that much more self-respecting than Ugandans are?
I cannot in good conscious support an organization (even if they use their money properly, even if their founder did not masturbate publicly) that openly advocates the occupation of another country, because I wouldn’t want my country to be occupied by foreign troops.
…..I’m one of the idiots who was roped in by the glitz and glamour of KONY 2012. I’m young and naive, and while I usually do my research on these things, I didn’t think a charity with a solid cause could go too far wrong.
God, after all the shit about IC emerged, I realise how wrong I was…
I knew the Ugandan Civil War was over, but I thought it was important to get Kony’s name up in lights. I supported the charity with the best intentions, and feel so let down (kinda deserved the let-down for not doing my research!) by it all. I’m not proud that I may have inadvertently supported another rise of Kony’s wrath (more anti-Kony support= Kony possibly ups the violence and kidnapping in order to protect himself) and I feel like a right fauxtivist wally now :(
Well, harsh lesson learnt. I now know I should be more cautious and wise about such publicity stunts in the future.
Thanks for this insightful piece Laci, you always have maturity, less-headedness and wisdom in your blogs and vlogs, personality traits I admire and aspire to have one day <3
To WWM:
I won’t disagree that we’re all entitled to our opinions, and here’s my response to your questions, based on my research.
1-Playing out your first scenario accurately would have to imply that the roles have been fully reversed, and these Ugandan Commandos were sent in to train and provide non-lethal equipment for those who hunt a criminal militia leader who regularly kidnaps American children and forces them to commit acts of violence against anyone he deems unworthy of his ideal country, and regularly has the freedom of movement to do so across national borders, say, US/Canada or US/Mexico. This is also assuming that for one reason or another, our many police forces and federal agencies have not succeeded in stopping him, requiring a dispatched military force. Finally, we would have to assume that even with the military hunting him, it still hasn’t been enough, and we have already had the assistance of NATO troops for quite some time. 100 troops under those specific conditions and given those specific needs could hardly be considered an occupation, regardless of what resources we’re sitting on. At that point, under those conditions, I’d be hard pressed to deny help wherever it came from, and Its my opinion that only the most ultra-nationalistic Americans who also happened to be unaffected by the conflict would disagree.
2- For these two scenarios, I’ll only respond to them under the assumption that the roles have been reversed, that the aforementioned OWS protesters were killed as soon as they were arrested, that the OWS movement was regularly met with lethal gunfire and air strikes, and that any members of the military (myself included) who refused to commit murder where tortured or executed by way of being locked into their barracks and burned to death with hot oil. Again, if my country were that bad, I would welcome liberation with open arms, especially under a multinational coalition. And as for the question of if they were to leave as soon as the dictators were killed, Iraq can easily show us what happens when a foreign occupational army stays around too long, while Libya shows us how quickly a dictator can fall when all you do is even the playing field.
3-Once again, I’m going to assume that this documentary produce is filming in a a hypothetical America that had the same problems as Uganda when IC first became active. As I stated in my first counter-point, this America would have to have a religious militia actively using kidnapped American children to engage in violent attacks against our law enforcement, our infrastructure, and our military, and it has become such a problem that international military support has already taken place, which still rendered failure. With all of those conditions already in place, yes, I would support more military assistance and precision strikes, provided that the Ugandan Commandos operated by a very strict and disciplined set of rules of engagement.
Finally, I feel that Ugandans support our mission largely because I have friends in Uganda, and while I understand that I don’t speak for the entire Ugandan population, these friends have, for themselves and for me at least, confirmed my views.
While I understand your point of view, I feel you’ve overlooked the myriad of variables that are included with these given conflicts, and I can assure you that I’m not kidding anyone.
I dont understand why everyone is freaking out all we wanted to do was to put some signs up that say we want someone to catch Kony is that such a big deal????
To those who say that Laci’s post is telling others to not support the Kony 2012 movement: This post is specifically about her personal conclusion about this entire subject, based on the research she did at the time, and she admits that the debate around Kony is incredibly confusing. In fact, even for many who are more fully informed about this topic, there is (or was) heated debate. Also, she supports many of her arguments (if not all) through research–which is a lot more than many of us can say for ourselves. If you notice the boldface sentences and phrases, a lot of them are centered on the idea of research and gathering information. I don’t necessarily oppose people who, through research and the reminder to themselves to keep an open mind, arrive to the conclusion that Kony 2012 is ultimately helpful–in fact, they may present some strong arguments, and maybe make the entire subject more clear to us. However, I am opposed to those who, through their own pride, assumption, laziness, etc. decide to not research into this topic and yet post inflammatory comments to those who are only attempting, through their own means, to shed light on the situation. Granted, this article is biased, but you’ll find bias in every single source.
I haven’t done any more research on this topic myself for a while, so I guess I’m not in the position to blame anyone ._. But in response to the latest comment, the hype about raising awareness for Kony lies in the fear that by raising awareness, we may in turn trigger the US government to act rashly, potentially causing more harm than good. And while raising awareness is usually a good thing, if awareness is used the wrong way (without support, driven purely by emotions, etc.) it could be damaging. There’s a lot that I would’ve said on this subject if I got here earlier, but I guess I’ll stay quiet now =D
Oh, and to those who said that she’s raising awareness by blogging about this, so it ultimately reaches the same objective as the Kony 2012 campaign, I beg to differ. She raises awareness in a different way, a reminder to us that we cannot take any information for granted, rather than the awareness that the Kony video made by encouraging people to blindly support them (at least, that’s how I took it). The “type” of awareness is different =D NOW I’m going to stay quiet.
Heck, for the record, even my own comment is biased.
I used several of these points to explain to my friend why I didn’t support the campaign. Her reaction was pretty much “but it’s so horrible, and everyone always finds reasons to criticize everything. None of this means IC is a shady organization with ulterior motives. THOSE POOR CHILDREN.” *sigh* It’s frustrating when people completely fall for this campaign’s flagrant emotional manipulation.
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Good day! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My website covers a lot of the same subjects as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other. If you happen to be interested feel free to shoot me an email. I look forward to hearing from you! Fantastic blog by the way!
Currently it looks like Expression Engine is the preferred blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
Outstanding post but I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this topic? I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit
more. Many thanks!
Hello! I know this is somewhat off topic but
I was wondering if you knew where I could
get a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having problems
finding one? Thanks a lot!
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get three emails with the
same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from
that service? Appreciate it!
Howdy! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a collection of volunteers and starting
a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided
us beneficial information to work on. You have done a extraordinary job!
Hello there! I know this is somewhat off topic but
I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this site?
I’m getting sick and tired of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking at options for another platform. I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
Good day! This post could not be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You obviously know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?
Today, I went to the beach with my kids. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She put the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is totally off topic but I had to tell someone!
The other day, while I was at work, my cousin stole my apple ipad and tested to see if it can survive a twenty five foot drop, just so she can be a youtube sensation. My iPad is now broken and she has 83 views. I know this is completely off topic but I had to share it with someone!
I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the layout of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or 2 images. Maybe you could space it out better?
Howdy, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam remarks? If so how do you protect against it, any plugin or anything you can recommend? I get so much lately it’s driving me insane
so any assistance is very much appreciated.
This design is spectacular! You obviously know how to keep a reader amused.
Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved
to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Fantastic job.
I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it.
Too cool!
I’m truly enjoying the design and layout of your site. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here
and visit more often. Did you hire out a developer to create your theme?
Great work!
Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this website before but after reading through some of the post I realized it’s new to me.
Anyhow, I’m definitely glad I found it and I’ll be
bookmarking and checking back often!
Hi there! Would you mind if I share your blog with my myspace group?
There’s a lot of people that I think would really appreciate your content. Please let me know. Cheers
Hey, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog site in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, fantastic blog!
Sweet blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News. Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for
a while but I never seem to get there! Thank you
Howdy! This is kind of off topic but I need some advice from an established blog.
Is it difficult to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick. I’m
thinking about making my own but I’m not sure where to begin. Do you have any tips or suggestions? Thanks
Hi! Quick question that’s totally off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly?
My blog looks weird when browsing from my iphone. I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to resolve this issue. If you have any recommendations, please share. Many thanks!
I’m not that much of a internet reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll
go ahead and bookmark your website to come back in
the future. All the best
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme.
Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone
to do it for you? Plz reply as I’m looking to design my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from. appreciate it
Incredible! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It’s on a completely different topic but it has pretty much
the same page layout and design. Great choice of colors!
Hi there just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know a few of the images aren’t loading correctly. I’m
not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different web browsers and both show the same results.
Hi are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and set up my own. Do you need any html coding expertise to make your own blog? Any help would be really appreciated!
Hello this is somewhat of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog
soon but have no coding expertise so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience.
Any help would be enormously appreciated!
Hi! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any trouble with hackers?
My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing a few months of hard work due to no data backup.
Do you have any solutions to stop hackers?
Hello! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be okay. I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look
forward to new updates.
Hey! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers?
I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on.
Any suggestions?
Hi there! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with Search Engine Optimization?
I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good gains.
If you know of any please share. Appreciate it!
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own weblog and was curious what all is required to get set up? I’m assuming having a
blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very web savvy so I’m not 100% certain. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks
Hmm is anyone else having problems with the pictures on this blog loading? I’m trying to figure out if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog. Any feed-back would be greatly appreciated.
I’m not sure exactly why but this website is loading very slow for me. Is anyone else having this problem or is it a problem on my end? I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.
Hi! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts! Keep up the fantastic work!
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an incredibly long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway, just wanted to say wonderful blog!