Back to Blogging: What is This KONY Deal?

Hello, all. It is good to be back after over a week without blogging. It was a nice break, but now my schedule is back to normal and I'm ready to finish strong in these last few weeks of show choir. Anyway, recently the KONY 2012 campaign has been brought to the attention of nearly every person that owns a computer. Literally.

First of all, I officially have over 900 views on my blog. Back in September, when I began blogging, I had the mindset that no one would ever look at my blog. While 900 views is nothing compared to the number of views on Youtube videos and millions of views of the KONY 2012 video in just a few days, it feels great to be recognized and to know that someone out there is reading. So thanks, to those who a regular viewers of my blog and also to those who have just stumbled upon it somehow. Maybe this is your first time reading it, that I don't know. But thank you for your support :-)

So what is this "KONY 2012" thing? I'm sure you've heard about it--it's all over Facebook and Twitter. You may have watched the 30 minute video about it, about the children fighting in the army in Uganda and the evil man, Joseph Kony behind it. The campaign is a great idea and a great charity project: to raise money for projects to help solve these problems in Africa. But one of the most controversial problems is that this LRA army has been going on for a long time, like decades, and it is just now coming to the world's attention. This truly exemplifies the power that social media holds on the public. Don't take this the wrong way--I am not against the KONY campaign or any of the values and goals it has. But the problem is that this organization, the Invisible Children, hasn't given the true facts. The majority of the money raised by this organization does not actually go to directly help children in Africa. They made the 30 minute video to show the brutal side of the situation, which indeed is brutal, but it doesn't show where the money goes. So people continue to buy the kits and the T-shirts to support this cause, when what the organization really wants is a US military intervention. We sent 100 military officers there in October, which seems worth it to end the motives of one man, Joseph Kony, the mass murderer. The biggest issue present is the question of what the United States should do, as well as what the entire international community should do about Kony. The reason critics are against this campaign is their advertising--perhaps social media wasn't the way to raise awareness. Another reason is the the organization only spends a little over 30% of profit for direct intervention in Africa. So all these combined factors makes for a organization that appears a little...well, shady. So yes, something must be done to stop Kony. Support, but only in the correct ways. And social media...arg. Not the best way to raise awareness, for there are tons and tons of ignorant people on the internet. I'm not rallying support against Kony, but more against the Invisible Children organization. It's just smart to know the facts, people.

Basically sums it up.

Sources for this post:
Jezebel.com
Csmonitor.com
Google Images