KONY 2012

After having both my Twitter and Facebook accounts assaulted by the Kony 2012 video (if you have not seen it I am shocked, but here is the link), I felt compelled to write a blog post about it. I wouldn't consider myself an Invisible Children "hater" per-say, but I am definitely among their skeptics.

I'll start with some of the positives. The video has proven widely successful at raising awareness with over  86 million views since it's release less than one month ago. The organization set out to prove that young people can have an impact and change things, and so far they have proven that. They also helped add to the growing evidence that social media can be a power tool for social change. As a member of their target audience, I am comforted and emboldened by the fact that my voice can actually be heard. However, the organizations propaganda feeds into American misperceptions about Africa to gain support and attention.


The following is a quote from one of several open letters written to the CEO of Invisible Children, Jason Russell written by Penny Carothers , "By positioning yourself as the mouthpiece for this cause, you have denied the people of Uganda the opportunity to speak for themselves. You have depicted them as voiceless, hopeless, and at our mercy. Nothing could be further from the truth". The Uganda people are portrayed in this video as helpless, starving, and child-like, a stereotype that Americans are very comfortable with. I've written about this stereotype before in Simba doesn't live in Nairobi, and here again we see the same stereotype being used by an aid organization to try and garner support. It disgusts me a little bit that people with such big ideas would resort to such dehumanizing stereotypes to sell their ideas. Carothers goes on to say, "Jason, your video is slick and well produced, and it has garnered attention because it’s emotionally appealing and tragic. But it gives Americans the idea that they are the solution to the conflict, when they simply are not". That is what annoys me the most about this video. The message is: Americans must be the solution because Ugandans haven't fixed it yet.


The video also makes some fairly outrageous claims. They claim that no one cared about the issue and that the children were invisible before their organization came around, but that is complete specualtion. Also why are they invisible until recognized by a Western audience? Do they not truly exist until America cares? They also claim that the president could withdraw the military advisors from Uganda at any moment and then they would fail, so we have to keep pressuring the government. I am highly skeptical of this logic. First, I do not believe Obama would be so quick to pull out the 100 military advisors; he has nothing to gain from that. Second, the removal of those 100 military advisors would not ensure the failure of this campaign. The video seems to assert that without US military assistance the Ugandans cannot win. This patronizing view point frustrates me. 


In another open letter to Jason Russell by Amber Ha of the Acholi Times, she ends with this, "There is an Uganda saying that goes, 'The grass will always suffer when two elephants fight.' Isn't it time we let the grass grow?".