Kony 2012

Recently on the internet, I've noticed there's a lot of KONY 2012 plastered everywhere. I have watched the very sad video online, and have done a bit of research about the cause. Don't get me wrong- I'm against Kony. He is an evil man who needs to be stopped- there's no denying that.

The first thing about Kony 2012 that bothers me is that  there are a decent number of people that hear three words about him and instantly are 'Kony 2012' without really understanding the issue. They just see the video and assume that's all there is to the story. I really wish people would do a bit more research, just so when they have long online arguments with cursing and insults they actually knew what they were talking about. 

Second, the organization backing Kony 2012 is called Invisible Children or something like that. The organization only uses 31% of the money they receive to actually help the cause. It is not a very well-ranked company- I believe it has 2 stars on the Charity Navigator or something like that. In addition, the organization is promoting a violent end to the issues at hand. Considering Kony uses child body guards, it is likely that many children will end up dead in an effort to track him down. This is pretty sad/scary. 


The last thing that's really strange to me is that there is a relatively large international feeling (from what I've heard here in Singapore via the web) that the United States should send troops to stop him. America actually has already. It sent like 100 troops to help train soldiers. The United States cannot always be the superhero of the world, in my opinion. I don't know exactly how I feel about this one, but something strikes me as odd. 


Considering I only really found out about this because of the internet (though I feel like I've heard of this at least once before), I can hardly criticize how much of an internet meme this is to a lot of people. There are a lot of people who are honestly riled up about this and willing to help, and that's great. However, I can't help but to think about how in a few years, to a large number of people, this may just fade into being something on Tumblr or Facebook that they never really felt passionate about.

If people are actually passionate about the issue, good for you. I respect that a lot. But if you don't actually know what this man has done and are just following your friends... well.... it just seems a bit stupid to me. 


http://www.king5.com/news/local/What-is-Kony-2012-141785013.html
http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com.nyud.net/


Here's two of many links about the issue. The first webpage also includes the video. 
I didn't touch on all the issues mentioned in the second article/webpage, only the things that strike me as really odd. 
Please, do your research so you can speak intelligently about the issue before telling all your friends. 


Thank you.