Step aside Rebecca Black and Denver the Guilty Dog, a new challenger is making a run for the fastest growing viral video in history. His name is Joseph Kony. You might be asking yourself, “Who the hell is that?” Don’t worry though, your ignorance is justified, because hardly anybody knew who this guy was before the beginning of the week. Since its release on Monday, March 5, the KONY 2012 campaign has already received over 36 million views on YouTube. You’ve probably noticed about twenty or so of your Facebook friends posting about it, sharing the video, and asking others to watch. So, what’s all the fuss about?
“KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.” Kony is the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan militia notorious for ruthless murders and the abduction of thousands of African children. The International Criminal Court has ranked him #1 on the list of the World’s Worst Criminals. To put it simply, Kony is an evil man that must be stopped.
Invisible Children’s (IC) campaign is definitely off to a powerful start. It will no doubt achieve its goal of making Kony a household name by mid-year – a true testament to the awareness capability of social media. The campaign is also urging supporters to sign a petition, to donate money, and to message prominent cultural and political figures whom IC has targeted for support. But what about its ultimate goal; bringing Kony to justice? This requires real, effective, physical activism. As IC explains, it is entirely dependent on the continued presence of American military advisers in Africa, who will strategize with local governments and armies to bring Kony down. Unfortunately, sharing the KONY 2012 video on Facebook and Twitter is not making this any easier. Let’s face it – our tweets and posts don’t have any tangible effects on American foreign policy. Once again though, millions of people’s involvement with this cause will start and end with sharing a video on their wall. I feel like forcing them all to listen to Rage Against the Machine. WAKE UP people, Social Media is not the answer to this problem!
In fairness, IC has established an actual ground presence in Africa. They’ve successfully rescued children, rebuilt some of the destruction caused by Kony’s army, and set up a radio-alert system to warn of imminent attacks. But as with most viral social media campaigns, many will pass on the Kony video before doing their research. Almost equally in the media spotlight this week is the critical response to KONY 2012, with many prominent sources (Huffington Post, Mashable, Jezebel) calling out the dubious financials of Invisible Children, their call for military involvement, and their questionable marketing tactics. My point is that if you spend a little time reading about the organization behind the video (about as much as it took you to watch it), you might find that it’s not as virtuous as it appears on Facebook. The flood of immediate and total support of KONY 2012 amongst my friends is just another example of how Social Media tools have transformed us into a generation of “skimmers.” It looks great at first glance, so of course I’m for it. Now, let me get back to browsing cat memes. As the saying goes, don’t believe everything you read (or watch).
And just because I have to...
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