What is Kony 2012?

Invisible Children YouTube video goes viral in hopes to stop child abduction

After being away from a computer, a TV and pretty much any means of communication for five days during my vacation to Florida, I didn’t think I had missed too much fuss in the news over spring break.

Shortly after checking out my emails and the hot topics online after coming back to Michigan, I was struck with the story about Kony 2012.

If you haven’t heard of this yet, Kony 2012 is a campaign started by Invisible Children, a U.S. Charity, in order to raise money to aid in the capture of Joseph Kony.

According to the film created by Invisible Children, Kony has been charged with 12 counts against humanity and 21 counts of war crimes including a forced recruitment of children soldiers.

Kony has eluded capture by the Ugandan government for almost 26 years. During those years more than 30 thousand children have been abducted for Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army.

The video stated this international injustice didn’t directly affect the United States, and our government wasn’t planning on becoming involved. This was until about five months ago when 100 U.S. advisors were sent to aid the Uganda Army to find and capture Kony.

Since then the campaign has continuously grown. The Kony 2012 YouTube video posted March 5 started with a few views and grew to 65 million. Invisible Children hopes to make Kony famous worldwide for his actions to create a bigger awareness of this disturbing situation to stop the violence.

Celebrities such as Rihanna, P Diddy, Justin Bieber and Angelina Jolie are even supporting Invisible Children’s cause through their Twitter pages.

Some YouTube commenters say this campaign is a scam and funding this cause is only providing Invisible Children employees with a salary. Those commenters are missing the bigger picture, the part about child abduction.

The whole situation is disgusting and so terribly sad, especially since it took more than 26 years to shine a light on these horrendous actions.

Then there are other articles criticizing the video saying it doesn’t accurately describe the history of the Ugandan government over the past 26 years.

According to the Huffington Post, “Invisible Children said in a statement posted on its website that it does not defend any of the human rights abuses committed by the Ugandan government.”

Twelve counts against humanity and 21 counts of war crimes doesn’t just appear overnight, like the views on the YouTube video.

Whether or not Uganda is corrupt or the Invisible Children staff is getting paid, let’s look at the bigger picture: If the allegations against Kony are true, he needs to be stopped. It’s sickening.

2 comments

*sigh*
Must you begin EVERY article you write with some attempt to point out how rich and well traveled you are? We GET it. If you aren’t on a real vacation, you make up a fake one to be on. I still haven’t forgiven your horrific comments about the Japan tsunamis.

I…I don’t even have the energy or drive to correct your stories anymore. You clearly do not research and you will not be starting now. The Torch certainly doesn’t seem to be getting rid of you any time soon. I’ll remember your name. When you graduate, I’ll be sure to not read whatever publication you end up “writing” for.

Thank you for your comment Elizabeth. I always appreciate feedback from our readers. 

Comments are closed.