With the emergence of the Kony video that has been perpetrating our interwebs in the last week or so, I've noticed a disturbing trend in which people talk about, then respond to how we may feel or think about this certain issue. This includes myself.
For those of you who have been living under a rock that doesn't receive a wireless connection (which begs the question of how you are reading this, so I guess I didn't need to ask), Joseph Kony is a war criminal who has committed heinous acts in Uganda and nearby African regions ranging from exploiting children for use as soldiers / sex workers, to being a down right asshole on most things human rights-y. Invisible Children Inc., a non-profit whose purpose is to aid the capture of Joseph Kony, created the short film which caused the attention to spread in the first place (video below for those who haven't seen it).
So this is what happens when people have talked about the Kony issue.
Response 1. Facebook sharing / retweeting
OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING! WATCH THIS VIDEO AND HELP US STOP THIS
Respone 2a. Initial anti-hippie response / make sarcastic Kony Meme
The people who just think by sharing a video is doing their part and don't do anything after are the fucking worst.
Response 2b. Cynicism of non-profits
I bet none of the money really goes to help the kids
Response 3. Conspiracy theorist response
THEY JUST DISCOVERED OIL IN UGANDA AND THE MEDIA COVERAGE OF KONY IS JUST A FRONT BY THE US GOVERNMENT TO GAIN TRACTION TO SEND TROOPS IN AND RAPE AND PILLAGE THE AFRICAN LAND!!!
Response 4. Utter Disgust at the movement
Thanks for spreading the word guys. Now Kony knows people are on to him so he'll be on the run.
And after all of that, my personal final response after having a few of the above;
When the fuck did we get so jaded?
Quickly addressing some of the above, no solution is perfect and there are some inefficiencies. And to the conspiracy nut jobs? You guys are fucking worse than hippies.
My personal qualm was that I am one of the highly jaded, thinking that the work is inefficient almost to the point where it won't do much, yet at the same time I applaud those, including one of my best friends, who work (and most likely will forever work) in non-profit organizations. It seems that by convincing myself that non-profits do little I can secretly feel better about the fact that I do nothing. Hell, I recently made a joke about a friend I know who donated his kidney, when truth is doing that probably made him a better human being than I was.
I, like many of you, are jaded. Unless we can find an incentive not to be.
So here's what I realized that incentive is;
Worst case scenario, this raises awareness in a broad sense that bad shit happens every fucking day. We can at least understand there is a problem, even if we do nothing.
Best case scenario, this becomes the beacon of hope for the 99%ers
What do I mean by this? I think this is huge. And I don't mean the end goal itself (though Kony should absolutely be caught), but the model. Because this has spurred the most organized fervor that we haven't seen in other viral movements. Something maybe the Occuy movement can learn from, since it seems their discombobulated message and lack of leadership is doing nothing. Which is why in almost a sociological experiment sort of way, we would have to participate to see the results.
We are jaded and cynical because there are so many forces out of our control that dictate the outcome of our every day lives. We see the best intentions fail out of miserable execution, and well laid plans morphed into abominations due to ulterior motives. In conclusion; when it comes to the matters of the world, we don't matter.
And it is because of this that I will be out after sundown hanging up a few Kony 2012 poster on April 20th, 2012 somewhere in Hong Kong. Hell, I'll probably enjoy it since it will remind me of when I used to spray paint angels next to bus stops. That in and of itself is probably worth the effort.
But if Joseph Kony is actually caught in 2012? Then it might just be a sign that we can matter again.
