By the looks of the earnest protesters proudly waving the "share" button, Joseph Kony has gone viral. And you know something's gone viral when all your friends and their friends are talking about it on Facebook, but it's absent from the news media.
This time last year, we were all talking about Rebecca Black, so I think it's amazing that the internet is investing its restless, meandering energies on a cause worth championing: bringing to infamy a war criminal at large.
I'm glad that Kony 2012 is today's pulse. The crimes against humanity and outright monstrosity of his guerrilla-led child abductions/killings/rapes in Uganda are nothing short of evil. I cannot emphasize that enough. The work of Invisible Children is something to be commended, and the video moved me to tears.
But when I hear of rallies planned around posting KONY2012 flyers on every public inch of space, I smell Occupy 2.0.
That is, I sense that scores of earnest young people are drawn to the crinkling fire of poster-and-chant social activism because makes them feel like they are part of something larger.
The cause is undoubtedly one worth the viral movement. The video beams with slick idealism, but when it comes to saving lives, the ends justify the means.
But does everyone who has pledged to join KONY 2012 really understand the political and social intricacies behind the movement?
I sure don't, beyond the little I've weaned from a quick Google search revealing that long fixture of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, as well as the grassroots efforts occurring on the ground in the country. But I want to understand, because despite the wonderful cause of public awareness, will the movements stated goal of keeping the 100 or so deployed troops who are already there find this man playing border-region hide-and-seek on a level rivaling Osama? Even if they succeed, will that stop the people in his cult from continuing in their twisted mission?
Isn't the wave of goodwill misdirected? Instead of putting posters of Kony on subway walls, shouldn't we be donating our time and effort towards something that will combat the Lord's Resistance Army as a whole?
Someone educate me. :)
