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its all over Facebook at the moment, looks set to go viral....
21690 views on youtube at the moment.... what do we reckon? 100,000 by tomorrow night?
The Yanks are going after him in the same vein as they did with Ernesto Guevara. Good on them this time. I hope a SEAL or the locals blow the guys brains out in "self-defence".
America can repair it's reputation by taking part in soft low level precision actions such as this.
I cant be doing with watching a 30 min vid. Whats it all about?
It's about [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court_investigation_in_Uganda ]this (link to details of ICC investigation)[/url].
Ah yes. I've just been re-reading The Hitch's "God Is Not Great" and during this morning's commute, was in the chapter where he deals with the LRA and Mr Kony.
A fine example of how "religion poisons everything".
The man is obviously evil. It would be a mercy-killing. Not only for him, but to prevent any further infestation.
America. F*** Yeah.
100,000 by tomorrow night? or maybe 160,000 by the morning!
Watched it last night. Very good video. Incredibly well put together, and of course the content is somewhat thought provoking.
Might take part in Cover the Night on 20th April.
Very well made as Duane said.
Think it is already well over 300 000 views, I think the counter is out of date on the youtube video, as there are far more likes than watches?
Just one of the many tragedies that is occurring around the globe, but, as they say got to start somewhere are the top of the list is as good as any.
its now nearly 500,000 , amazing what Facebook and such like can do!
Slightly off topic, but how does youtube's couter work?
I guess most people clicking on this thread will click the link. Then a proportion will see it's 30mins long, and close it thinking "I'll watch this later". Are they part of the 500,000? and are they counted twice if they do go back to watch it tonight?
amazing what Facebook and such like can do!
I'm not really sure who notion is being more heavily promoted here - Facebook and the idea that [i]you[/i] can achieve change by benignly clicking 'like' and then forgetting about it, or the idea that America should be charged with being an international police force.
There are always two sides to every story, a bit more reading is always a good thing...
http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/
I watched it this morning with 165,000 views on the clock and now it has over 7,000,000!
Id not heard of kony till just now so i guess what this charity is doing works .Fair play to them ! Imagine life in our part of the world today if everyone had just let Mr Hitler and his buddies carry on.Bit different when its on your own doorstep i guess !!!!
This deserves a bump!!
Daveagiles: That is not a second side to the story, that is the cynical opinion of an interested observer.
I appreciate what he is getting at, but surely the more attention this sort of thing is given, the better.
Kony claims to communicate with and receive instructions from spirits and God.[6]
As usual, the little voices told him to do it...
Usually, I'd say let him ‘accidentally’ catch a 7.62mm bullet to the back of the head, but considering the miserable conditions of the average African prison, twenty year's incarceration would have the scumbag wishing someone had popped him one.
Yeah, let's give money to these guys - they know what they're doing
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Kony claims to communicate with and receive instructions from spirits and God.[6]
Strangely GW Bush said exactly the same thing...
As apposed to you who spouts negative shite and probably does sod all for humanity?
As apposed to you who spouts negative shite and probably does sod all for humanity?
Is that directed at me?
Yes you are the **** who is adding loads to the thread. Why don't you go and drown some kittens you miserable git.
lol, well I work for a charity - and I do voluntary work for another development charity that works in Africa, trying to do genuine sustainable things to improve people's lives there - not spending most of their budget on themselves and supporting one unpleasant military faction against another one.
There are pretty serious problems with this approach, and there are far more deserving and well thought out causes out there. If you think you are helping people in Africa somehow by reposting it on facebook you are deluded, sorry.
Good to see we're all for free opinions kudos100. maybe go do some reading on the organisation first.
It is better than nothing. While most people do sod all to help, these guys are doing SOMETHING. Yes there are other charities that are deserving of funds, but it all helps.
Posting something on facebook is about as much as some people will ever do for charity, so no it is not deluded.
Oh and apologies for the comment about humanity, sometimes this place can wind me up.
It is better than nothing.
No, it's not. Look at the people they are promoting as the solution in Uganda.
1) The Ugandan Government is a dictatorship with Yoweri Museveni as the president since 1986. Among many of its human rights violations the regime tortures prisons, oppresses other political parties and the press and also wishes to introduce a bill that would have 'convicted homosexuals' put to death.
2) In the civil war in which Yoweri Museveni gained power child soldiers were used by his army (National Resistance Army) which is now the army of Uganda but under a different name. ( http://www.teachkidspeace.org/doc315.php)
The charity refuses to be independently audited and have no independent board members unlike virtually all proper charities.
Not apologising for this then?
Yes you are the **** who is adding loads to the thread. Why don't you go and drown some kittens you miserable git.
Well I watched a TV programme about this years ago and did nothing. I understand what the negatives mentioned here are saying but this time I'm in. Kony bracelets on order
Cheers,Grum. You pre-empted my having to ask if the government of Uganda were now 'the good guys'! 🙂
I think I need to go and post that photo over at arrse. 😆 What a bunch of tools.
Interesting link http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/mar/07/kony-2012-video-viral-invisible-children?newsfeed=true
So Diane, more than 70% of their income goes to their own salaries, travel expenses and film-making - and you're also happy to support the Ugandan army who have done many of the things that Kony is being targeted for?
the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) and officials of other government-related military security agencies have committed multiple abuses including summary execution, torture, rape and child recruitment.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3071421.stm
What a great cause. Why not buy a t-shirt too?
Eh? As far as I am aware they have got the american government to commit SOMETHING to the issue.
Perhaps their efforts are misguided, but I still think that making other people aware of problems throughout the world is no bad thing.
No you ain't getting another apology.
Joseph Kony needs to be brought to justice, along with every other person who has committed crimes against humanity and war crimes.
I am in full support of anything that raises awareness of other issues, including these atrocities in Africa. I have no issues with the salaries that the invisible children staff take, or where they spend their money, because the attention they are getting a cause is worth far more than that.
What I have realised is that I feel very uncomfortable with the support of the Ugandan army in order to bring the LRA and Joseph Kony to Justice, considering the Ugandan Armys history. Just because one is worse than the other, does that mean we should be funding them?
I don't know what the answer is, perhaps this is the best way forward for them, perhaps a more aggressive intervention is necessary.
Just my 2 cents...
Perhaps their efforts are misguided, but I still think that making other people aware of problems throughout the world is no bad thing.
By the way, that picture above is the founders of the charity, posing with guns and rocket launchers trying to look all gangsta, WITH the Ugandan army - you know, the ones who have 'committed multiple abuses including summary execution, torture, rape and child recruitment.'
The mind boggles about the motivations and judgement of the people who thought that was a good idea.
Honestly, there are so many committed people working really hard to try and bring about positive lasting change in Africa, but that is mostly ignored while everyone froths over some internet fad with highly dubious financial arrangements.
Shame.
What I have realised is that I feel very uncomfortable with the support of the Ugandan army in order to bring the LRA and Joseph Kony to Justice, considering the Ugandan Armys history. Just because one is worse than the other, does that mean we should be funding them?I don't know what the answer is, perhaps this is the best way forward for them, perhaps a more aggressive intervention is necessary.
It is a problem with many developing countries. Trying to help victims when the organisations in charge are corrupt. It is difficult to know what is the way forward as many of these countries are rotten to the core.
Great job they're doing, they've managed, through the release of this one, slickly done, hipster style video, to raise awareness! I'm all for it! They've done so well as to get the ICC to issue warrants for Kony! Oh, shit, that happened in 2005. Well at least the USA now has Kony on its "list of "Specially Designated Global Terrorists"... oh wait, that happened in 2008....
/* cynical */
Funniest thing to come of it:
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What charities do you do voluntary work for and how do you show your support for causes kudos100?
Joseph Kony is a disturbing psychopath with a gift for control and brainwashing. Kony 2012 is a disturbing use of a disturbing psychopath to make a large amount of money with scant regard for the complexity of the real situation in central africa. The millions of people brainwashed by this scam is disturbing.
The Yanks are going after him in the same vein as they did with Ernesto Guevara. Good on them this time. I hope a SEAL or the locals blow the guys brains out in "self-defence".
America can repair it's reputation by taking part in soft low level precision actions such as this.
Eh? As far as I am aware they have got the american government to commit SOMETHING to the issue.
True. Similar to their Congo interventions at the time of Guevara. Wonder why now?
Economy - overview:
Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, small deposits of copper, gold, and other minerals, and recently discovered oil. Uganda has never conducted a national minerals survey.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ug.html
Wonder why now?
oh dearand recently discovered oil
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One of the links from the Guardian article comments referenced by Bwaarp, shows how corporate America appears to be pulling the strings on this issue. It's [url= http://demandnothing.org/making-the-invisible-visible/ ]Demand Nothing[/url]
JP Morgan we're loking at you.
Its certainly true that Kony is a nutjob of the highest order.
I'm sure I've read about him and the Lord's Resistance Army before.
He and another female leader kidnap and brainwash children, drug them and indoctrinate them to believe that drinking potions makes them bullet proof and that they are an invicible army of God.
Having him removed from the planet would undoubtedly be a good thing.
BUT
Its Africa, and eliminating every individual we feel deserves it is a very long road to start down. As others have said there is probably better ways of supporting action in Africa than targeting one - admitedly deserving - individual
My concern is less about 'the message' and more about the power that social media is having.
I'll be honest, whilst I've known about child soldiers and such for years this is the first I've heard of Kony and that's as a result of watching this video. It's a bit over-the-top in places but it conveys the message that he's a bad man and that he needs to be stopped. Simple.
However, I'm concerned that a 'tool' such as Youtube, or Facebook (or for that matter Twitter and blogs) can have such a massive sway over the majority. The word 'propaganda' springs to mind and I think it therefore necessitates a more careful screening of what can and can't be shown. In this instance its making people aware of a tyrant who brainwashes, kills and tortures children and pushes the notion of stopping him by any means necessary. 26m views says its had a massive impact and I'm sure converted a large number of people.
Not everyone watching the video will be open to rational thought - my 13 year old step son watched it and thought it was pretty much a done deal. Emotive film convincing everyone that you're less of a human if you don't do something to stop it.
The cynic in me questions whether there's some large corporation behind the whole thing - it all seems a bit too polished to be true. Lead man is a good looking chap, with a cute intelligent kid and a pretty (from what I could tell) wife.
That aside, I hope they get what they want. But everyday I'm slightly more fearful about the power of social networking/media...
Upside - 26 million views and counting, if it get's this kony guy known around the world as a murderer and general scumbag, then it's all good. If it mobilises people to badger their governments to drag the prick to The Hague to pay for what he's done, all the better. If it changes one mind from being a lazy sod who cares more about new maps in COD MW than what happens to people in the real world then it has succeeded.
Downside - From the released financial records of this lot, they don't appear to be sending enough money anywhere constructive to do any real good. I'm sure the founders of this are doing a lot of good work, but they're also being paid 90K a year to do what they're doing, maybe just me but that seems a lot really. They seem to be spending a hell of a lot of money on natty bracelets and posters to give them an excuse at playing "Banksy" for a bit.......all just seems a bit Hipster/skinny jean/that 99% thing looks a right larf
Also, this got 38 million plus views so you can't always rely on people being intelligent
Kony bracelets on order
Sorry, what?
Rebuttal to the cricitisms - http://s3.amazonaws.com/www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html
Difficult to know what to believe - I'm still cynical about this though, sorry. And like flange I think the level of hysteria is a little creepy.
C'mon. We all played soldiers as a wee boy and getting to do it with real guns would've been BRILLIANT!
I think this comment on the Guardian site sums it up best.
Thank you for this article. Today, out of nowhere, half of my friends on Facebook and Twitter start posting about "KONY 2012", and I had no idea why. It took only a few hours longer for other friends to post things critical of it. I really didn't have the time to watch the video and read the criticisms, so I was pretty confused by it all. It's nice to have both sides summed up in one place.The rhetoric has become so heated already. One widely circulated message on Twitter is "If you don't know who Joseph Kony is, re-evaluate your life". I think that's completely ridiculous, considering that most people retweeting it didn't know who he was 24 hours ago either. It's basically a guilt trip, which makes me think that many of those saying it don't really care about the cause as much as they care about being seen to care about it.
There are thousands upon thousands of worthwhile causes. Removing Joseph Kony from his position of power is probably one of them, but the only reason people suddenly care about it more than any other is because it's trendy (and trending). On which note, I'll end this comment:
Make poverty history!
The statisitics from the youtube video are interesting:
This video is most popular with:
Gender Age
Female 13-17
Male 18-24
Male 13-17
I would bet everything I own that most of the chumps jumping on the bandwagon couldn't find Uganda on a map if their life depended on it
taken from the Invisible Children rebuttle linked above regarding the photo of them holding an RPG and an AK47
Bobby, Laren and I are friends and had been doing this for 5 years, we thought it would be funny to bring back to our friends and family a joke photo. You know, “Haha - they have bazookas in their hands but they’re actually fighting for peace.”
hmmm, having read more about this I can't take them seriously anymore, the quote above say's it all, the only reason people suddenly care about it more than any other is because it's trendy (and trending)
39,5 Million views? From 100,000 yesterday? Thats pretty impressive!
Statistics show its not very popular in central africa tho....
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bwaarp
post of the day
Excellent stuff bwaarp.
The 19 yo Sandwich junior was raving about this yesterday. I sent him a load of links to other information and he's decided that maybe the initial hysteria on-line was a bit overdone.
Well done Bwaarp. Brilliantly done.
This is for you
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over 2 thirds of the money they've raised has gone into things other than charity work. bit of a poor excuse for a charity imo
The first pic in Bwaarp's post - looks like Obama uses an Amstrad Emailer?
LOLOLOL
"Izama says there's a crucial natural resource angle that's being overlooked, pointing out that Uganda recently discovered "significant deposits of oil" near its border with the DRC. "This is the one game changer in the history of conflict in that region" Izama said. He said joint military operations are increasingly concentrated in the oil-rich area." - Guardian
Hmmm - gone all cynical since last nights post - didn't do the order thing and now I feel I need to look into it more. I'm quite naive sometimes 🙁 - don't think the wine helped.
Great concept on the one hand but full of pit falls and implications. Will be interesting to see where it leads.
We had them in school, (the invisible children punters NOT the lords army)They are about the money and just the invisible children,but three years ago, they told us that they spent 60% of the money they raised on publicity. We decided not to continue to be involved based on that. However it has to be said that they have very effectively pushed their campaign to the fore. I don't really care who puts a bullet in him, Ugandan or whatever, he needs to be dead and this campaign has made that more likely.
This overlaps with some other posts, but a worthy view. Bwaarp+1
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Bwaarp, that is truly epic.
Didn't realise uganda had any decent oil reserves. Maybe we will see more u.s troops getting deployed in future.
There's a whole generation who don't read newspapers, don't listen to the news on the radio or watch it on TV. Since I don't think anyone is any dispute that Kony is a "bad man" (after all wasn't he number 1 on the US indicted list?), I see no problem with social media raising awareness instead. Say what you like about Invisible Children or Tri or whatever they are called, you can't ignore the fact that more people know about this than did before. If even a small percentage of those millions go off and do more reading on the subject and make themselves aware, then that's a good thing. Some of them might even take appropriate action.
so its a ten year old issue, being pushed to slacktivists by a charity.
and the kids are lining up to throw money at them
mashable covered it a couple of days ago, the vid links on FB looked like typical spam shite so doesnt interest me
Much preferred the 1998 MTB video, now showing on Youtube "SPRUNG" (?) much better use of my free time.
What appropriate action would that be stilltortoise? Are they going to go and join the Marines, do a stint at Poole, retire and then head over to Uganda to tool up and hunt this man down then return home for a pint having avoided starting a civil war? No they aren't, what they are going to do is encourage US interventionism in Uganda, which will end with hilarious consequences. "US military advisers" - ROFL I've heard that one before. A pinpoint precision removal of the guy based on sound intelligence might be a good way to go but funding the Ugandan army and putting lots of boots on the ground? Nahhh
Some of them might even take appropriate action.
Which is what? 'Like'-ing it or linking to it on their social network web page?
It is a bunch of slackers paying themselves a very comfortable salary and spending far too much money on promotion of the issue from the total donations they obtain. This is several years too late and detracting from the more pressing concerns elsewhere. Awareness raised? The same audience are more aware that cats make you LOL than about crimes against humanity.
The same audience are more aware that cats make you LOL than about crimes against humanity.
This is a bit of a sweeping generalisation isn't it 😯
I'm 37 and I listen to the news, yet I don't remember ever hearing about Joseph Kony until this film. I'll be honest I'll probably do bugger all about it, but that doesn't mean there aren't 100s if not thousands of people who will pay more attention to issues like this and maybe try and make a difference. The very fact we're all talking about it and educating each other can't possible be a bad thing. Are some of us really this jaded and cynical?
There might be someone sat wasting time on Facebook right now who sees all this and decides to make a positive difference. Come on you lot, bring forth the suggestions of what can be done or are you saying it's a hopeless cause?
Yes but the whole of the NGO community already knew about this (as they say, this campaign is about a decade late) and there's nothing anyone can do unless we send troops to find him. So what is the point of the campaign exactly? There's far better things to do, how about shocking the kids into actually reading the news or donating to a charity like Doctors without Borders that actually does something.
This charity is in bed with the Ugandan military and the Washington, along with the picture of them holding guns that does loads of good for NGO neutrality! Not
It is a hopeless cause, mostly because Kony isn't much of a problem in Uganda any more but a problem along the DRC border. Who exactly is going to go and get him? Until that is answered it is a hopeless cause.
It's all a load of pants. Shows how people resemble sheep.
There's far better things to do, how about shocking the kids into actually reading the news or donating to a charity like Doctors without Borders that actually does something.
Which is my point. Of the millions who have become aware (that word again) of Kony and Tri/ Invisible Children, some of them may now take some positive action against issues beyond their own [s]borders[/s] bedroom. Previously they would have been clueless about it. I've never understood bemoaning the act ot raising awareness.
This is a bit of a sweeping generalisation isn't it
The statisitics from the youtube video are interesting:This video is most popular with:
Gender Age
Female 13-17
Male 18-24
Male 13-17
I bet you knew about LOLCATZ tho didn't you? 😐
So a video posted on You Tube is most popular with the main demographic of You Tube? Well I never
Turns out the film maker was a bit of a t0$$er...
Anyone see Charlie Brooker's critique?
Yeah was just about to post that. The more I hear the less respect I have for them. They have also appaeently taken large donations from fundamentalist Christian organisations that support anti gay rights campaigns. Ever heard of having an ethical fundraising policy? Deeply, deeply dubious.
Apparently some NGO organised a screening in Uganda and caused a riot because they hated the video so much. I have a Kenyan friend who works for a human rights charity who was absolutely outraged by it. The 'any awareness has to be a good thing' argument is really not valid IMO.
Apparently some NGO organised a screening in Uganda and caused a riot because they hated the video so much. I have a Kenyan friend who works for a human rights charity who was absolutely outraged by it.
[url= http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/worldview/stop-kony-screening-tour-cancelled-after-ugandans-react-with-outrage/article2370125/ ]Link to outrage[/url]
Invisible Children chief executive Ben Keesey told TMZ: “Jason Russell was unfortunately hospitalised yesterday suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and [b]malnutrition[/b]. He is now receiving medical care and is focused on getting better.
Malnutrition? Think they might need to look up what that word means. Spectacularly poor taste for a charity working in Africa to use that term about their rich 'story-teller and dreamer' caught ****ing in public.