Kony
Here is a link to this video that is viral, about a campaign to arrest Kony, head of the Lord's Resistance Army in Central Africa. Many of you may have already seen it, butif you haven't, it is worth watching. But after watching it, is is also worth doing some research to find out a little more about the issue. Kony
Some of the interesting sociological issues this raises, to me, are
- definition of a social problem. The LRA has been around for a long time, as has the problem of invisible children, so why now? Why Kony instead of something else? The filmmaker is very skillful in drawing us in. How does he do this? The shots of happy, cheering, earnest college students and of his incredibly cute son make this a very upbeat video - it is not sad or depressing, which is strange, considering its subject matter - child soldiers and the worst side effects of war.
- use of social media, how powerful it can be to mobilize people, especially perhaps young people. The inverted pyramid graphic, showing how people can be more powerful than money, if they organize, was very compelling - and inspiring. I want to believe that we can make the world a better place using facebook and twitter, although I am somewhat cynical about the possibility... I conect it to Power Theory, covered in the chapter on crime, but related to everything in sociology, basically.
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ReplyDeleteThat video touched my heart. I was not aware of what has been going on in Central Africa for so long. We as a nation need to stop this KONY issue and save thousands of children.
ReplyDeleteIts amazing how the world cannot do anything to prevent this from happening anymore. If the worlds major countries actually would work together they would have caught this guy long ago. It just goes to show you how in effective the governments of the world can be.
ReplyDeleteThere was an article in the news yesterday stating that there is a suspicion that he is dead because no one has seen him in a while. The soldiers who are searching for him are bored and frustrated.
ReplyDeleteWhen this video went viral I was taken off guard. It really hit home. I was shocked by everything. I thought the video was very well done. It was great to see an organization take a step to try to get a serious issue into the light. However, as I spoke with other friends and political science majors, I noticed some things, and my opinion changed. The Invisible Children organization, the ones that produced this video, only donate about 35 cents of every dollar to whoever needs the money. The other 65 cents are pocketed for operating costs and salaries. Compare this with the American Red Cross, where 88-92 cents on every dollar are donated. On a foreign policy perspective, Africa is a sad broken record. Anyone who glances at a history book can see that this conflict is among 13 current conflicts on the continent, and unfortunately one of dozens that have occurred. Intervention by the United States would be hard. After close to 11 years of sustained combat, much of our conventional ground force is depleted. At the most the U.S. would be able to deploy a small number of units. Two, Uganda is land locked. The 1993 intervention in Somalia was easy for the United States to conduct because there was enough solid naval support. Third, public opinion will most likely limit any operation. In 1993 the U.S. intervened in Somalia, after the infamous Black Hawk Down incident, we pulled out. A year later, the U.S. watched as 800,000 Rwandans died in 90 days. In 90 days, the Hutu dominated military and Interhamwe militia had systematically murdered any Tutsi they could find. Public opinion most likely forced our government not to act, even though it was the right thing to do. I am not saying that Kony should not be acted against, but the issue is a bit more complicated than one would think. And two final points, the Ugandan military we are supporting also uses child soldiers, and the U.S. has a habit of getting involved in things we really should not be. For example, we actually supported Iraq in 1982, then turned around in 1983 and supported Iran.
ReplyDeleteThis was extremely popular for a while and recieved millions of hits within the first few days, but now people have already forgotten about it and it's barely in the news. Also the man who made the video was charged with some kind of crime.
ReplyDeleteI have heard a lot of different, controversial things regarding this video – that those who made it perhaps weren’t credible, what the US and the UN should do about Kony, and whether or not the whole thing is a scam. Regardless of the controversy, horrific violations of human rights are happening all over the world, and it is imperative that they be stopped.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find interesting about this video is that it not only outlines a significant social problem, but also showcases how the world is truly globalizing. Even if interest is waning as Ashley says, it is astounding to see how many people connected all over the world – on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc., all around an issue of social justice. It is perhaps overly optimistic, but I think this shows the powerful role technology is assuming in assuring that our increasingly globalized world is striving for social justice. Moreover, it is great to see that people are using social media as a means to solve a social problem.