Kony 2012
Edit: This edit is at the top because I would like to direct you to the following video response to Kony 2012 made by a young woman from Uganda. Going back to the ever present theme of many stories and many perspectives, the most important perspective on this entire situation is the perspective of those from the region. There was not enough of that in the Kony 2012 video. Rose's response and analysis is exactly how I have been feeling toward the entire thing, especially her segment on war and the place of military action in resolving conflicts. If you don't read my lengthy diatribe, that's fine. But watch the original video and watch this response. Think of it as watching an episode of Chuck or 2 episodes of Community, except you are educating yourself on real world issues seen from the perspectives of two different parties.
Anyone who has a FB has probably noticed a whole lot of status updates regarding this Kony 2012 movement. I've been reading around, inspecting the pros and cons of the charity/campaign, and just finished watching the video.
First off, it is a brilliant video. Really. It is. Leni Riefenstahl would be very proud, not because this guy is also a Nazi filmmaker but because the guy has also created a piece of infectious, charismatic, and from what I can see effective piece of propaganda. It's propaganda to stop the number one war criminal alive but it's propaganda nonetheless. I'm conflicted about this movement because on one hand anything that brings attention to the horrifying things Joseph Kony has done is good. On the other hand telling western society it is their job to save "Africa" is wrong. On so many levels.
I don't actually have as much issue with military intervention as some might. War is bad but in order to catch a war criminal you can't just ask him nicely to turn himself in. There will be a level of aggression involved. The issue is the kinds of people you are asking to do dirty work, the level of damage you're expecting to incur, and who exactly it is that will pick up the slack. If you start a war, this madness may never stop. Villages of people die in conflicts and battles, innocent people who wont understand that you're trying to take down a war criminal. Just look at the Democratic Republic of Congo. You take down one dictator but replace him with another. The country is forever unstable because war has a tendency to beget more war. Also, if you stop Kony will Uganda suddenly stop being a developing country? Will these people suddenly have homes and families and schools and health care? Where does the helping stop and when does it turn into occupation?
I agree that many of these developing nations don't have the training or resources necessary to find a man like Kony. It is absolutely ok for the international community to go, "hey, we'll come in here and we'll give you the skills you need to solve your own problem." But this video doesn't emphasize local advocacy. It emphasis international advocacy. You, good looking white man of middle class income, you can wear this bracelet and get this kit and stand in crowds and save an African child.
Do you know what drives me nuts? Africa.
Just say the damn country's name. If the person you're trying to reach doesn't know where that country is or even what it is then help out with a visual map. It's not hard. But please don't group together an entire continent of people like they don't have their own unique set of languages, cultures, and geographical idiosyncrasies. Americans can be so lazy and it's up to the advocates to pull them out of their comfort zones. Force them to learn the names of the countries IN Africa instead of referring to them as all one region known as "Africa."
No. I'm not Asian. I'm Chinese. And actually I'm not Chinese anymore because I got my US citizenship several years ago. Please take the time out to distinguish the difference, especially if you're going to post all over Facebook about some issue going on in my country like it's the most important thing in the world to you.
Which brings me to the idea of "lazy advocacy." I don't have a problem with it but I do think people need to know in what way it's done. Signing an online petition to stop the passing of a Bill limiting internet rights is different from posting a link to a charity working to stop Child Slavery. In one you are advocating for yourself, however lazy or easy that is. In the other you are advocating for a stranger living in a different country. There is a difference in power dynamic there. By advocating for someone else you are implying that they need your help, and depending on the way it's conveyed it might even imply that those people will not be able to survive their ordeal without you.
Without these people in these Developed countries we might never catch this dangerous war criminal. If the US pulls its support from "Africa," Kony will run free and all the kids ever will be enslaved. It breeds entitlement and ego in those who help and a feeling of helplessness and dependency on those being helped. You should want to help in this movement against Joseph Kony because he is a bad man and people are suffering. You should not want to do it so that you can tell your friends that you helped stop a war criminal. The only person this is directly about is Joseph Kony and those people he has harmed. He is not invisible and neither are the children he abducts. It is the advocates who should be invisible because they do not matter. They are the lowest rung of what matters, not because their help is unimportant, but because the importance of their identity or their part in the campaign is trivial in comparison to actual results.
I believe that Jason Russell's intentions are pure and that his goals are sincere. Unfortunately, I do not like the imagery in his film. You want to show the true horror and ugliness of what has been done by Kony but aside from quick cuts of mutilated faces, boys with guns, and Jacob crying a lot there isn't much actual coverage on what Kony has done. Only that he is a bad man who kidnaps children. Instead the majority of the film is on the people who meet with their senators, the politicians who listen, the lawyer fighting to indict Kony, Russell who started this all, and Russell's young son. Then to a lesser extent there are clips of the schools that were built, the radio tower to warn about raids, the regional leader in Uganda, and of course Jacob and his various expressions. This is the exact issue I had with "The Help." If this was such an important issue ABOUT the people of Uganda and its neighbors then you'd dedicate the majority of your video to them and not the people helping them. You'd explain your exact plan beyond "let's start a viral campaign to make Kony famous" which was only explained int he last minute. You would talk about how local troops are trained, how you are rebuilding the community, whether or not these children are given psychological treatment after returning to their families, and the Ugandan government's official statements about Kony.
Instead, it is chock full of "White Man's Burden" imagery. This might seem like knit-picking when the goal is to stop a war criminal but at the root, it's a very important knit-pick. If it works and Kony is brought to justice, then it becomes "Western Society saves the day yet again! Yay!" And also it becomes, "Africa is a helpless continent of uneducated poverty stricken sad faces who can only escape from their suffering with the help of Western Society." Neither of those things are good. The most important thing in building up a developing nation and pulling them out of tragedy is self-efficacy. Because you can't support the world forever, the US has discovered that the hard way. People need to learn to support themselves. You can help them do that but you can't become their crutch without which they are unable to stand. And you can't make them feel that that is their only option. People need to feel like they can make a difference in their own lives; that is the only way change is permanent and sustainable. If this Kony 2012 thing worked, it might give western society and Americans specifically the impression that they have to do this for everyone. That it is THEIR DUTY to save the world. And it might give the world the idea that they NEED the help of others to do well, that they NEED to be saved. Instead it should be that Americans should want to help others gain the skills and resources to save themselves. We should work together as a community, share a partnership, not engage in some kind of savior/victim roleplay.
That is why the Arab Spring was so momentous. It proved that the citizens of a country can help themselves fight their own oppression. The US and other nations lent troops where resources were low but they never barged in to steal the show. In Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and hopefully Syria it was the citizens of those nations taking their freedom into their own hands. Sometimes it was dealt with in extreme violence, other times less so. I'm sure in some situations it could have been resolved more elegantly. But hey, how many revolutions do you know that were done smoothly and with as little bloodshed as possible? It's just too difficult to achieve.
But what's important is the sense that you can bring your own nation out of depression. You don't need to wait for foreign aid or intervention and in fact that should be your last option. Kony 2012 is good because it is bringing awareness to an important issue, an important crime, and a terrible man. But I cannot fully support Kony 2012 because its strategy plays too much into the self-centered God-complex mindsets of American culture. It is getting attention and inspiring action in all the wrong ways.
For further reading on this debate please visit...
1. #Kony 2012 and its critics
2. Invisible Children's official address on its critiques
3. Council of Foreign Affairs article
I know for me, there's a knee jerk reaction to, "Oh nooooo not children!!!" because honestly why would you pick on kids? But every issue, every charity, and every movement should be researched fully before you support or condemn it. Usually your opinion should be comfortably in the middle with a reasonable understanding of why you should or should not endorse with money and time. Strong opinions matter but so does logic and reason.
Anyone who has a FB has probably noticed a whole lot of status updates regarding this Kony 2012 movement. I've been reading around, inspecting the pros and cons of the charity/campaign, and just finished watching the video.
First off, it is a brilliant video. Really. It is. Leni Riefenstahl would be very proud, not because this guy is also a Nazi filmmaker but because the guy has also created a piece of infectious, charismatic, and from what I can see effective piece of propaganda. It's propaganda to stop the number one war criminal alive but it's propaganda nonetheless. I'm conflicted about this movement because on one hand anything that brings attention to the horrifying things Joseph Kony has done is good. On the other hand telling western society it is their job to save "Africa" is wrong. On so many levels.
I don't actually have as much issue with military intervention as some might. War is bad but in order to catch a war criminal you can't just ask him nicely to turn himself in. There will be a level of aggression involved. The issue is the kinds of people you are asking to do dirty work, the level of damage you're expecting to incur, and who exactly it is that will pick up the slack. If you start a war, this madness may never stop. Villages of people die in conflicts and battles, innocent people who wont understand that you're trying to take down a war criminal. Just look at the Democratic Republic of Congo. You take down one dictator but replace him with another. The country is forever unstable because war has a tendency to beget more war. Also, if you stop Kony will Uganda suddenly stop being a developing country? Will these people suddenly have homes and families and schools and health care? Where does the helping stop and when does it turn into occupation?
I agree that many of these developing nations don't have the training or resources necessary to find a man like Kony. It is absolutely ok for the international community to go, "hey, we'll come in here and we'll give you the skills you need to solve your own problem." But this video doesn't emphasize local advocacy. It emphasis international advocacy. You, good looking white man of middle class income, you can wear this bracelet and get this kit and stand in crowds and save an African child.
Do you know what drives me nuts? Africa.
Just say the damn country's name. If the person you're trying to reach doesn't know where that country is or even what it is then help out with a visual map. It's not hard. But please don't group together an entire continent of people like they don't have their own unique set of languages, cultures, and geographical idiosyncrasies. Americans can be so lazy and it's up to the advocates to pull them out of their comfort zones. Force them to learn the names of the countries IN Africa instead of referring to them as all one region known as "Africa."
No. I'm not Asian. I'm Chinese. And actually I'm not Chinese anymore because I got my US citizenship several years ago. Please take the time out to distinguish the difference, especially if you're going to post all over Facebook about some issue going on in my country like it's the most important thing in the world to you.
Which brings me to the idea of "lazy advocacy." I don't have a problem with it but I do think people need to know in what way it's done. Signing an online petition to stop the passing of a Bill limiting internet rights is different from posting a link to a charity working to stop Child Slavery. In one you are advocating for yourself, however lazy or easy that is. In the other you are advocating for a stranger living in a different country. There is a difference in power dynamic there. By advocating for someone else you are implying that they need your help, and depending on the way it's conveyed it might even imply that those people will not be able to survive their ordeal without you.
Without these people in these Developed countries we might never catch this dangerous war criminal. If the US pulls its support from "Africa," Kony will run free and all the kids ever will be enslaved. It breeds entitlement and ego in those who help and a feeling of helplessness and dependency on those being helped. You should want to help in this movement against Joseph Kony because he is a bad man and people are suffering. You should not want to do it so that you can tell your friends that you helped stop a war criminal. The only person this is directly about is Joseph Kony and those people he has harmed. He is not invisible and neither are the children he abducts. It is the advocates who should be invisible because they do not matter. They are the lowest rung of what matters, not because their help is unimportant, but because the importance of their identity or their part in the campaign is trivial in comparison to actual results.
I believe that Jason Russell's intentions are pure and that his goals are sincere. Unfortunately, I do not like the imagery in his film. You want to show the true horror and ugliness of what has been done by Kony but aside from quick cuts of mutilated faces, boys with guns, and Jacob crying a lot there isn't much actual coverage on what Kony has done. Only that he is a bad man who kidnaps children. Instead the majority of the film is on the people who meet with their senators, the politicians who listen, the lawyer fighting to indict Kony, Russell who started this all, and Russell's young son. Then to a lesser extent there are clips of the schools that were built, the radio tower to warn about raids, the regional leader in Uganda, and of course Jacob and his various expressions. This is the exact issue I had with "The Help." If this was such an important issue ABOUT the people of Uganda and its neighbors then you'd dedicate the majority of your video to them and not the people helping them. You'd explain your exact plan beyond "let's start a viral campaign to make Kony famous" which was only explained int he last minute. You would talk about how local troops are trained, how you are rebuilding the community, whether or not these children are given psychological treatment after returning to their families, and the Ugandan government's official statements about Kony.
Instead, it is chock full of "White Man's Burden" imagery. This might seem like knit-picking when the goal is to stop a war criminal but at the root, it's a very important knit-pick. If it works and Kony is brought to justice, then it becomes "Western Society saves the day yet again! Yay!" And also it becomes, "Africa is a helpless continent of uneducated poverty stricken sad faces who can only escape from their suffering with the help of Western Society." Neither of those things are good. The most important thing in building up a developing nation and pulling them out of tragedy is self-efficacy. Because you can't support the world forever, the US has discovered that the hard way. People need to learn to support themselves. You can help them do that but you can't become their crutch without which they are unable to stand. And you can't make them feel that that is their only option. People need to feel like they can make a difference in their own lives; that is the only way change is permanent and sustainable. If this Kony 2012 thing worked, it might give western society and Americans specifically the impression that they have to do this for everyone. That it is THEIR DUTY to save the world. And it might give the world the idea that they NEED the help of others to do well, that they NEED to be saved. Instead it should be that Americans should want to help others gain the skills and resources to save themselves. We should work together as a community, share a partnership, not engage in some kind of savior/victim roleplay.
That is why the Arab Spring was so momentous. It proved that the citizens of a country can help themselves fight their own oppression. The US and other nations lent troops where resources were low but they never barged in to steal the show. In Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and hopefully Syria it was the citizens of those nations taking their freedom into their own hands. Sometimes it was dealt with in extreme violence, other times less so. I'm sure in some situations it could have been resolved more elegantly. But hey, how many revolutions do you know that were done smoothly and with as little bloodshed as possible? It's just too difficult to achieve.
But what's important is the sense that you can bring your own nation out of depression. You don't need to wait for foreign aid or intervention and in fact that should be your last option. Kony 2012 is good because it is bringing awareness to an important issue, an important crime, and a terrible man. But I cannot fully support Kony 2012 because its strategy plays too much into the self-centered God-complex mindsets of American culture. It is getting attention and inspiring action in all the wrong ways.
For further reading on this debate please visit...
1. #Kony 2012 and its critics
2. Invisible Children's official address on its critiques
3. Council of Foreign Affairs article
I know for me, there's a knee jerk reaction to, "Oh nooooo not children!!!" because honestly why would you pick on kids? But every issue, every charity, and every movement should be researched fully before you support or condemn it. Usually your opinion should be comfortably in the middle with a reasonable understanding of why you should or should not endorse with money and time. Strong opinions matter but so does logic and reason.