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Invisible Children: Kony 2012 gets hits but is there more to be learned?

They raised awareness but it is still early

Invisible Children is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to draw attention to the atrocities committed by Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in central Africa.

Invisible Children filmmakers originally traveled to Africa in 2003 to document the genocide in Darfur but stumbled across another horrific story they dedicated their mission to.

The LRA were abducting children in order to fill the army ranks and terrorize the Ugandan citizens. The documentary was named Invisible Children bringing to light the deplorable acts of Joseph Kony and his army. Invisible Children grew into a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness and setting up programs that focus on rehabilitation, education, and economic development.

The group published a recent YouTube video that has reached 30 million hits to date. Invisible Children gained support from the United States government and set their sites on social media to raise attention to Joseph Kony, titling the video Kony 2012. It is 30-minutes long and intended to raise awareness and encourage activism.

Controversy has been directed at the group on their methods. Some question the bias of Invisible Children by defining 30 years of a Ugandan problem with a 30 minute video. A problem solely resting on the shoulders of Joseph Kony and the LRA when that is not necessarily the case.

Joseph Kony is a war criminal no doubt but what Invisible Children fails to comment on is how the current Ugandan government came to power through use of kadogo (child soldiers) and fought alongside other groups employing child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Invisible Children is an outside group of foreigners that are raising awareness but have the potential to mislead, especially the twitter generation who tend to accept a sole interpretation of a slew of issues without any back story.

Be that as it may, the group has created a stir in the media. The fact of the matter is people, foreigners especially; need to understand the context and history of what they are blindly selling into before they can really have a positive affect. Invisible Children got the ball rolling but more needs to be said.

See the video below:

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