KONY 2012 Video Analysis: Invisible Children

The powerful movement in response to the Darfur genocide showed us that by acting together, we can compel our elected leaders to act on their responsibility to protect innocent men, women and children from brutal regimes. " This should all start with taking action. Even though we know what has previously happened through history; genocides still happen for a number of reasons. One of which being that some powers of government aren't making the right choices, which end up putting everyone at risk. We need to create a change to prevent Genocides before history repeats itself; if we don’t demand

Director, Rory O’Conner, in his documentary film 9/11: A Press for the Truth, portrays many facts from the 9/11 terrorist attack. The author has a clear purpose, to expose information about the attack, and defy what majorities of people think, he reveals the undiscovered aspects of the attack; which may have been purposely withheld from the public. He also gives credit and bases his documentary in some unfortunate group of woman called “The Jersey Girls”. He, O’Conner, adopts different tones from different personas, from harsh and severe, to soft, sad and unfortunate tones to appeal to all kinds of audience. The author opens the documentary by impacting images to the audience about the terrorist attack.

The Rwandan Genocide also is still an existing issue which killed one million people, mostly Tutis and some Hutu’s, continues to be one of the most tragic and memorable events in the contemporary society of Africa. Specifically for those who were involved. Lucie Niyigena, a 70 year old woman who managed to survive the genocide, is still forced to face her fear everyday living beside someone who could have potentially killed a member of her family. This is just one of the still existing hardships for those forced to live it. This problem has not been changed since historical times partly because modern society has chosen not to make the change.

In these cases of the Capital Hill shooting and the Atlantic rescue; I will criticize the news media industry who decided that it was appropriate to show videos of which these kid’s traumas will forever in history because they chose to reward the “heroes” with fame. These heroes will live on in fame, the kids trauma will never be left unspoken. With my own experiences in my mind, I criticize these “heroes”. True

In “The Singer Solution to World Poverty,” Peter Singer urges all Americans to donate any money not being used for sustenance to help children overseas. When I read this article in my AP Language and Composition class last year, I realized the duty I had as a privileged individual, to help these underserved communities. However, this was not something my friends and I could engage in-- we were all broke and didn’t even have jobs, not to mention the harrowing expense of future college tuitions haunting our dreams. But this didn’t mean we couldn’t help save children’s lives. I found three other colleagues who shared my goal of helping kids globally and we collaborated to co-found our high school’s own UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) club.

Today, people seem blinded by their outsized enthusiasm for social media. According to them, a few clicks can change the whole world and accomplish wonders such as curing cancer. Good intentions become sufficient on their own, as if there were no need for medicine and scientific researches anymore. Well, this is pure nonsense. Facebook’s likes cannot save African children from starvation, the same way Twitter’s 140 characters will not put an end to acts of terrorism. This notion is not even remotely debatable. For instance, the project Kony2012 had a perfect starting point; inspiring video, moving story and most importantly worldwide spread. Unfortunately, the terrorist is still at liberty, and the lack of thorough investigations is to blame. Instead of focusing on the real problems of war and kidnapping of children, the so-called activist related to the obvious and spent all of his money and energy on his movie. Ultimately, due to the predominance of weak-ties, the project was not successful. More importantly, certain tools of social networks, especially “likes” and “retweets”, encourage people to feel good about themselves, when actually they should incite them to put their efforts and means in the cause they supposedly defend. As Gladwell wrote, “[current] activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that

After the events at Sandy Hook and Virginia Tech, two of the most fatal massacre’s ever to happen in the history of this nation, two great leaders, renowned poet and professor Nikki Giovanni and the president of the United States Barack Obama rose up using speeches as their outlets to try and make efforts to uplift and inspire spectators that were saddened and confused. While both audiences were different they were also similar. The many viewers of President Obama’s were families of the little children and staff members that tragically lost their lives. The audience was very saddened and distraught just like observers of Nikki Giovanni’s speech. However Giovanni’s speech was more of an uplifting speech to inspire the audience.

Jones acknowledges these points. However, he refutes them by saying that “it’s helped hundreds of people for everyone its hurt, and it can help far more if we learn how to use it” (Jones). In other words, when we channel violent media into heroic battles of good versus evil, it can empower a child in need. This rebuttal contributes to the objectivity of the essay. It shows that the author did his research so well that he can recognize opposing viewpoints and refute them.

The Lord’s Resistance Army, or the LRA, is Africa’s most violent armed group and also the oldest. Joseph Kony formed the LRA in 1986 in northern Uganda, to fight against the Ugandan Government. At the height of the conflict, about two million people were displaced in northern Uganda. Since the LRA never gained public support, they turned to forcible recruitment to build up their army (“The Lord’s Resistance Army”). Kony, and the LRA believe that Uganda should be governed and run based on the 10 Commandments. They rely on the application of terror in order to keep their campaign alive. The war in Uganda being

That call to action can come in many forms of media and to a global audience. “Terrorist recruitment videos, often released online, have been tailored to appeal to various audiences. A propaganda video, which can still be watched on YouTube of captured U.S. soldier, Bowe R. Bergdahl, compares what seems to be his good treatment under al-Qaeda, to those of U.S.-run prisoner of war camps” (Philipp).

Invisible Children is an organization that was founded by three college students who traveled through East Africa in 2003. While there, the students learned of the negative affects of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel army that has been terrorizing Uganda for over thirty years. The students were so moved by this injustice that they decided to share it, using a documentary of their experience to tell audiences in the States of the Ugandan’s plight. The story gained traction and the students decided to form an organization called Invisible Children to help raise awareness of the conflict in Uganda and initiate efforts to help bring relief, justice, and freedom to the affected countries.

The group’s effects on the region are prevalent and easily noticeable, but it is important to consider the causes in order to really understand the issue. Uganda’s unstable, harsh rulers, such as Idi Amin and Milton Obote, have caused many ethnic groups, like the Acholi, serious pain and oppression. Once this hatred toward the government is paired with radical Christian ideas, the LRA is going to cause a lot of damage through heinous actions that effect a swarm of people. The Lord’s Resistance Army’s power was infinite because did not face a lot of opposition within Uganda, and with outside sources, such as Sudan supporting it, it was able to be self-sufficient. Today, Uganda continues to face the harsh rebels, but since a viral internet campaign called “Kony 2012”, the awareness for the issue amongst the rest of the world increased dramatically. Even though the campaign itself ended up being a flop, it raised concern and the Ugandan government made a huge push to combat the issue. Although Kony has not been caught, it is estimated that he now only has several hundred fighters, all of whom live in the bush and do not attack villages as often. There is still a lot of progress to be made, especially with helping the families recover from their losses, but there has been a large wave of aid organizations who have been working towards mending the wound in Northern Uganda. In the history of the conflict, the world

Though, despite mostly being a advertising scam, it did bring attention to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and its leader, Joseph Kony, who would go on to be known as one of the most wanted criminals on the planet. He built an empire by forming the biggest child soldier militia that would help him commit countless war crimes. In addition to documentaries, I've read a lot of news stories about Kony, short biographies of victims, etc. One story in particular just struck me as a perfect example, and that is the story of Norman Okello. Norman was just like any other child, and he had a family that loved him dearly. All of this would be taken away from him, and all of it at age 12, the age LRA prefers to recruit

This video was interesting and unique in its own way; I felt as if in a way this video looked like an “American spin off of a terrorist video.” This video can possibly instill fear into the drug dealers, but it also can allow them to prepare themselves more and switch up their tactics, because they know that law enforcement agents are trying to catch them. This video also possible can place certain people at risk due to the fact that the sheriff did inform them that they had undercover agents buying drugs off of them. Law enforcement officers are suppose to enact community policing and be community oriented, this video shows that they are trying to handle the heroine problem in their community. However, the approach that he took to get his

Contemporary social movements such as Arab Spring and Kony 2012 use the Internet and social media as potential tools towards change. But why are some more successful than others. This paper argues that when news outlets see the potential for change, they “premediate” (Richard Grusin) its possibilities, and make that change ever more possible in their coverage. On the other hand, extant stories that are more reactionary do not get the same amount of new exposure, and remain static. In other words, our media - not just social media, but news organizations - play a great role in shaping current events. I will compare and contrast the unfolding of the Arab Spring story, and how little changed regarding Kony 2012, as cases in point.