3 Beats Past Rhythm

Kony 2012: A media marketing campaign that uses modern day means by Invisible Children that makes a bad man famous for all the wrong he’s committed for so long.

The interesting thing about this video is that it had the ability to go viral, which is defined as reaching 1 million people in less than a week’s time.  That being understood, it can be concluded that the video is compelling enough to make people take 30 minutes out of their fast paced, busy lives to watch.  30 minutes, in an age of constant multi-tasking and lack of attention.  I would bet more than anything that every person who watched the Kony 2012 video watched it without interruption or some kind of distraction.  That’s difficult to achieve in the present state of affairs. 

Understandably speaking, the guys who started Invisible Children were then, and still are quite obviously, storytellers.  They say that straight up any given point if asked or if you’ve seen any of their previous Invisible Children efforts.  They went to Uganda to film a documentary and ended up finding an injustice they felt they needed to fix.  That encounter, which is the same overlying theme in EVERY film they’ve made, started this cause.

Now here’s where I get mad. 

If any of you so called “well-educated” doubters knew anything about Africa or Uganda, in this case, before criticizing, you would know Uganda was once colonized by Great Britain.  Due to various factors such as distribution channels, and resources, the south became the center of development, which left the north quite the opposite ultimately leaving resentment towards the Ugandan government.  In 1988, a woman named Alice Lakwena established the Holy Spirit Movement, which eventually became the Lord’s Resistance Army.  She decreed that God, through her, expressed that the Acholi people of the north could defeat the government run by Yoweri Museveni, who was reportedly the first to use child soldiers in the conflict.  Since then, the LRA, under the rule of Joseph Kony, has forced over 30,000 children to kill their own families to teach them “strength.” And when they didn’t, they were and still are mutilated.  This is what led the founders of Invisible Children to Africa. 

These guys have been growing the Invisible Children charity since 2003.  And for those who have CLEARLY done their homework, they wouldn’t find their financial year-by-year reports that show you EXACTLY where they spend their money.  In the 2011 fiscal year, there was net revenue of $13,765,177.  Of that, $8,894,630 was spent on accessories, bracelets, clothing, DVD’s, fundraising, and salaries, basically everything that they need to keep the organization running.  Admittedly, 16% of that 8.8 million, which is roughly $1.4 million, goes to administrative costs.  BUT HOW ABOUT YOU TRY RUNNING A WORLD WIDE ORGANIZATION AND RUN IT FOR LESS THAN A MILLION DOLLARS AND NOT EAT? Bitch, please. How do you people seriously criticize an organization of this magnitude and expect them not to provide for themselves and their families? Out of THIRTEEN million, you’re mad that they use ONE AND HALF for themselves? Not to mention that the IRS audits them annually to make sure they don’t embezzle money for themselves like so many people would love to assume. All the rest of it goes to help the kids that have been displaced from their families through programs, which give them jobs and educations that will help them somehow recoup from a life that you and I can only imagine.

Personally, I found out about Invisible Children 4 years ago when I was scrolling through some non-profit websites that were doing things for the world.  I would like to help the world in some way or another and I was looking for possible ways to get started on that when I was a freshman in college. I found Invisible Children and I never strayed away from them.  Children have been forced to become soldiers for almost 27 years, and the REASON no one’s known about it is because Americans are too wrapped up in their own bullshit to care about ANYONE ELSE.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying provide for some kid in Africa by donating to a faceless, although VERY transparent, organization. All I’m saying is try and be a little more open-minded and MUCH LESS ignorant before criticizing from your narrow corner of your green patch of grass with your mp3 player, laptop, cell phone, and whatever other toy that distracts your existence on this side of the world.

Furthermore, for ANY of you fucking apathetic Americans that say you don’t care makes you exactly the type of person that makes this world a shithole to live in.  For you to say that you rather believe in capitalism than humanity is a pretty bold statement and quite frankly it is beyond ignorant.  Also, to completely disregard a travesty that the International Criminal Court and the UN have clearly deemed a threat is a whole ‘nother issue unto itself.  Above all else, what does it say about our society? When we are presented with a chance to truly reshape the world by helping people because we simply can, we are ready to throw that away because the idea became viral so we doubt its validity. It wouldn’t take money – although I’m sure it would help - it would just take a change in perception and attitude.

But hey, to each his/her own. I just thought I’d shed a little light on the situation from the other side.