I trust you’ve all been following the strange story of Kony 2012, the half-hour video that went viral last week? The 83 million views, the criticism of its makers for overstating the strength of Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, the subsequent very public meltdown of the lead filmmaker Jason Russell?
I finally watched Kony 2012 a couple of days ago, and I had mixed feelings about it. It’s so slick, and so clearly the product of someone who likes seeing himself on camera. And yet… wasn’t the message, at its core, a good one? Don’t we want to stop someone who kidnaps children and turns them into soldiers? Shouldn’t we support bringing hidden atrocities to light? The intention seemed good, but the execution was smarmy and expensive and just plain odd enough to cast doubt on the whole thing.
Then, I saw this video. It was created by the same team, from the organization Invisible Children, only this one came out in 2006. Now I just think these people are bizarre.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6QWdVD4zsc&[/youtube]
I couldn’t make it through even the opening to Kony 2012 when I first saw it linked on FB. I had no idea what it was about, but the pompous, overblown production and grandiose claims, especially, made me not want to spend a half an hour of my life on it. Later, when I found out the subject matter, I sort of felt guilty for not suffering through it. I hadn’t heard about the naked rant and accusations of public masturbation, but, yeah, wow. I actually think the music video is a funny concept and an interesting approach to presenting a topic that is a big turn-off for many people, even though it can be seen as trivializing the issue. Calling attention to the fact that they aren’t really qualified to do much about Uganda, however, and then just dancing it off makes them seem like a joke.
Wait, so they’re kidnapping children and making them join their DANCE GANG?!?
That’s insane and super-irritating.
Yeah, both of those videos smack of Jonestown – he’s really narcissistic and brain-washy. Creepy.
It appears I’m just too perplexed to comment.
I haven’t watched the KONY think and am not really inclined to. I never read Nick Kristoff, either.
Some worthwhile thoughts on the broader issue. Some more.
It does kind of sound like the main dude behind these videos was bipolar or something. From the footage of him running around, though, I can say he had nice abs and a good ass.
I finally watched the full KONY last night, and was really shocked by how blatantly pandering it is. Here’s my white blond five-year-old learning about atrocities in Africa! See how sad he he? Let’s do something to end his sadness!
The real problem is that we don’t have a working international justice system. It should not take millions of teenagers buying bracelets and yelling slogans they don’t understand to get a guy like this to the Hague.