Show Me The Kony

As if the backlash against his film and movement wasn't enough Kony 2012 director Jason Russell was apparently filmed doing naked exercises (or, as some have claimed, drunkenly, publicly masturbating):



New Whirl Odor?

I can't make out that it's him, personally. But shit - if a third of the fucking planet was talking about me, with most of them insulting me and trying to kill my project in the bud, I'd blow a gasket too. And if I were turning nuts, maybe I'd be doing something to - or with - my nuts as well. Maybe.

Moral of the story: don't try to make the world a better place. Ever.

No Kony 2012

I expected some backlash from the widespread sharing of the Kony 2012 video, and I expected it would be about Western paternalism and/or the White Messiah complex.

I didn't expect it to be almost as big and generalized as the actual campaign to share the film, though. And I didn't expect theories about the movement being about stealth-evangelizing Christianity.

Many formerly-African voices have come out against it, usually of the ''let us take care of our shit ourselves, we don't need your stinking help'' variety, but at least the kid in the video is still defending it.

The only critics I hate seeing are those who use the ''it's been going on for ages'' angle as an excuse to let it happen again, such as Nicholas Sengoba, a political researcher:

The issue has been around for ages. We have to ask ourselves why suddenly there is this uproar. I believe that these people have other motives that they are not putting out in the open.

I'm convinced - I'll send Kony my first 2 kids, because it's been going on forever, so why stop now?

Shit, the guy is accused of crimes against humanity. Let's catch him and put him on trial, no matter the means. The sooner the better. Many talk about humanitarian groups being already there on the ground, fine, fund them so they are able to do their job. There are already military forces looking for the guy? Fine, equip them better so they do find him.

Many have spoken against this as being ''the cause du jour'', deflecting our attention from other issues. And I fully agree. Sure. But can't we fucking see one thing through before moving onto another? This guy's been running and killing and raping and pillaging for years, decades even. Now that the world's attention is on him, is it going to take as long to find him as it did for, say, Osama Bin Laden? And is he going to end up dead rather than tried in court?

This needs to be done right. And it kinda needs to be done, period.

Kony 2012

It's a great idea: using today's tools - i.e. Facebook and social networking - to bring about social justice, use the fact that our authorities are listening to us for the moment (ok, maybe not in Canada...) to bring about change, to capture long-time purveyors of crimes against humanity.

They got their message to Washington and hope the American government cares about the issue long enough to not pull out until the job's done.

I wish them the best of luck.


KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.