Kony 2012

Recently, there has been a huge viral movement involving Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan guerilla group. Kony is known throughout Uganda and now, throughout the world, thanks to a 30 minute video by the organization, Invisible Children, Inc. The video aims to spread awareness about Kony's vicious military tactics, namely, his treatment of children as sex-slaves and child soldiers. Since the video's release last week, there has been non-stop talk about the documentary and every one is trying to "make Kony famous". In other words, the ultimate goal of the video has been successfully met.
There are a number of things that I find especially interesting about this issue. First off, the viral sensation that this video has become reminds us just how central the internet has become in our lives. Without the internet, I'm more than certain that this issue probably would not have been able to spark the interest of the 75 million people it did. What's also really noteworthy is how one of the major foci of the video is how Kony treated children. While it is a huge issue that Kony is treating children as he is, I think it's also important to realize that it's largely due to the fact that this involves children that the video has become such a sensation. We've seen it so many times in society, when an issue is centered on the ill-treatment of children, everyone cares. And rightfully so, considering children are so innocent and should be protected. Yet, I do believe that if this video exposed Kony and how he treated adult-aged men, some people would still be interested, but I do not think there would be as much of an outpouring of support. By no means am I suggesting that the video is bad or anything of that nature, I am just taking notice of some of the elements of the video that caught my attention, besides the issue itself. Overall, however, I do believe that it is important that we are made aware of some of the serious issues of other countries because unlike many of the people in Uganda, Americans do have the resources to make some sort of contribution and we are better capable of aiding the Ugandans in making a change.