KONY...
 

Its a 30 minute video, so when you have time just watch it...
[u2b]Y4MnpzG5Sqc[/u2b]

Yeah I have my package on the way, ready to cover the night!

Good somebody posted this on the forum.

This is all over FB and is definitely a sad situation.

It's ironic that all of a sudden folks are starting to pay attention to the LRA. There are so many rebel forces in Africa and civil war has been going on for a long time. The US has always been turning their cheek since there isn't any foreign dependencies.

Watched it. Shared it.

I'd jump on it too. But I find it strange that people can speak up about other world problems but if we start speaking about our own (meaning the U.S) it becomes a different issue. Which I don't want to get into.

I agree. There is all kinds of hurt and pain going on around the world. It is great that they are making a difference in Uganda. It is a good sign to see young people care about other people. Hopefullly our society will start waking up.




Edit: Looks like Giccin posted just as I was typing my response up.

I was one of those people who kept saying "wtf is Kony?!" so i watched it and realized what it was and saw how fast it was growing there so i thought I'd share it here.
I honestly think that the reason people dont know about those rebel forces is because our (US) networks wont broadcast them due to the graphic nature or the fact that the exec's wouldn't find it benefiting them. But i feel most people wouldnt know about these things until it reaches there homes, so hopefully everyone (nit just Americans) grows more aware of these types of situations and does something about it.


Giccin, your voice is always treasured here so feel free to say what you like. :)

But I love the idea of Kony though.

BLASPHEMY! lol


The only issue I have with this KONY movement is that it will just further our "WAR interests" on another country. It starts with "sending a few troops" and then starts an economic disaster War. It wouldn't be best AT THIS TIME to send our American troops to help aid another country, IMO.

Hopefully, those kids are liberated and free'd but its tough to swallow the fact Americans want to get involved in another "war."

You did a good thing by passing it along!

It's all about public awareness, especially with the younger crowd. Honestly, how many teenagers to mid 20 year olds actually sit down and watch the news; specifically BBC and CNN for global events. It's sad how the death of famous people in the US will get more air time than the death of our US Military.

Imagine if this guy was not a white dude w/blonde hair and didn't choreograph his cute little son into the video, how far would this video go? Not as far as it has been going recently.

It's a good thing to spread the word since there is a lot of turmoil in this world but we have to help ourselves first before we help others.

The LRA has been on the US radar for a while and has sent troops over there but ultimately the problem lies within; as the same goes for South America and Arab countries.

Ok now you'll have to understand that I'm viewing this from a person who studies foreign policies and political science. That and I'm someone from DC which is the seat of the government where politics is mostly part of the life of a real native DC population the part that cares anyways.

Kony is a problem. President Obama made efforts to take down the LRA and troops were already deployed not a large number but 100 highly trained troops is better than a 1000 rookies. They 100 troops sent over were spec op grade delta force, green beret, navy seals. Not to mention all of the extra para military CIA that's over there with Black water you don't hear about.

Now here's the thing that people always always have a wrong impression. Why the hell does it have to be the United States involved? Kony isn't a US problem it's a world problem the LRA is a world problem. Why hasn't the UN stepped in? why does it have to just be the USA?In fact America has been the only country that's made the effort to take down Kony.

American people especially dead liberals out west are always on the government's case about doing this and that about world foreign policy. Then when there is a war they are the ones having the biggest problems with it. I've been on the net reading looking researching and doing work on this thing for about a year now as I'm gathering data for a graduate thesis.

But let's think about this, When was the last time America won a war in a Jungle setting? let me tell you 50 years, 50 fking years we didn't win Vietnam, we didn't win in South America. You can say American Military are some of the the most Ill trained Jungle fighting force in the world. We haven't won in a Jungle since the Philippines or the Marshall Island or Okinawa. We did so bad that we had to use the Atomic bomb. We couldn't take Fidel in the jungles of Cuba either. Now look technology has largely improved and we still lost Vietnam, we're struggling in Afghanistan.

And most importantly we're losing back home. We have an untrustworthy Congress, a president who is trying his hardest but has his hands tied. We have terrible healthcare, unemployment, high debt, unpaid student loans, We're out of money for going up against Natural disasters. Last thing we need is to go out there full force after another "World worst bad guy"young people are the most uneducated people on the planet, getting riled up over a you tube video. Yes awareness is needed, but they don't look further than a 30 min video to a bigger picture.

It took a huge alliance to take down Saddam, It took us 10 years for Osama. If you are like the people who made this video and want Kony down by Dec 31 2012, you are all so out of context things aren't that easy. How many Soldiers died? how many of you're friends did not come back? Think a little bit in 2013 if a Republican Candidate becomes president and he goes all out Bush and does a war on Kony would you support him? knowing than it's another 10 years or more for our nation to recover and that we're still fighting in Afghanistan,Iraq,South America. What if we lose like we did in Vietnam?

If you really care about this issue make a world awareness, Don't pin it on our government. Don't make the government out to be the enemy just cause they tried to take the internet away a couple of times. Look at a bigger picture, don't riot at every thing. Play by the rules do it right,

The video is great because it makes more awareness, but at the same time.... guarantee you someone who doesn't truly care is profiting from this, there's more than what the video is showing.


/The bigger picture.

#NT?

:happy0180:
I was in my PoliSci class right before i posted this thread and was thinking the exact same thing you mentioned. Totally agree that most young people are jumping on the bandwagon. Its the latest craze that wont last. I guarantee that most young people will get high on marijuana on 4/20 than give aid to this cause.

Of course there are underline issues.

Zaku stated some really good points (I'm not arguing against. Yet.)

Anyways back to the video. I like how people are taking action. I don't like that people are bandwagon jumping.

well, this hardly got any media attention but we already have 100 special forces on the ground in uganda actively working with the ugandan military to track down and destroy the LRA. obama sent them there last year. we got really close to eliminating the LRA in 2009 but ugandan choppers were too noisy. it's sad that people don't hear about these issues until someone makes a viral facebook video. just one of the many human rights violations going on around the globe today.

edit: oops, looks like zaku beat me to it. i agree that not all of the world's problems should be the US's problem, but i also like MLK Jr's quote "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." we def shouldn't be going full force invading and intervening in any new conflicts (no $$, too many domestic problems at home, don't want my homies deployed anymore) but if there is a cost effective, pragmatic way for us to intervene i say we do it on a case by case basis. ie: no large scale invasions but an emphasis on special forces, intelligence, training local security forces, off shore balancing. drone warfare is controversial but is actually very effective, but costs $$.

Couldn't agree with you more Zaku. There are still things going on that need to be taken care of. They aren't getting any easier and there needs to be a global awareness. And this is a biased opinion because of what I've been through over the last year, but it would break my heart to see America in a losing battle knowing that an increasing amount of soldiers might not come home.

quote from article:

"There are many reasons uninformed and oversimplified advocacy can cause trouble, and Siena Antsis catalogues some of them here, noting that Invisible Children expertly "commodifies white man's burden on the African continent." Buy a bracelet, soothe some guilt."

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/...licated_things

http://i.imgur.com/khtOV.jpg

:laughabove::laughabove::laughabove:

Here is something. It gets the point across and has full sources to back things up.This was sent to me on my blog.

thedailywhat:

On Kony 2012: I honestly wanted to stay as far away as possible from KONY 2012, the latest fauxtivist fad sweeping the web (remember “change your Facebook profile pic to stop child abuse”?), but you clearly won’t stop sending me that damn video until I say something about it, so here goes:

Stop sending me that video.

The organization behind Kony 2012 — Invisible Children Inc. — is an extremely shady nonprofit that has been called ”misleading,” “naive,” and “dangerous” by a Yale political science professor, and has been accused by Foreign Affairs of “manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes.” They have also been criticized by the Better Business Bureau for refusing to provide information necessary to determine if IC meets the Bureau’s standards.

Additionally, IC has a low two-star rating in accountability from Charity Navigator because they won’t let their financials be independently audited. That’s not a good thing. In fact, it’s a very bad thing, and should make you immediately pause and reflect on where the money you’re sending them is going.

By IC’s own admission, only 31% of all the funds they receive go toward actually helping anyone [pdf]. The rest go to line the pockets of the three people in charge of the organization, to pay for their travel expenses (over $1 million in the last year alone) and to fund their filmmaking business (also over a million) — which is quite an effective way to make more money, as clearly illustrated by the fact that so many can’t seem to stop forwarding their well-engineered emotional blackmail to everyone they’ve ever known.
And as far as what they do with that money:

The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces. Here’s a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People’s Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them, arguing that the Ugandan army is “better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries”, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission. These books each refer to the rape and sexual assault that are perennial issues with the UPDF, the military group Invisible Children is defending.

Let’s not get our lines crossed: The Lord’s Resistance Army is bad news. And Joseph Kony is a very bad man, and needs to be stopped. But propping up Uganda’s decades-old dictatorship and its military arm, which has been accused by the UN of committing unspeakable atrocities and itself facilitated the recruitment of child soldiers, is not the way to go about it.

The United States is already plenty involved in helping rout Kony and his band of psycho sycophants. Kony is on the run, having been pushed out of Uganda, and it’s likely he will soon be caught, if he isn’t already dead. But killing Kony won’t fix anything, just as killing Osama bin Laden didn’t end terrorism. The LRA might collapse, but, as Foreign Affairs points out, it is “a relatively small player in all of this — as much a symptom as a cause of the endemic violence.”
Myopically placing the blame for all of central Africa’s woes on Kony — even as a starting point — will only imperil many more people than are already in danger.

Sending money to a nonprofit that wants to muck things up by dousing the flames with fuel is not helping. Want to help? Really want to help? Send your money to nonprofits that are putting more than 31% toward rebuilding the region’s medical and educational infrastructure, so that former child soldiers have something worth coming home to.

Here are just a few of those charities. They all have a sparkling four-star rating from Charity Navigator, and, more importantly, no interest in airdropping American troops armed to the teeth into the middle of a multi-nation tribal war to help one madman catch another.

The bottom line is, research your causes thoroughly. Don’t just forward a random video to a stranger because a mass murderer makes a five-year-old “sad.” Learn a little bit about the complexities of the region’s ongoing strife before advocating for direct military intervention.

There is no black and white in the world. And going about solving important problems like there is just serves to make all those equally troubling shades of gray invisible.

[kony2012.]

pretty much the problem of modern society

EXACTLY!!!

could someone summary the video in one sentence please

^Bad shit goes on all over the world... always has, always will... sometimes people take note of it, sometimes they don't. Regardless, not much changes.

Happy Wednesday everyone!*

*This salutation not part of the video.

thanks, sounds interesting ill watch it when i have time

This is all nice and all. And I know Invisible Children is questionable...


But isn't it kind of sad that the majority of the American public didn't know about the LRA for 25 years but they'll know about a Pop-Tart Cat Riding on a Rainbow within a matter of days?

Oh the world we live in....

It has been a while since I read either of them, but if anyone is interested in a couple of well written and engrossing books about some African countries experiences with despots and war, I'd recommend the following:

http://www.amazon.com/Footsteps-Mr-K.../dp/0060934433
http://www.amazon.com/Soldiers-Light.../dp/0713997478

I did not realize Zaku was our "diamond in the rough."
:happy0180:

Lol Thanks that means alot, I guess I'm not only good for finding BRZ pictures.

Yeah zaku has lots of good qualites... But yeah this kony situation is very indeed a strong inpact on people that watch the video op first post

If this movie makes you feel bad, send us money, and we promise to use it to make more movies.

Yes, it is remarkable.

Too many people have adopted the "don't want to get into it" sentiment.

We all need to take a more active role in the democratic process.

They have that? ... Sorry I couldn't resist.

So after watching KONY it does show a very positive message. Then I felt it kind of reminds of those commercials to send money now to save a child and guilt trip me into doing so. Then I see Zaku's post and I'm not surprised to read that as I was not surprised that these crimes was happening over in Uganda at the time. I really wish all those people and the kids in Africa stay safe and one day they don't have to live in fear of being taken away or getting killed.


EDIT: Guff, I was bored and looked up that pop tart cat and cannot believe this actually exists, lmao.

60% of the time youtube videos are right 100% of the time...

don't get me wrong, i'm all for spreading awareness. it's definitely sad. joseph kony and the LRA's atrocities should be at least as well known as the blood diamonds of sierra leone and the rwandan genocide and it's a damn shame that they weren't well known already.

but what should also be well known is that the conflict peaked in the late 90s early 2000s, is mostly over now, joseph kony is on the run, and the US already has 100 special forces troops chasing after him.

edit: darn zaku beat me to it again!

Blood Diamond and Hotel Rwanda were both damn good movies.

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...25248511_n.jpg

this...

:laughabove:

Just for the record, I'm laughing at the meme, not the bloodshed!

http://chzmemebase.files.wordpress.c...oking-here.jpg

oh wow.....

:bellyroll::bellyroll::bellyroll::bellyroll::belly roll::bellyroll::bellyroll: