Post -Kony blog

I am deeply troubled by my tardiness in posting this blog, because I'm pretty sure that by now nobody cares about Kony. I mean, it was all anyone could talk about before, but then Cover the Night happened and there was very little mention of it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook (that I noticed) and it all seemed rather anti- climatic. 

This was an assignment I was supposed to have completed... months ago. And to be fair, I did! I actually wrote this as an assignment for my English class and was waiting to get my marks back before I posted it on my blog, trying to kill two birds with on stone. But of course I didn't get it back for like two months (jaja -.-) and this is the result. So, please, if you still haven't formed your own opinions about Kony (unlikely), allow me to brainwash you.

 

 

 

What is Kony2012?

   Kony2012 is the name of a youtube video produced by the charity organisation Invisible Children to raise awareness about a man named Joseph Kony. According to the video, (narrated by Invisible Children's director of media, Jason Russell), Kony is a Ugandan Warlord who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for kidnapping children in central Africa, forcing the boys to fight in his army and the girls into sexual slavery. The film has been called the "most viral ever", having racked up about 75 million views in a week. 

 

 This explosion of popularity was due to the "sharing" of the video on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Blogger. Youtube statistics also show that the video was most popular with teens and young adults aged 14- 24, which partially explains its appeal, for it's common knowledge that young adults tend to be attracted towards movements which they believe will make a difference and generally more willing than older people to throw themselves heart and soul into a project.

 

Needless to say, no organisation is perfect, and Invisible Children has attracted a lot of negative attention from critics the world over, people of all ages and backgrounds lashing out and calling the movement a scam. In truth, there was initially a lot of missing information and suspicious gaps in the Kony campaign, such as how the funds were actually being spent, whether Kony was actually a threat to Uganda and why it is that Invisible Children received a poor rating  for "transparency and accountability" by Charity Navigator. 

 

  A two second Google search for "Kony 2012" will bring up almost five hundred million results, and most of them are unenthusiastic, calling the video a scam and saying the organisation is run by mercenaries at best and completely fake at worst. It is much harder to find blog posts and youtube videos defending the movement, and this is where the question presents itself, am I being manipulated? The Kony 2012 video is brilliantly produced, utilising countless persuasion techniques and propaganda tools to draw people in and make them feel empathy, hopelessness, sorrow, and then build them up with solutions, inspiration. If a media piece is persuasive, does that automatically make it malicious and mean you are being brainwashed?

 

There are other more conspiratorial criticisms put forth by the exceedingly creative "Anti- Konyers", such that the video promotes bigotry and white supremacism. One article from The Atlantic online titled "The Soft Bigotry of Kony2012" states "...(Kony 2012) reinforces a dangerous, centuries- old idea that Africans are helpless and that idealistic Westerners must save them." If we see a people in crisis, we can only help them if it has zero potential for racist implications. Another slightly more understandable doubt people have is whether there is an ulterior motive to placing American troops (even advisory troops) in central Africa, where large amounts of crude oil were discovered last year. There is a suspicion that Obama's sudden interest in "helping" Uganda might have been spurred by this breakthrough, which appeals to a large demographic in the United States of citizens tired of fighting seemingly pointless wars.

 

 The most disappointing aspect of all this cynicism is that people have been so adamant on spreading the word that the Kony movement is a scam that they have forgotten to take into account that even if Invisible Children is fraudulent, the issue with Joseph Kony is still prevalent. If less time was spent making blog posts and videos whinging about the evils of Jason Russell and his superior marketing skills, and more on finding an alternative to assisting Uganda, we as a people might have actually profited from the roughly 685,000 USD spent on the production of this film. 

 

 The irony of the issue is that "anti- Konyers" like to produce great, intelligent pieces of genius where they strip down the philanthropist façade of Invisible Children and expose the "blaring fallacies" behind the campaign, convinced they've done something to better society. But how is it we can be so wrapped up in hating the movement that we completely forget the whole message behind it? Instead of putting our energy into trying to bring down Invisible Children, we should be attempting to help in a more tangible and effective means, by providing support and relief to those affected by Kony's reign of terror. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And voila. Maybe it wasn't too terrible, I got a 7 so maybe it was even good. I wouldn't know, because I refuse to read over it again. 

 

~ Mari

 

Global Education.

What comes to mind when I say education?

Is it a public school classroom, filled with multicultural adolescents dutifully sitting through lessons whilst patiently waiting for their next free period? 

Maybe a one- room classroom with a dirt floor, and students of all ages in ragged uniforms sitting on rough- hewn wooden chairs balancing stone tablets on their knees. 

Perhaps it’s a large brick Ivy League university, with bright eyed young adults running frantically between  classes. 

  Education means something different to everyone.  When you ask a European socialite, their answer will most likely be dissimilar to that of a member of a small African tribe, which will be different to that of a child of working- class Australians. 

 For me, having grown up in the United States in a middle class family, and having attended public schools until around junior high, education would bring to mind a picture similar to the first that I described above. For me, it’s shag linoleum floors, plastic- alloy desk chairs, and black and white marbled workbooks.

 I have experienced what some parts of the world consider a very privileged educational career. When I moved to Colombia and started attending my current school, I began an educational career which most would consider privileged. So all in all, I am very fortunate, especially in the calibre of my educational experience. A lot of people however, throughout the world, have nothing like my or my classmates’ experience with schooling.

 Even though the people I go to school with tend to come from wealthy backgrounds, I was pleasantly surprised with all of their understanding of what life is really like for most people in Colombia. 

    An example of a wealthy school in Bogota, Colombia.

               

Another Colombian school, in Chocó. Not so wealthy.

 

  It was great to hear what everyone in my class thought about how necessary (or unnecessary) formal schooling is. And to hear the professor (whom I can safely assume is from the UK ) tell us about his own experience teaching in a poor school really put into perspective for me how poverty and lack of education doesn’t only exist in third world countries.

What I eventually gathered was that really it depended not only on a person's willpower, but their environment and the people around them that determines how they see education. While some people settle or just don't try at all, others push themselves hard to try and get to the top, no matter where their starting point. 

 My family and close friends can attest to the fact that I like to argue with people, for nothing if just to hear what they think truly think about a topic. Even though I’ve only had two Global Perspectives classes, I have a feeling it will be my favourite. Looking forward to the rest of the year!