Kony 2012 and My Thoughts

I've been silent about the whole Kony 2012 thing. I have seen the video. It left a bad taste in my mouth. The point that made me stop watching, that honestly enraged me, was when he explained what Kony was doing to his 4 year old son. YOU DON'T DO THAT TO A KID!!! That was horribly manipulative and cruel. I'd even go so far as say it was evil. You can easily destroy a kid's life by telling them things like that when they are so young! I speak from experience here. What he should have done is tell his kid that Kony is a bad man the hurts people, and so he's trying to help the people that have been hurt. That's all that a kid of his age really needs to know, or can properly process. They've seen the bad guys in the cartoons, they'll get it. There's also that photo. I'm sure that you've heard about it if you've seen any news articles written about Kony 2012. The photo of them posing with the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, smiling, with rifles in their hands. These two things, his interaction with his kid, and him posing with the army while holding rifles, stunned me. I don't know of any peaceful aid organization that would do that. It's stupid at best. At worst, it's pandering to an organization (the SPLA) that has been reported as just as bad as the LRA.

Wil Wheaton and Neil Gaiman have both posted excellent articles about the Kony 2012 fracas, which really sums up the majority of my feelings about this whole thing. This Atlantic article also brings forth another thing about the Kony 2012 compaign. White guilt and imperialism. I have to agree.

This whole thing has left a bad taste in my mouth. I haven't supported it, and I won't. There are things being done already to take care of the situation. This campaign may have actually made it worse. Plus, I personally like to support organizations that do smaller, more personal, less warlike things. One of my favorites is Kiva. They concentrate on microloans. You are loaning money to individuals to help them start businesses. They then repay that loan, and you can loan it out to other people. You can loan the same $25 multiple times to multiple people. Talk about a return on your money! Another one of my favorites is International Heifer. It is more of a charity, but they do great things nonetheless. An excellent site to find out more about any given organization is Charity Navigator. They have ratings for various charities. Kiva has four stars, and International Heifer has three stars.

In short, go ahead and write to your government. It can't hurt, and it might help. But as far as things you can do yourself, concentrate on the little stuff. Donate to local charities. Donate to smaller charities. Donate to charities that do more than throw money at a problem. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime. You can't overthrow a dictator by yourself, but you can teach someone how to cook, or give them a small loan to buy a sewing machine to start a business. There are so many things that are so much simpler and concrete that we as individuals can do to improve the world.