There’s been a lot of controversy over Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 video, with many scrutinizing the financials of the non-profit organization, and pointing out that Joseph Kony’s army and power have already been drastically diminished (i.e. there are probably bigger international war criminal fish to fry) but a definitely positive thing has happened from the viral video phenomenon: millions of people have a greater awareness, and emotional connection to atrocities that go on in the wider world. Being more aware of the world outside your community, and your country, and There’s been a lot of controversy over Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 video, with many scrutinizing the financials of the non-profit organization, and pointing out that Joseph Kony’s army and power have already been drastically diminished (i.e. there are probably bigger international war criminal fish to fry) but a definitely positive thing has happened from the viral video phenomenon: millions of people have a greater awareness, and emotional connection to atrocities that go on in the wider world. Being more aware of the world outside your community, and your country, and being open to understanding the complexities of being citizens of the world is always a good thing. Another lesson we can learn from this debacle, we should investigate any charity before we support them on social media, and definitely before we donate any money to them. On the same note, we should investigate before we jump on the bandwagon when people start shouting that a charity is a scam. There are always flaws in the catch phrases of both sides of a story.
Anyway, regardless of how you feel, or what you think about Invisible Children, this happened: the guy behind the Kony 2012 video, Jason Russell, was arrested yesterday in San Diego for drunkenly masturbating in public. He was then hospitalized for “exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition.”