These days it seems that if you’ve got an internet connection and a Facebook account, anyone can become a social activist at the click of a button. In light of the very recent ‘Kony 2012‘ campaign, it’s disturbing to see how quickly the entire virtual world can react to a 30 minute video. Hundreds of thousands of people have reposted the video with 24 hours of its release but it would be interesting to know how many people truly care about the enslaved children of the Lord’s Resistance Army. In today’s culture (especially as the Indie/Hipster ‘movement’ became cool) people are more immersed about how the world perceives them, they don’t actually care about what’s going on. Or they think they do, until the next big thing floods the internet.
So, what is this Kony business?
The aim of KONY 2012 is to make the man famous, “not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.” says film-maker Jason Russell. It’s a documentary aiming to make Joseph Koney – a Ugandan war lord responsible for the enslavement of more than 30,000 children – a household name. Russell’s efforts to raise awareness about the wrongdoings of the LRA leader is something that should be celebrated, supported and remembered. I can only hope that his plight to stop these heinous war crimes is successful.
Not everyone has fallen in love with the KONY 2012 campaign. Although Facebook and Tumblr etc. are fantastic ways to reach a mass audience is a small amount of time, how long will this last? Social media had sky rocketed the infamous face of Joseph Kony into the stratosphere, it’s only a matter of time until he falls back to earth and those Indie wannabes return to their daily doses of synth and vintage.
Doing something is always better than doing nothing. If the KONY 2012 campaign can ignite the hearts of a few passionate people who are willing to make a difference in the world, that’s a start. To those who sincerely care about the world we live in and are serious about supporting Jason Russell and his charity Invisible Children, thank you. It will take time but eventually Joseph Kony will be punished for his crimes against humanity.
So will you be painting the city on the 20th of April, 2012? I’ll sure be interested to see what the world looks like when everyone wakes up the next morning. If you’re genuinely interested I recommend you watch the film War Dance. It’s truly inspirational stuff.
