Phony Kony?

8th March 2012

I don't know about you, but this morning I woke up with a savage Kony hangover. My head is spinning, and I'm wondering what the hell happened yesterday.

What started out as a well-made and cleverly put together short film about hunting down a Ugandan dictator spiralled into chaos and controversy as the charity behind it, Invisible Children, had its motives called into question almost immediately.

Doubters were posting links all over Facebook and other social networks, one blog in particular featuring heavily. Even if you weren't interested in Konygate, it was forced upon you like some lecherous old man. The person behind this blog has appeared to do a U-Turn after IC posted this response to the critiques. (I would like to take this opportunity to point out that it is futile to respond to an internet video with statistics from a website. Both have their motives, and those stats can just as easily be manipulated as the information in the original video.)

It was like one kid trying to convince the playground to buy their painted rocks for charity and the other accusing him of spending the money on sweets while the rest just want to get on with their game of stuck in the mud and marco polo. I do think the idea and motive behind the video is powerful and one to take note of. Using social networking to promote their cause is a very clever way of accessing the large population of social-networkers and encouraging them to make a stand without actually having to stand up from their desks. People said that a charity who uses Facebook to gain momentum should never be trusted, but look at what they've managed to achieve in the space of 24 hours. Their video states they want to raise awareness and get people talking about Kony and that is exactly what has happened. It is quite refreshing to see the online community so alive with something that is more worthwhile than trolling others and discussing how awful one's dress was at the party last weekend.

As much as I think there is much to criticise about Invisible Children, I'm edging towards the support side of the argument, as a result of either willing and wishing them to be admirable charity workers, or whether the motive of wading into Uganda and catching the bad guy is appealing to my idealistic side. Either way, I'm all Kony'ed out. I'm never Konying again. Now, where's the paracetamol...