KONY 2012 – Invisible Children Awareness Campaign – Read this before sharing their video

Facebook has been inundated with a deluge of KONY 2012 messages, links and status updates – so, what is this all about?

From the KONY 2012 website:

“JOSEPH KONY IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S WORST WAR CRIMINALS AND I SUPPORT THE INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO ARREST HIM, DISARM THE LRA AND BRING THE CHILD SOLDIERS HOME.”

Web visitors are met with the statement shown above and are asked to sign the pledge to bring Joseph Kony to justice in 2012.

The site also has a 30 minute video that users are asked to watch and share. The caption above the video reads:

“IF THE WORLD KNOWS WHO JOSEPH KONY IS, IT WILL UNITE TO STOP HIM. IT STARTS HERE.

KONY 2012 IS A FILM AND CAMPAIGN BY INVISIBLE CHILDREN THAT AIMS TO MAKE JOSEPH KONY FAMOUS, NOT TO CELEBRATE HIM, BUT TO RAISE SUPPORT FOR HIS ARREST AND SET A PRECEDENT FOR INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE.”

Watch and Share they have! The video has amassed over 4 million views at the time of this writing. To say that this campaign has gone viral is a massive understatement.

You can watch the video here to learn more about Invisible Children and their campaign to bring Kony to justice:

There is no question that Joesph Kony is ruthless, brutal and quite possibly the embodiment of pure evil.

According to Wikipedia – “Joseph Rao Kony (born 1961 in Odek, Uganda[1]) is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments throughout Uganda.[1] The LRA say that God has sent spirits to communicate this mission directly to Kony.[4]

Directed by Kony, the LRA has earned a reputation for its actions against the people of several countries, including northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of CongoSouth Sudan and Sudan. It has abducted and forced an estimated 66,000 children to fight for them, and has also forced the internal displacement of over 2,000,000 people since its rebellion began in 1986.[5] As a result, in 2005 Kony was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court atthe Hague, but has succeeded in evading capture since.”

The organization behind the Kony 2012 campaign is Invisible Children – a non-profit group not without controversy.

A blog on Tumblr titled, “Visible Children,” offers a critical review of the organization.  There are several potential issues that would be backers and donors should be aware of prior to parting with hard earned funds or assisting in spreading their message.

Here are a couple of the allegations levied against Invisible Children:

  • Last year the organization raised $8,676,614 and only 32% of these funds went to direct services. It appears that a large majority of their funding went to pay staff salaries, transportation expenses and film production. Charity Navigator rates their accountability and transparency 2 out of 4 stars. This is due to the fact that the organization has not undergone an external audit of their funds.
  • Invisible Children supports direct military intervention, and their funding is said to support the Ugandan government and other military forces. The Ugandan army has been accused of rape and looting, but they are still defended by Invisible Children.

It is also important to note that Invisible Children did not provide requested material to the Better Business Bureau; therefore, the BBB cannot determine if IC meets their standards. One of the first things I do when solicited by a non-profit agency is to check their BBB report. This is a huge red in my opinion.

As with all charitable organizations, we recommend that you fully investigate the facts surrounding Invisible Children before sharing their promotional materials, buying their merchandise or supporting them financially.

**Further Reading**

http://ilto.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-visible-problem-with-invisible-children/

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blackstarnews.com%2Fnews%2F122%2FARTICLE%2F6586%2F2010-06-02.html&h=EAQFKeTxkAQHpzMymeHwWfLqwnspXGlz934aUEGg9t_rPzA

https://www.facebook.com/notes/john-rudolph-beaton/visible-children-viewed-critically/10150614970287933?refid=52

http://whitthef.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/kony-2012/

http://www.thegauntlet.com/article/1320/18249/Barry-from-Look-What-I-Did-responds-to-Invisible-Children-Organization.html

http://blog.joerenken.com/2012/03/07/invisible-children-and-kony-2012-exposed/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-deibert/joseph-kony-2012-children_b_1327417.html

Click Here to Read Invisible Children’s Response to Critiques


Recommended Resources

BitDefender Safego is a Facebook application you can install that will scan your News Feed and help keep you safe from scams like this.

PRIVATE WiFi® is a Personal VPN that encrypts everything you send and receive. Don’t access Facebook from a public WiFi hotspot without it.

Roboform is a 5 Star, award winning password manager. Reduce all passwords to just one, and automatically login to websites.

hey, do you remember this photo? - Facebook Phishing Scam Previous post hey, do you remember this photo? - Facebook Phishing Scam Facebook introduces 'Interests Lists' - The goal is your own personalized Newspaper Next post Facebook introduces 'Interests Lists' - The goal is your own personalized Newspaper