Posted on 03/08/2012 5:11:10 PM PST by Erik Latranyi
If you had any lingering doubts about the power of the Web to spread a message, consider the astonishing impact of "Kony 2012."
Over the past 48 hours, it would have been all but impossible to log into Facebook or Twitter and not see someone pointing to a stirring 30-minute video about Joseph Kony, a once-obscure Ugandan rebel leader alleged to have abducted, abused and killed thousands of children for more than two decades. The goal is simple enough: Make Kony's a household name to create a groundswell of outrage that would pressure governments to demand his arrest.
This is the latest example of what feels like an onslaught of online activism. There was the campaign against the Stop Online Piracy Act; the Occupy Wall Street social media outpouring; and last year's Arab Spring, fueled to some degree by Silicon Valley social networks like Twitter and Facebook.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Kony is not in any of the countries where our troops are located currently.
It is ludicrous that the liberals screamed about Bush going into Iraq while Obama does this war.
We do have military advisors in the region working on capturing Kony. I remember some months back when it was announced.
I watched this well done & moving video. But in the end, I could not pass it on. If there were a fund whereby mercenaries could be hired to just hunt this guy down & kill him, I would write a check. But I can’t support this US_World government intervention.
Article from last October about the announcement that 100 troops would go to aid in the pursuit of Joseph Kony.
Its pretty negative toward Rush Limbaugh and Michele Bachmann however they were both correct that it isn’t our fight.
Last night, my daughter asked me to sit down and watch the video that showed up on her facebook account.
I watched the entire video.
The bottom line was that everyone in the world, but especially we in the USA, should buy a kit with two bracelets, and donate to whirled peas,(not a typo) and the date is set for all activists to deface public and private property worldwide, to advance the “cause” of whirled peas in Uganda, against a specified evil Ugandan warlord, Kony.
I'll get right on that, after I personally cure breast cancer, solve world hunger, and protect the environment./S/
On the surface, the Kony 2012 campaign appears to be a genuine effort to do good but it’s always a good idea to look beyond the perfected image presented in that video.
My biggest problem with this whole Kony 2012 campaign is the double standard at work as it regards American intervention policies.
We are either the world’s police, in which case we should be in EVERY country where these atrocities are taking place, or, we are interfering thugs and bullies, forcing our views on countries that don’t want them.
With this campaign, it seems as though the very people in the Middle East who were plotting directly against us, now want us to step in and intervene with one evil man who, at the end of the day, has nothing to do with us.
From past intervensions, one can get a grasp of world opinions. Take for instance, if one reads the International Socialist opinions on Somalia, the hypocrisy is evident . If we let the Somalis starve and die, it is our fault. If we intervene and they die, it is still our fault.
So which is it? Are we thugs and bullies, or are we the world’s police? Because we can’t have it both ways, but that is EXACTLY what is happening now.
And that is why I can’t get behind the KONY 2012 campaign – the hypocrisy at work here among well intentioned but misguided celebrities and the main stream media is absolutely mind-numbing.
Here's some background on who KONY and the LRA are:
Based in Northern Uganda and the Sudan, the Lord's Resistance Army (KONY) was financed and equipped by Sudan's Islamic government. Formed in 1992, the group's founder, Joseph Kony, claims to be a mystic who receives orders from spirits during nightly dreams.
Those who like to discredit Christianity assert that the LRA promotes a radical form of Christianity although there is no correlation between Yahweh's Scriptures and Joseph Kony's preaching or behavior.
The group seeks to achieve its objectives through unbridled brutality. Rape, torture, and murder have become the LRA's hallmarks in the almost fifteen years that they have terrorized the citizens of Northern Uganda.
The ranks of the LRA are filled in large part by children, who are kidnapped and then brainwashed into service. Human rights NGOs place the number of children currently (2010) fighting with LRA at around 3,000.
The Lord's Resistance Army, taking another page out of the Islamic playbook, kidnap young girls to serve as sex slaves. Many of these children have even been given as gifts to Muslim arms dealers in the Sudan who not only support the LRA, but who are also part of the Sudanese Islamic government.
Demonstrating their Islamic tendencies, the Lord's Resistance Army murdered an Italian priest. They also killed World Food Program volunteers and the former President of Uganda. After terrorizing mourners at a funeral, they forced them to cook and then eat the body of the deceased. No discernible political program underlies these attacks aside from Kony's desire to cause extreme pain and suffering on all who do not submit. In fact it would not be inappropriate to say that Kony is a carbon copy of Idi Amin, one of the most ruthless and inhuman Muslims who ever lived.
In 2002, the murderous fundamentalist Islamic Sudanese government publicly reversed its longstanding policy of support for the LRA. Despite this declaration, the LRA continued to perpetrate its brutal attacks within Uganda using Sudanese weapons. Its leader, Joseph Kony, has declared himself to be the Messenger of God, the vaguely Christian God, and not Allah.
One practically anticipates Kony will decide he's not a mere messenger, and give himself a promotion to God, just the way Father Divine did.
There is supposed to be a tribal element too, something about the resentments of members of the Acholi tribe at not getting the power they think they deserve. Who knows, from a distance? And while one might once have trusted reporters, who trusts their reports nowadays? They are doing a lot of harm, in the service not of some widespread movement, or consistent ideology of conquest, but of a charismatic charlatan.
Go even deeper and you’ll find a communist/socialist recruiting tool aimed at young, impressionable people via Facebook, an omnipresent internet sight.
The mere fact that Shepard “Fairey”, the man responsible for the Obama ‘Hope and Change’ red/blue posters plays a part is a red flag in itself.
Call me skeptical, but it looks like another recruiting attempt at the ‘world’s’ children using a ‘good cause’ as a cover.
Oh! Let's not overlook that volunteers get an "Action Kit" complete with trinkets like posters, buttons, stickers, bracelets and everything!
Uh, no thanks.
But wait, there is even more to consider. Follow the Money.
I remembered something I read last fall regarding those special forces troops Obama sent to Africa; whose purpose was to assist various African military units to hunt down and arrest Kony. At that time I also found who requested those troops—-
Leo Gerard, President of the United Steel Workers. He has direct ties with Vale Mining Co.
Guess who has mining interests in Africa? Vale and they want to expand into (guess where?)--Central Africa and plan to invest $12 billion by 2016 which includes railroad investments/construction through central Africa. African mining info obtained from mining weekly.com.
When it comes to this administration, you cannot dismiss the politics and monetary exchanges involved .
One last thing to consider is this. Kony’s been at this for over two decades. Many surviving kidnapped and brainwashed child-warriors have since become adults.
The people behind the Invisible Children/KONY 2012 project explicitly insist that they do not want KONY killed. They simply want “him” to become 'famous’ and brought to justice.
Assume they succeed and Kony is arrested.
Will it solve the problem? Does anyone really think those adult (one time child-warriors) will simply go back to their tribal origins and live peacefully? Does anyone believe victimized families will permit these people back into their societies with open arms?
The road to hell is lined with good intentions.
Wow. Thanks for the information. Any useful links I could send to my Facebook friends sending me the kony video. Too many to ignore.
Maybe if these same people do the same against Mugabe, then maybe I’ll care.
Kony=Emmanuel Goldstein
.....beware of babies in incubators...
my personal beliefs is that we don’t need to get involved with other countries when we already have our own wars and we have our own children that get killed, abducted and such and obama is going to end up starting another war
I love it. I was actually thinking this exact thing...
I believe it is Stratfor that announced Kony has not been in any of the four countries housing our troops for the past six years.
Step 1 – Get boots on the ground.
Step 2 – Raise awareness about Kony and get EVERYONE to hate him. (Easy)
Step 3 – Kill or capture Kony in October 2012.
Step 4 – Obama comes out smelling like roses and boosts his chances for re-election
I guess the atrocities in Iraq didn't rise to the same level as Kony. I mean, liberals would not be hypocrites, would they?
Thank you for your previous informatuive posts, that clarified your statement “Kony is not in any of the countries where our troops are located currently.”
I didn’t understand your position, when I replied to #1.
As another poster pointed out rather succintly:
“Kony = Emmanual Goldstein”
BTTT.
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