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That was interesting, Anthony, and brings up several of the worries that go with supporting a cause. I read the entire thing. At the close of the piece, author Grant Oyston has added,

 

"EDIT: Please read Invisible Children’s excellent response here."

 

Invisible children's response is also worth reading.

 

It's a complex situation. If ultimately Kony can be stopped, it'll be worth the efforts being made.

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anthony is there anyway you can remove that link from my thread??

 

you know this AM when i posted it i somehow knew there would be some negative garbage from somewhere i just couldnt figure who would make it possible.

 

i dont like the response and its just some college brat trying to be a smart guy.

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anthony is there anyway you can remove that link from my thread??

 

you know this AM when i posted it i somehow knew there would be some negative garbage from somewhere i just couldnt figure who would make it possible.

 

i dont like the response and its just some college brat trying to be a smart guy.

 

This is a discussion board, and discussion is allowed. If the linked post was offensive in some way, you might have a point, but something like the video you posted is/should be fodder for discussion. Invisible Children's response has already been posted, and you should feel free to refute the linked info. But if you want people to watch the video, you have to accept that people are going to want more information, from all angles.

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You can't believe everything you see on the internets...

 

Youth Movement Promotes US Military Presence in Central Africa

 

 

Written by Nile Bowie

 

...This is the first large-scale campaign to mobilize social medialites to aggregate public support for what would otherwise be, controversial pro-intervention US foreign policy. The production relies on highly charged and often unrelated emotional triggers, which ultimately rely on the viewers sense of compassion in tandem with a lack of prior information on the subject to produce a desired result – explicitly, the villainous mythification of Kony and the mainstream acceptance of US presence in Africa through a proposed archipelago of AFRICOM military bases in the region.

 

The production targets an age group between thirteen and twenty-one, and uses a level of academic vocabulary appropriate for a young adult audience with a limited attention span; the narrator at one point even insists the viewer pay attention. The viewer is encouraged to form an emotional connection to Russell, as we witness unrelated footage of his child’s birth. The viewer is then subsequently associated with Russell’s role as a nurturer to his young son, before shifting to scenes of Russell nurturing the Ugandan child soldier, Jacob. Russell is shown prophetically pledging to stop the LRA to the traumatized and crying young boy. The intimate portrayal of emotion in these scenes work to further incite a reactionary response from the viewer, towards the preordained conclusion suggested in the narrative - a mass mobilization of support for the US military in their efforts to stop Jacob’s source of trauma. Bernays’ would be beside himself.

 

KONY 2012 is produced like any other sleek marketing campaign – instead of stimulating elements of self-satisfaction like advertisers would do to promote a product, US military intervention is justified to end an atrocious humanitarian catastrophe. The film also plays on an underlying theme of the White Man’s Burden, a notion that persons of European descent inherit a quality of guilt for their ancestors’ inclination for slavery and colonialism, requiring an activist response to finally correct the situation by “saving Africa.” During the Nigerian civil war in 1967, western media successfully used images of starving children for the first time to strengthen public support for military aid to the secessionist Republic of Biafra before rebel forces were defeated. This film attempts to purportedly “change the conversation of our culture,” however it remains a highly sophisticated refurbishment of pro-military interventionist foreign policy propaganda, dependent on dangerous subliminal messaging...

 

According to Invisible Children’s own LRA Crisis Tracker, not a single case of LRA activity has been reported in Uganda since 2006. The website records ninety eight deaths in the past year, with the vast majority taking place in the northeastern Bangadi region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a tri-border expanse sharing territory with the Central African republic and South Sudan. Since December 2009, the eastern Djemah region of CAR has seen occasional LRA activity; the western Tambura region of South Sudan has experienced even less. The LRA has been in operation for over two decades, and presently remains at an extremely weakened state, with approximately 400 soldiers. Due to the extreme instability in northern DRC after decades of rebel insurgencies and Rwandan/Ugandan military incursions into the nation, it remains highly unlikely that cases of violence in the region can be sufficiently investigated before concluding LRA involvement...

 

The whereabouts of Joseph Kony are completely unknown; he was last seen in crossing between Sudan and CAR in 2010, according to unverified reports. The US military currently has one hundred military officers training and overseeing the Ugandan military in anti-LRA operations. Due to the complete absence of LRA activity in Uganda, it becomes feasible that the US may be planning further operations in the resource rich DRC.

, largely with US complicity. The regimes of Paul Kagame in Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni in Uganda have both received millions in military aid from the United States. Since the abhorrent failure of the 1993 US intervention in Somalia, the US has relied on the militaries of Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia to carry out US interests in proxy...

 

Paul Kagame of Rwanda has been given free reign by the US to conduct military operations inside DRC in the on-going ethnic conflict in that region following the 1994 Rwandan genocide. For Ugandan participation in the fight against Somalia’s al Shabaab, Museveni receives $45 million dollars in military aid. The US has contributed enormous sums to these nations and now is beginning to consolidate its presence in the region under Barack Obama and AFRICOM, the United States African Command. The LRA has contributed to less than one hundred unverified deaths in the past twelve months. Considering that the United States completely ignored events in DRC and Rwanda that collectively resulted in nearly seven million deaths, their participation against the ailing Lord’s Resistance Army is completely absurd by comparison.

 

Through AFRICOM, the United States is seeking a foothold in the incredibly resource rich central African block in a further maneuver to aggregate regional hegemony over China. DRC is one of the world’s largest regions without an effectively functioning government. It

. It is entirely feasible that the US can considerably increase its presence in DRC under the pretext of capturing Joseph Kony. The US may further mobilize ground forces, in addition to the use of predator drones and targeted missile strikes, inevitably killing civilians. In a press conference at the House Armed Services Committee on March 13, 2008, AFRICOM Commander, General William Ward stated that AFRICOM will further its regional presence by "operating under the principle theatre-goal of combating terrorism”.

 

During an AFRICOM Conference held at Fort McNair on February 18, 2008, Vice Admiral Robert T. Moeller openly declared AFRICOM’s guiding principle as protecting “the free flow of natural resources from Africa to the global market”, before citing China’s increasing presence in the region as challenging to American interests.The crimes of the Lord’s Resistance Army have been documented in the past and they are truly despicable actions. Presently, the operations of the LRA have nearly dissolved and their presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is difficult to verify. While the pro-war filmmakers behind KONY 2012 naively call for the US military to assert its place in the conflict, an independent fact finding mission would be far more effective in assessing the seriousness of the LRA threat in the present day.

 

 

Read more:

http://nilebowie.blogspot.com/

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Do you no longer believe in what you posted? Do you think the cause isn't important enough, or the organizing group legit enough, to withstand a little internet scrutiny? The whole point of the video is to raise awareness, and by posting it here, you've probably brought it to the attention of at least a few people who wouldn't have seen it elsewhere. Wasn't that what you were going for? Why delete it now?

 

(although, the changing of the title probably brought in a few more people than would have clicked on your original title, too, so kudos to the moderator who did that)

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look i posted a link to someone trying to stop child armies and rapes. i dont need the "other side" of anything

 

anything popular now is gonna get some brat talking junk. sucks to be them

 

i already made my decision about what i think about this guy and his cause from what i saw in the video.

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I am appalled by the atrocities in Africa as much as anyone. I have a friend who was a refugee from Eritrea and has told me first-hand some of the terrible things that go on. Nothing would please more than to eliminate the bad guys from the continent.

 

However, like any charity, you have to make sure your money, time effort is focused properly or it will be ineffective. I do not understand how this is a bad sentiment.

 

For another (probably better presented) explanation of this, see here:

 

How to Determine If a Charity Like Kony 2012 Is Worth Your Money

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great. looks fine to me. now can i give my money??

 

the only reason this site is out there is because there always have to be haters. thats what they do. haters hate.

 

 

i see a thousand commercials a day probably. i dont need an alternative view to them all. if a salesman makes his sale then im sold. get it?

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You were "sold" going in, DBoon. You had clearly decided before posting that this was a cause you felt for, a cause you could support. We got that.

 

As gogo has pointed out, this is a discussion board. Let the discussion happen, and give our members the right to examine the evidence and decide for themselves what they believe. You posted to bring attention to a cause you believe in. You've done that. Now let people think for themselves.

 

You've made up your mind on this organization. Let others look for themselves and decide for themselves.

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look i posted a link to someone trying to stop child armies and rapes. i dont need the "other side" of anything

 

anything popular now is gonna get some brat talking junk. sucks to be them

 

i already made my decision about what i think about this guy and his cause from what i saw in the video.

 

A theme that runs through the majority of your posts.

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The feeling getting some impressions here:

 

Kony is a really bad guy

Kony is no longer in Uganda

The group behind the Kony video is misrepresenting things a bit in order to make sure he is brought to justice.

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"misrepresenting" might even be too strong a word. I'd say they're glossing over or over-simplifying some issues, but for what they intended to do with that video, there's probably no way they could have gone into all the intricacies of the situation. I certainly don't think they're bad guys, but I can also understand why some people wouldn't feel that donating to their group is the most effective way to help resolve the situation. And if nothing else, they're raising awareness (which they themselves say is a huge part of what they're trying to do), and there's certainly nothing wrong with that.

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What is this...a bait and switch?

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