Weekly Randoms

Kony related paper that I got a B on!

I know, I know. Kony isn't the cool thing anymore because it has been 8 weeks, but I just got  my paper back today and I got a B on it (almost an 'A' I missed by 2 points!). I'm really proud of that 'B' because I BS my way through that whole paper because 1.) I didn't care for the topic, 2.) I hate writing papers, and 3.) I tend to BS everything school related to some degree.

So here is my paper that I am posting because I can. :D

Internet Access = Social Activist

            On March 5, 2012 a Youtube video entitled “Kony 2012” was posted and since then has gone viral with over eighty-seven million hits. The purpose of the thirty-minute movie was to raise awareness about the warlord and leader of the L.R.A., Joseph Kony, ‘who has murdered, kidnapped thousands children from Northern Uganda, forcing them to join his army and forcing young girls to become sex slaves over the past twenty five plus years’ (Invisible Children). The over all message of the video was that through the help of America’s youth, them raising awareness could lead to the capture and arrest of warlord Joseph Kony, which will in turn make Northern Uganda and the rest of Africa a better place.

            No one can disagree that Kony and his crimes against humanity are truly horrible and  it would be a positive thing if he were to be stopped and that is the mission that Invisible Children’s “Stop Kony Now” movement wants to accomplish.  However, even  with this noble cause the movement still has many critics.  Many have commented that the “Kony 2012” movie reeks of neo-colonialism and is reminiscent of Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden”. Where it is the duty of the white man to help the voiceless, weak, ignorant, and invisible by saving them from their problems. The white savior has taken shape in the form of the group Invisible Children, who spread the idea of duty and attempts to solve problems with band aid fixes.

            It is easy to see the similarity of ‘Kony 2012’ and Kipling’s ‘White Man’s Burden’ the poem from 1899. The poem describes the English or civilized people’s view and feelings towards people of other nations that are different from their own. “Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half-devil and half-child”(Kipling). These people that don’t follow in step with the English way of doing things are seen as uncivilized, savage, and child-like. The name of the activist group follows suit with this, the name Invisible Children suggests that they are trying to help people that are unseen, unheard, and child-like.

            The sense of duty and responsibility also comes through in both the video and Kipling’s poem. “The savage wars of peace--Fill full the mouth of Famine, And bid the sickness cease”(Kipling).  World peace, solve world hunger, and healing the sick is the responsibility that the white man is suppose to feel towards this child-like people. They are children that need to be saved and the white man has to do what he can to save them.  The idea of duty and responsibility towards Africa is introduced when Jason, one of the founders of Invisible Children, told Jacob, a former abducted child, “We are also going to do everything we can to stop him” (Invisible Children). Jason then goes on to include the viewer of the video, saying that the solution cannot be found with just himself, but with the help of the viewer and without their help nothing will change. Thus, installing the idea of duty and responsibility on to the audience.

The critics attacked the “Kony 2012” video for it suggesting that helping Northern Uganda and Africa is the duty and responsibility of Westerners to care of those others who are of non-Western national culture and economic traditions. That the rich have a moral duty and obligation to help the poor, voiceless, and invisible "better" themselves whether the poor want the help or not. “There is something wrong with assuming that the people who you are trying to help 1) need help, 2) want your help, or 3) can’t help themselves. Invisible Children and this video assumes all the above” (Ruge). Many view Africa as a place full of children that need to be saved and that is “The White Man’s Burden.”