KONY 2012

[Ultra Fox]

[emily123]

LMAO nice video.

[KopaLeo]

This Monday I saw a KONY 2012 poster in my school's big poster spot. I was impressed with modern technology when I knew what it was about. A cruelty in a tiny place in the middle of Africa can actually reach across half a globe. Both directions.
I don't think it is not an evil, but maybe it is inefficient to care about it. In Walden, Thoreau said that “We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.... We are eager to tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the old world some weeks nearer to the new; but perchance the first news that will leak through into the broad, flapping American ear will be that the Princess Adelaide has the whooping cough.” The Internet made the problem worse.
BTW, I read about the situation in Syria in TIME, I agree it was far worse than KONY. Is it just about the oil? At least it is said here that USA went to war in Iraq in 2003 only for oil.

[KentuckyWildcat]

I have mixed feelings about this. Is Kony an evil man who has created a sad situation for many people? Yes, absolutely. Should we take action against him? That's where things get tricky since military action is really the only effective method for stopping him.

First of all, I'm not into the conspiracy that the US government only acts based on where oil is. That reasoning fails to explain US involvement in places like Kosovo and Somalia during the 90s nor does it explain the recent US inaction in the oil producing countries of Syria and Egypt for example. It is also important to note that Uganda doesn't produce any oil at all https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2173rank.html, so that isn't the reason for this campaign.

However, I still the think the negatives of US military action in Uganda outweigh any good it would do. First, as others have noted, stopping Kony would likely require killing a great number of the child soldiers that such action would presumably be meant to save. Second, the US military cannot be nor should it attempt to be a world police force in my opinion. Such action not only costs American tax-payers money in an attempt to solve problems that don't affect Americans in the least, it spreads our military resources thin in the case that they were actually needed to defend our own country. Also, Kony is far from the only man like this. It would be nearly impossible to remove all such militia leaders. Finally, unsolicited military action can often have unintended consequences. US military presence in Saudi Arabia was what first set off Osama Bin Laden and drove him to become an anti-American terrorist for example.

Overall, while I definitely feel for the children enslaved by Kony, taking action against him may do more harm than good. It's a difficult problem that unfortunately has no good answer at the moment.

[FlipMode]

To the people saying "Argh it´s all about the oil!" It is in your countries best interests right now to protect and maintain a healthy flow of oil. Just saying. And also the fact it was set by a charity, they are not aiming for all out war on Uganda (though the government is just as bad as Kony himself) they just want to bring one man to justice.

That country is MESSED UP beyond repair in terms of what is the norm and what is not, this stuff has been going on before Kony and it will continue after he is gone, I say again you are talking about a country trying to make it ILLEGAL to be a homosexual, with a nice big death sentence as the punishment. That is the government, which to me sounds almost as bad as what Kony is doing. Where they think that rape may help to cure HIV, where canniblaism is carried out as it is believed to bring health benefits. If you think one guy is the source of all of this, boy you need to do a bit of research, not into Kony or his army but into what the poorer parts of Uganda are like even without him in the country.

Google search "Uganda is messed up" right now and you will find a BBC article about the child sacrifices being made there, where they bring the hearts of children to be consumed by spirits, and you think Kony is a problem?

And one more point I want to make about this is that liking a status on facebook or whatever is not "showing your support" its making you LOOK like you are showing your support.

[FlipMode]

You can't possibly know what the US government will do when they get him. Have a look at history and there is a clear line.
Afghanistan -> oil
Iraq -> oil
somalia -> puntland oil
libya -> OIL OIL and a lot of it
Uganda -> oil reserve found 6 months ago
(future) Iran -> Lots of oil again

Egypt -> No oil
Syria -> No oil
(insert other African country with terrible stuff going on) -> No oil

About the campaign itself. I agree with this basic term: Right idea, wrong monster. The president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni. Using children in the army and shooting protestors. Locking people up who are never to be seen again, torture. He is way worse than Kony, however nobody knows.

Why is it NOW that we act? Why not 10 years ago? We knew about his existance. This is not a coincidence. There are more countries like this in Africa, why not help them? Oops I forgot, they have no resources.

What gives us the right to invade this country? Nothing gives us the right! Unless they attack us. going over there and saying ''You must live like us because we want you to'' is absurd. This will probably take more lives than it saves.

So what if there is oil? It just so happens to be there, and I say again, its a dog eat dog world, your country needs a decent supply of oil. I will not even deny what you are saying, but I am saying that well... Its not entirely a bad thing.

Also if you do not see why NOW we are acting instead of 10 years ago, you are stupid... Sorry but there is no polite way to put it. What has been the main driving point of this campaign? Could it possibly be social media and the internet? 10 years ago no one had the internet speeds to download large videos like that or even really use Facebook at all the way it is now.... How is that for a coincidence?

One more thing I disagree about it, I believe that if the country is a messed up as that, we do not need a written invitation to invade. Why let the children, and general population suffer just because they have a douchebag democracy? Why not step in and attempt to restore some order?

[KopaLeo]

Being a global policeman is not a good thing, it uses too much oil and money. Maintaining a global hegemony, doubly so. I believe in Political Realism, which to me feels like a kind of Darwinism. It basically states that the global game of politics of the nations is a bloody no-holds-barred game. So I definitely don't think US should bother to invade a country with no oil or other goods. (maybe Bolivia? There are tons of Lithium there) The facts seem to show that US indeed didn't invade oil-less countries.

[Azdgari]

I'm with Woeler on some of his points. Turns out the amount of oil that's in Uganda, upon research, is completely trivial, so that sort of defeats the whole "We just went to get their oil" argument. However, I do agree that the timing is strange. It's not like the US didn't know what was happening until Obama checked his facebook and was like "gosh look at this KONY guy". He was aware of what was happening and he chose not to act until now. The only think I can think of is social pressure? But that seems somewhat unlikely...

[FlipMode]

Edit - ignore this post.