In my response to this 'issue'.. I believe KONY 2012 and IC have honorable intentions and heart. I'm in no way against the idea of what they stand for. I also have no issue with how they get or spend their money.
My issue is people only see/hear one side of the story, and while what they may see/hear is informative, it's still only one side. I just would rather people donate to this organization after they get the facts on where their donated money is going to, exactly. If one doesn't like the idea that a third of it or more is being spent on camera equipment, traveling and documenting, then they can choose not to give. The narrator of the KONY2012 video (I'm assuming the IC's head guy) has a great idea and even a better plan.. Exposure gives influence, and influence is power. And with that said, people need to tread those waters carefully.
As a friend of mine told me, "Okay, a little reality check for the Kony nuttery going on...
I know that video jerks your heartstrings and all, and is ramping people up to send the Special Forces into Uganda to go after this mass-murdering terrorist and his army of tens of thousands of brainwashed children to bring him to justice. I get that, I understand it makes you feel righteous indignation to see the video and want to do something about it. The problem is, it is complete and utter BULLSHIT!
First off, Kony and his army AREN'T EVEN IN UGANDA! They were ousted six years ago by the Ugandan military, scattered, and now on the run in neighboring countries. The northern war is over, the rebels ousted, people have gone back to their lives, and there are no LRA members active in Uganda at any overt level. I WORKED WITH THESE PEOPLE, the worst problems they have in the region are land disputes between farmers, for the love of Mike.
Secondly, his "army" numbers in the low-to-mid hundreds, less than the graduating class of a middle-America high school, are poorly equipped, on the run, starving, and generally out of gas. There is no Lord's Resistance Army, there's a bunch of scared kids and older thugs hiding in the Kenyan jungles trying not to get bumped off by the Ugandan, Kenyan, Tanzanian and Sudanese militaries and mercenaries looking to collect the bounties on their heads.
Third, the push is for 100 American military or PMC contractor advisors to train the Ugandan military to hunt him down... um, hate to break it to the crowd backing this, but WE ALREADY DID THAT. Hell, I did it, training the Ugandans we had on the Rapid Response Team, as did many other operators I worked with. They were trained in everything from American military tactics and marksmanship to tactical emergency medicine, trust me, they've been trained already.
Lastly, it also distracts from the fact that child slave soldiers are RAMPANT throughout Sudan, Liberia, and many other nations in Africa. Joseph Kony has maybe a couple of hundred followers, half of them kids. The Sudanese forces have tens of thousands, as do the Liberian thugs. Where's the outrage there? Where's the video for Darfur? Where's the video for Monrovia? This selective outrage to go "save" a nation that doesn't need saving while ignoring the ones who are tits-deep in blood and genocide (i.e., would require REAL work instead of a PR campaign designed to make someone look good on telle and supporters feel good about themselves for having done something to change the world, despite it all being a wag-the-dog phantasm) pisses me off
Just a wake-up call to the Youtube zombies that you are being lied to and manipulated for political or financial agendas."
Now, I believe and trust this friend of mine very much. In that, if he is wrong, then he doesn't know it or the facts have changed since the last of his knowledge.
Thanks to TheViking88 for the sig!!