After watching the Kony 2012 film, talking to others and reading articles all regarding the topic it took me a while to gather my thoughts about Kony 2012. When I first watched the 30-minute film I posted it on my wall right away and was so excited about it. I wanted to do it right away and wanted to spread the word about it as fast as I could. The first thing I did was look at one of my cousin’s wall to see what she thought since I knew she was very big into human rights and topics like these. She had posted a letter that was against the issue. I was shocked! That’s when I decided to look more into the topic. I read the letter then read some other articles regarding the issue.
I first could not believe how easily I got sucked into this. This film was good because it did educate and inform me about an issue that I think is very important and should be known worldwide. What I didn’t understand was if this had been going on for 26 years then why am I just learning about it now? Why now are they deciding to talk about it and make it known? I had so many unanswered questions. This organization, Invisible Children, their overall idea and concept is a good one. It is very important to spread the word and educate others. I just don’t think they are doing it in the right manner. I think it is important that everyone knows what is going on but in a way this organization is brain washing us. This film was seen by so many and was spread like wild fire so quickly, everyone was talking about it. At first when people started to debate about it I didn’t understand either like why are we debating? Everyone is just trying to do something right and trying to stop this awful man. Now I see that this film was a good film to see but we are making Africans look helpless.
I think that sometimes the U.S tends to step in and try to be the hero. This film shows Africans as helpless and now that the troops are in Uganda they think that will solve this problem. I just don’t understand how it will? First of all why are they in Uganda? I read an article about Uganda being at peace now for about five years and Kony isn’t even in Uganda anymore. So why is the US there if Kony is not? I know that Uganda has a lot of oil there so you cannot help but wonder if that is why we are there all along. Are we there to look like we are there for a good cause and being heroic but in reality we are there for the oil? Why are we invading a peaceful place?
What I also don’t understand is what do they plan to do once they have Kony. It will be very good once we catch him but then what? Kony is a smart man and he has been brain washing all of these kids. Who knows what these kids are thinking and if they are doing all of these crimes then maybe Kony brainwashed them to be like him and think like him. If he did then there are so many little Konys running around so if we get one (the leader) there is no guarantee that the LRA will end just because the leader is gone. I also do not understand why Kony 2012? Why did they set a deadline? What happens when 2012 passes and we still have not caught Kony? Then do we just give up and say well at least we tried and gave it our best? Do they really expect us to catch him within these 9 months?
Invisible Children gets me mad. I did not realize it but apparently all the money that they want you to donate to this cause well most of it is going to the organization. Most of the money is to keep Invisible Children running and only a small portion of it actually going to those watch towers and everything else they described in the film. What is Invisible Children to begin with? As far as I’m concerned they go around to different colleges and give talks and educate many about topics such as Kony 2012. But then as I was talking to a friend he pointed out that there are four types of people. There are people who know and do something, people who do not know but would do something, people who do not know and would not do anything, and people who know but do nothing. Basically Invisible Children their target audience would be people who do not know but would do something about it. This percentage of people is very small though unfortunately and the majority of people know but do not do anything about it. Those people who do know and do things about it though if you think about it they would have already known about these issues whether there was Invisible Children or not. So once again I believe that the idea of IC educating others and getting the word out is a good idea and it is important. I just do not see what exactly it is doing for the majority of people.
I am so glad that I am here because I live in a house with 17 people. So a lot of us do not agree on certain things and Kony 2012 is one of those issues. It is nice to listen to conversations and hear both sides of the story. Through this issue and everything I am experiencing and learning about here in Cape Town I have realized that I want to be up to date with current events and these types of issues. I also cant believe how oblivious I have been in the past. This has been going on for 26 years and I am just learning about it. I knew that I was pretty bad and hardly watched the news and hated listening to NPR. But I thought that a big issue like this I would have known. I am glad that I am now aware of it and other issues going on in the world today. I have realized how important it is to be aware of things. I also see that to every story there are two sides to it. When first reading about this and watching this I thought how could there be two sides to such a wonderful cause. But now after a few weeks of discussing I have seen the other side and tend to lean towards it more and more. I have realized that it is not always as it seems. We need to always question everything that we are presented with. We cannot just assume that everything the news or media is saying to us is correct just because they are the “experts.” We need to be aware of who is telling us what and that maybe there is another side to this issue. In this film I thought all of the money was going to the watchtowers and kids but now I see that most of it is going to Invisible Children itself. This is just like people. Another valuable lesson I have learned here. That you cannot judge people just by the way they look or even what they do. You have no idea what some people are going through and it is best to assume good intent for the most part. Most people mean well but may come off a certain way because they are going through something hard. It is not fair to judge people or think a certain way about them just because they do something. So in the end I believe that we should get the word out about Kony but do not portray these Africans as helpless. We need to keep in mind that we are the ones coming and “helping” them even though they didn’t ask for it. I think its time that someone asks what they think about the whole film. | 
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