Thursday, March 8, 2012
Day 68: Pledged to Stop Joseph Kony
By now, I am assuming that you have heard about the Kony 2012 campaign that has taken over the internet. Whether or not you saw something on Twitter, read someone's Facebook post, or watched the above video, I am assuming most people have heard of this wretch of a man. Since the mid 1980s, Kony has been terrorizing regions of Uganda, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo in an attempt to create a theocratic state for him to rule over. Kony's Lord's Resistance Army is primarily made up of children that are kidnapped from their families and forced to fight. These children are then brainwashed and made into savages that have been known to rape, murder, and cannibalize the people whose land they overtake.
Joseph Kony needs to be stopped. While I am against a huge military effort that will no doubt end up with the deaths of these previously innocent children, something needs to be done. Joseph Kony needs to be stopped. So today, my random act of kindness is to, along with tens of millions of others, is to pledge to spread the word to stop Joseph Kony. You can join the movement here.
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Wow. This is the third time since yesterday morning that I've heard of this project. My daughter told me about yesterday, saying, "Mom, you've gotta take the time to watch this video." Then her friend told me about it at church last night and offered me her Ipod to watch right then and there. If teens are on this things, then it must be serious business.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the third confirmation, Ryan. I'll watch it today. :)
I just watched it yesterday! glad your spreading the news about it. followed your blog
ReplyDeleteThank you!!! I stand with you.
ReplyDeleteA worthy random act of kindness to bring awareness to the Invisible Children and standing up for them on April 20th. Kudos 2 the various generations supporting this important mission. Especially special thanks 2 the children who R fighting 4 the children. <3
ReplyDeleteThank you. For sharing the link where we can raise our voice.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Ruby
I saw this on a friend's Facebook page the other day and shared it to my page. I'm so glad the word is getting out, because even though I feel I keep up with the news, I had never heard of Joseph Kony. But I have now! Thanks for sharing this and making people aware!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! I made sure to link to this on my blog today: http://authorjess.blogspot.com/2012/03/trip-around-thursday-hot-topics-and.html
ReplyDeleteWe just studied this in school! I'm in 7th grade and I really want to do something about it. We actually watched Invisible Children and it was very hard to believe that human beings could do that to other human beings...
ReplyDeleteWow...What a powerful message. Thank you for teaching me about this issue.
ReplyDeleteI need to learn more about this. Thx for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI have been aware of Joseph Kony for some time, and he is no Christian, I will pray for him though, and hope he too sees the error of his ways. Here is a poem for you though:
ReplyDeleteWho does he think he is, this guy named Joseph Kony?
Hatred and discontent come from this phoney Baloney.
We must stand up against his kind and be indivisible,
For no children in the world should ever be invisible.
We can never excuse this behavior or feign blindness.
You have raised awareness as another act of kindness!
The Kony 2012 Project has well over 50,000,000 (yes 50 million) Views. Kony is a brutal man with 100's if not 1,000's of brutal followers. These evil people must be hunted and justice must be served. The question is who will do this? The USA is criticized for it’s actions to track and kill these criminals & terrorist’s, and we are running out of money to do the job. So I ask again, who will join us? The UN will not, the neighbors to these Territories will not. So these mad dogs run free all over the globe. It’s one thing to shine the spot light, this is good, but who will do the dirty work, bounty hunters? …and who will pay them?
ReplyDeleteRyan, Thankyou for bringing this to the attention of your readers and therefore raising more awareness to an even greater audience. I will be sharing this to my Facebook which I only set up to highlight causes that need support such as this.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to bear the knowledge of what and who this man is. It is upsetting and distressing but we must watch and inform ourselves of the injustice and brutality so that we are compelled to act.
Thank you for sharing this. I had actually never heard of Kony. I'm happy to help spread the word.
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ReplyDeleteTheres even an app to track the LRA and all of its movements on iPhones. Also a good book to read to get a better understanding of this is A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. Its an autobiography of him as a child soldier. Very moving book and great insight.
ReplyDeleteKony must be stoped!!!!!! We as human beings need to do something. Pleaze everyone pass the massage on so everyone knows who this monster is.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is inspirational and I thank you for bring awareness to many worthy organizations. However, if you don't mind, I would like to shed light on Kony 2012 and Invisible Children organization behind it.
ReplyDeleteKony 2012 went viral throughout the internet and they ended up getting countless donations. If you research the organization though, very little actually goes to helping the people of Uganda. Only 32% of money raised from Kony 2012/Invisible Children go to direct services (if you support the issue you may want to choose a more worthwhile charity).
These articles provide more information and are worth reading if you want to know the facts about the Invisible Children organization.
http://ilto.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-visible-problem-with-invisible-children/
http://keepittrill.com/online/2012/03/kony-2012-scam-stop-supporting-invisible-children/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/invisible-children-founders-posing-with-guns-an-interview-with-the-photographer/2012/03/08/gIQASX68yR_blog.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/invisible-childrens-stop-kony-campaign/2012/03/07/gIQA7B31wR_blog.html
http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com is also a great resource and articles.
In particular this one (from visible children's tumblr: http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/post/19645584716/make-kony-famous-no-thanks-says-uganda)
"[From an article published by AYINET, a grassroots organization that works with young LRA victims, and which organized a screening of KONY 2012 in Lira, N. Uganda, attended by thousands:
“The film’s overall messages were very upsetting to many audience members.
“In particular, viewers were outraged by the KONY 2012 campaign’s strategy to make Kony famous and their marketing of items with his image. One victim was applauded upon saying, ‘If you care for us the victims, you will respect our feelings and acknowledge how hurting it is for us to see you mobilizing the world to make Kony famous, the guy who is the world most wanted criminal.’ It was very hurtful for victims and their families to see posters, bracelets and t-shirts, all looking like a slick marketing campaign, promoting the person most responsible for their shattered lives. One young man who lost four brothers and one of his arms said afterwards: ‘How can anybody expect a person to wear a T-shirt with Kony’s name on it?’ Many people were asking: ‘Why give such criminals celebrity status? Why not make the plight of the victims and the war-ravaged communities, people whose sufferings are real and visible, the focus of a campaign to help?’] "
I sincerely admire your random acts of kindness blog, in fact I read it daily and continue to be inspired by your posts. I hope you will kindly let me post this comment because I believe there needs to be more awareness about the shady background of this organization. Not to mention the fact, the actual victims of the LRA (The very people Invisible Children claim to help) are deeply upset with the whole Kony 2012 Campaign.
I wish you the best of luck in this blog and I will continue to read. Thank you for inspiring us.
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