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Kony proves impact of internet
By Jacob Tierny
On March 25, 2012
If you've paid any attention to anything at all in the last week, you've heard about Kony. But just
in case the rock you live under was buried under an avalanche of even larger rocks, let me give
you a brief summary.
Joseph Kony is an African warlord. He is one of the world's most-wanted criminals, responsible
for countless atrocities. Most notably, he has kidnapped thousands of children and forced them to
become sex slaves or child soldiers.
But this has been happening for years, and if I had to guess you didn't know his name until
last week. I didn't. Kony's newfound infamy is due to a glossy, well-made video by Invisible
Children, a charity devoted to stopping Kony and helping his victims.
The video went viral instantly, turning apathetic Facebook users into eager (if poorly-informed)
activists almost overnight.
I think most online activism is useless. I think a bunch of angry people on the internet rarely
make the world a better place. But this one is different.
I'm really excited by the energy that has sprung up around this particular campaign. It seems
to be a concentrated, specific effort to raise global awareness about a single topic. Invisible
Children has a goal, they have a deadline and they have a plan.
Usually internet activism is incredibly lazy. You think you're making a difference by pressing
a "like" button. You give yourself a warm fuzzy feeling that accomplishes nothing.
But it has the potential to be so much more. Gadaffi was killed, Mubarak was ousted and SOPA
was stopped because of ordinary people harnessing social networks to inspire true action.
Invisible Children seems to be trying to harness this power in a carefully-calculated campaign
meant to tug on your heartstrings, get you off your couch and coax money out of your wallet.
Not everything is going perfectly though. There's been plenty of criticism of this group. Much of
it is valid.
It's doubtful that even an army of eager youth can solve a problem on a continent across the
world. There's also some serious doubt that Invisible Children makes the best use of the money it
receives.
But my excitement is more about the movement than the cause. This campaign has generated
more energy in the past week than anything I have ever seen. This might be the first step in
bridging the gap between internet "slacktivism" and actual change.
It is astounding how many people have gone from absolute ignorance to fervent activism in the
last week. Over 4,000 have already signed up for the April 20 campaign event in Buffalo alone,
myself included.
Even if Joseph Kony is alive and well at the end of the year, if the methods used to drive this
campaign can be reapplied for other, more local causes, the opportunities are amazing. That's
why this is important. That's why, despite a healthy dose of skepticism, I continue to support
this.
There are plenty of atrocities in the world. Maybe Kony's crimes are not the most important to
you. But if enough momentum can be built behind this one topic, maybe some good can actually
happen. And maybe if the Kony 2012 campaign accomplishes something, similar techniques can
be used to solve a new problem in 2013.
Maybe this will all accomplish nothing. Maybe this entire campaign will be forgotten before
the summer is over (It's already stopped trending on Twitter). But maybe not. Maybe a glossy,
overproduced ad blitz that rivals anything big business can come up with is exactly what it takes
to get people's attention. It got mine.
Jacob Tierney can be reached by email at tierney.record@live.com.
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