Kony Twenty- Twe…!!!!!!…….Shut up!!

Tags

BCM112, extortion, Kony 2012

 

 

Upon composing this post, there was no doubt in my mind about which direction I would take.

Activism has always taken place throughout modern society, involving many countries. Its sole purpose has always been to promote social, political, environmental and economic change, through the formation of groups or unions, such as the National Women’s Suffrage union, formed during the feminist movement in the USA.

People of similar ideologies are brought together through activism, where their voices can be heard amongst the masses. All in all, activism is a positive action within society.

However, last year an abomination of sorts managed to gain viral recognition across cyberspace.

“Kony 2012”, the pinnacle of “slacktivism”. The “Kony 2012” campaign, funded by charity group, “Invisible Children” exploded into viral infamy at record speeds, largely thanks to the “feel-good” measures that supported the cause. Journalist, Adam Ferrier describes the Kony affair in a most accurate description, stating, “Kony 2012 has harnessed the powers of social media and advertising, blended them with the worst of evangelical Christianity, and duped the world.“ Kony 2012 was not activism in the slightest, more accurately it could be classed as manipulation. Various techniques were used in order to appeal to the audience, ranging from guilt inducing photos of neglected African children, to slow motion effects, tied together with emotional piano tunes. Worst of all, “action packs” were introduced, “for a small price”.

I’m not pretending for one moment that the current events in Uganda, regarding its children are a positive thing. However it is the outbreak of “online, risk-free protest” sparked by the “Kony 2012” campaign that has tarnished the notion of activism. People can now “save the world” by simply sitting in front of their computer screen and clicking a button. Facebook and Twitter have been flooded with elements of risk free protest, many of these pleads captioned, “like to save them, ignore if you want them to die” and “1 like = 1 prayer”.

It is sickening. Children being extorted for a cheap “like” or dollar.