‘Campaign for Justice’ Goes Viral — and Local
It’s a campaign that has taken the Internet by storm, to raise awareness and seek the arrest of the rebel leader of Uganda.
“KONY 2012,” a video made by the non-profit group Invisible Children, had over 9 million views on YouTube in the span of 24 hours, and has gained attention across the world and here in Central Oregon.
You may have seen the words “KONY 2012” on links to the video, shared on your Facebook timeline or Twitter feed in the last couple of days.
The 30-minute video aims to make Kony “famous” this year, to educate people about the abuses done in Uganda by Joseph Kony, the rebel leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in order to bring him to justice.
He’s accused of killing and raping children, and also brainwashing them (though there has been some criticism of the charity’s tactics, claiming they are exaggerating the scale of Kony’s crimes)..
The video has spread like a wildfire on the Internet, with views topping a whopping 9 million in the span of a couple days, all thanks to social media.
The effectiveness of the video also was up for debate among some students at Summit High who saw the video Wednesday. Some of them said though not everyone may not agree on the issue, everyone can agree this movement is a clear example of the power of social media.
“It does bring to light that these issues are very real and it does spread awareness easily,” said one Summit student.
“I feel like it doesn’t make it as real because you have this internet behind the screen, you’re clicking ‘share’ but you’re not quite understanding what that’s doing to help the world besides clicking a share button,” said another student.
“I think its good to show people like you said earlier who can make a difference and have money, and can go out and be able to help and this video went viral overnight kind of shows that other issues can be brought up in the future as well,” said another.
Summit students Nicole Ruttke and Ben Griffin say abuse by the Ugandan rebel leader has gone on for 20 years, and Congress might take American advisors out of Uganda. So this video, to them, has made a difference already.
“If we didn’t care about them, we wouldn’t be taking the steps to change it,” said Ruttke. “That’s why we’re posting it on Facebook and doing everything we can to get more people aware to help protect them and get rid of Joseph Kony.”
“You can think it won’t help, but a lot of people aren’t aware that the Egyptian leader was taken down just because of a Facebook group,” said Griffin.
“You can hit share on Facebook and 600 other people know, whatever is happening and in this case, its Kony,” said Griffin. “The people that disagree with it, that’s fine but for those of us that do agree with it and support it it’s a good way to get it out there.”
The Invisible Children says on April 20th, they plan on placing posters in every city by supporters in order to make KONY famous. they hope this catches congress’ attention.
KONY 2012 Website: www.KONY2012.COM
