KONY 2012

GuerrillaHermit

Mibs131

I could be wrong, but this doesn't seem like a con. That's a chance we have to take; like giving change to someone that "seems" to need it. In the long run I have no control once that change leaves my hands. But it's a risk I'll take because for all the fakes, there are still a few who really need it. When you're not sure, take the time to introduce yourself to these folks. Give them a little time and then make your decision about helping out.
I hear the negative stories about others who offer jobs to folks with the signs, but they walk away. But I've offered food, sandwiches whatever that are gladly received.
I'll take the chance, cuz even tho this Kony is one person... the world is better with just one less of his ilk.

sarah_ep

Has this been pasted here yet?

http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

I think that awareness is great, however, with there being so much controversy over their finances it does lead me to concern. Research your charities and know where your money is going. This is such a complex issue.

eatherhey

http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/18920717928/thedailywhat-on-kony-2012-i-honestly-wanted-to

Excerpt: The organization behind Kony 2012 — Invisible Children Inc. — is an extremely shady nonprofit that has been called ”misleading,” “naive,” and “dangerous” by a Yale political science professor, and has been accused by Foreign Affairs of “manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes.” They have also been criticized by the Better Business Bureau for refusing to provide information necessary to determine if IC meets the Bureau’s standards.

aelarek

Uhm hello?

Has anyone seen the movie "Machine Gun Preacher"?

Based off a true story. That's what needs to be done. Not sending money to an organization. Real people giving everything outta their hearts instead of everything in their wallets. Financial support is important, but unless your giving all you got, every fiber... In Gods eyes, the widow who her last penny in offering is far richer than the rich man that pays his 10%.

catattack13

we talked about this all day in school. American foreign policy has been, is, and will continue to be, a muddled situation.

as a social worker and a human being, I don't think there is anything wrong, whatsover, in caring, voicing, and supporting. underlying importance to most of this, though, is researching.

IndigenousStardust

This is all I have to say about that.

I care about all children no matter where they are from. Forgive me for my ignorance on the topic before Philly D referred me to the video, but I really don't think it matters when someone begins to care about something of this magnitude, it's really not a game of "I cared first". Some people were just a little late and all the more power to them. That is the point of this movement in the first place...hardly anyone knew, and now pretty much everyone does. I'm definitely not saying dig in your pockets and give to the charity, I totally agree with JinxRita, but even though apparently this campaign is annoying people, it's creating awareness. It might seem stupid that all some people do is retweet or repost, but in this day and age news travels faster than ever and that one post multiplies quicker than you can believe. Maybe it won't lead to anything, who knows, but maybe...just maybe those few seconds it took you to repost will lead to his arrest and all those poor babies can go home. What's the harm in that?

lauralaurafish

http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/18920717928/thedailywhat-on-kony-2012-i-honestly-wanted-to

Excerpt: The organization behind Kony 2012 — Invisible Children Inc. — is an extremely shady nonprofit that has been called ”misleading,” “naive,” and “dangerous” by a Yale political science professor, and has been accused by Foreign Affairs of “manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes.” They have also been criticized by the Better Business Bureau for refusing to provide information necessary to determine if IC meets the Bureau’s standards.

"I see at least two factually inaccurate claims in this posting already. This article claims Chris Blattman called the charity "misleading, naive, maybe even dangerous" on his blog. Read the blog that has been linked to here. That's not what it says. The statement is that the "savior attitude" and the idea of saving Africa is "misleading, naive," etc. This is a blanket statement that he is applying to various African-focused charities. Additionally, there is a statement here that "IC has a low two-star rating in accountability from Charity Navigator because they won’t let their financials be independently audited." That is at odds with what the Washington Post has reported, that the two-star rating was because the organization had four independent board members instead of five. In fact, if you look at IC's own financial statements you can find the report of the independent auditor who reviewed the organization's financials in 2011. Go check it out right now, they have 3 out of 4 stars. How much fact checking would it have taken this site to discover that? Guess you need to take everything with a huge grain of salt."

Hernandeak11

we talked about this all day in school. American foreign policy has been, is, and will continue to be, a muddled situation.

as a social worker and a human being, I don't think there is anything wrong, whatsover, in caring, voicing, and supporting. underlying importance to most of this, though, is researching.

Beautifully put.

GuerrillaHermit

Ladydi1982

My initial thoughts after watching KONY2012: What a terrible man and terrible situation. HOWEVER, I don't appreciate them ending the video by making it seem like the best way to help is to give them money. If you want to help the situation, the answer is in the video - call the officials whose approval is required to keep the US ambassadors and aides there to help the Ugandan army.

Donating to Invisible Children and buying one of those "starter kits" is going to do nothing but support their supposed plans to essentially vandalize and spread litter throughout our cities on April 20th. It will do nothing where it matters.

Repost the video, by all means, this is about awareness after all. Awareness can help stop Kony. But that awareness only makes a difference if you call your representatives and senators. Please don't litter my city and force my tax dollars to clean it up...

(I took this from a post my brother posted on Facebook. Not my words, but I agree with him 100%)

sarah_ep

http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/18920717928/thedailywhat-on-kony-2012-i-honestly-wanted-to

Excerpt: The organization behind Kony 2012 — Invisible Children Inc. — is an extremely shady nonprofit that has been called ”misleading,” “naive,” and “dangerous” by a Yale political science professor, and has been accused by Foreign Affairs of “manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes.” They have also been criticized by the Better Business Bureau for refusing to provide information necessary to determine if IC meets the Bureau’s standards.

"I see at least two factually inaccurate claims in this posting already. This article claims Chris Blattman called the charity "misleading, naive, maybe even dangerous" on his blog. Read the blog that has been linked to here. That's not what it says. The statement is that the "savior attitude" and the idea of saving Africa is "misleading, naive," etc. This is a blanket statement that he is applying to various African-focused charities. Additionally, there is a statement here that "IC has a low two-star rating in accountability from Charity Navigator because they won’t let their financials be independently audited." That is at odds with what the Washington Post has reported, that the two-star rating was because the organization had four independent board members instead of five. In fact, if you look at IC's own financial statements you can find the report of the independent auditor who reviewed the organization's financials in 2011. Go check it out right now, they have 3 out of 4 stars. How much fact checking would it have taken this site to discover that? Guess you need to take everything with a huge grain of salt."

*The two star rating is for accountability and transparency*. The number of board numbers is Jenkins retaliation to the criticism. The charity does have a 3 out of 4 stars overall rating by Charity Navigator.

Transparency is a big issue for me personally when I am looking into charities to donate or volunteer for.

lauralaurafish

http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/18920717928/thedailywhat-on-kony-2012-i-honestly-wanted-to

Excerpt: The organization behind Kony 2012 — Invisible Children Inc. — is an extremely shady nonprofit that has been called ”misleading,” “naive,” and “dangerous” by a Yale political science professor, and has been accused by Foreign Affairs of “manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes.” They have also been criticized by the Better Business Bureau for refusing to provide information necessary to determine if IC meets the Bureau’s standards.

"I see at least two factually inaccurate claims in this posting already. This article claims Chris Blattman called the charity "misleading, naive, maybe even dangerous" on his blog. Read the blog that has been linked to here. That's not what it says. The statement is that the "savior attitude" and the idea of saving Africa is "misleading, naive," etc. This is a blanket statement that he is applying to various African-focused charities. Additionally, there is a statement here that "IC has a low two-star rating in accountability from Charity Navigator because they won’t let their financials be independently audited." That is at odds with what the Washington Post has reported, that the two-star rating was because the organization had four independent board members instead of five. In fact, if you look at IC's own financial statements you can find the report of the independent auditor who reviewed the organization's financials in 2011. Go check it out right now, they have 3 out of 4 stars. How much fact checking would it have taken this site to discover that? Guess you need to take everything with a huge grain of salt."

*The two star rating is for accountability and transparency*. The number of board numbers is Jenkins retaliation to the criticism. The charity does have a 3 out of 4 stars overall rating by Charity Navigator.

Transparency is a big issue for me personally when I am looking into charities to donate or volunteer for.

It has two stars in ACCOUNTABILITY and transparency because they only have 4 board members, not 5. A charity can't have such a small number of board members to decide its actions. Don't take my word for it, here is a much better source of information than, oh say, reddit, tumblr, or all those other PERSONAL BLOGGING sites criticizing an organization that has been fighting this issue for years and HAS had RESULTS:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/invisible-childrens-stop-kony-campaign/2012/03/07/gIQA7B31wR_blog.html?tid=pm_pop

I do wonder, however, if any of these people would like to tell all those nasty things to Jacob's face, or to all the other children who are now FREE thanks to Invisible Children... hmmm...

lauralaurafish

This is all I have to say about that.

As much as I love memes, this is incredibly distasteful and ill-mannered. I'm sorry you feel this way about an opportunity to bring light to an issue that has been going on for decades in the dark, and to unite different nations to actually make a difference in children's lives, but I do hope you realize not everything in life is a joke.

kapeluza

This is all I have to say about that.

GDIF.

capnwo85

I'm sorry, but we need to focus on the domestic front before anything else, sorry if I'm an insensitive jerk.

cardiokitten

I'm just going to leave this here. Devil's Advocate and all.

http://thedailywh.at/2012/03/07/on-kony-2012-2/

Yup! Read all sides of the story.

rileysowner

Kony has been around for a while. Even as someone who pays attention to what is going on in that area because people I know work in it, I was not aware of him. He has pretty much flown under the international radar because of the extremely poor areas he is functioning in. That does not make what he does any less atrocious. It seems that what is needed is just what this video does, increased awareness internationally. For that reason I am glad this is not only posted, but getting so much response. Sure for many it is the social cause flavour of the day, but at the same time, this has and hopefully will continue to raise awareness.

VintageDisaster

AMAZING CAUSE. I am definitely taking part!

VintageDisaster

This is all I have to say about that.

As much as I love memes, this is incredibly distasteful and ill-mannered. I'm sorry you feel this way about an opportunity to bring light to an issue that has been going on for decades in the dark, and to unite different nations to actually make a difference in children's lives, but I do hope you realize not everything in life is a joke.

I completely agree. Every movement needs to start somewhere. That's what RAISING AWARENESS is all about.

sarah_ep

http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/18920717928/thedailywhat-on-kony-2012-i-honestly-wanted-to

Excerpt: The organization behind Kony 2012 — Invisible Children Inc. — is an extremely shady nonprofit that has been called ”misleading,” “naive,” and “dangerous” by a Yale political science professor, and has been accused by Foreign Affairs of “manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes.” They have also been criticized by the Better Business Bureau for refusing to provide information necessary to determine if IC meets the Bureau’s standards.

"I see at least two factually inaccurate claims in this posting already. This article claims Chris Blattman called the charity "misleading, naive, maybe even dangerous" on his blog. Read the blog that has been linked to here. That's not what it says. The statement is that the "savior attitude" and the idea of saving Africa is "misleading, naive," etc. This is a blanket statement that he is applying to various African-focused charities. Additionally, there is a statement here that "IC has a low two-star rating in accountability from Charity Navigator because they won’t let their financials be independently audited." That is at odds with what the Washington Post has reported, that the two-star rating was because the organization had four independent board members instead of five. In fact, if you look at IC's own financial statements you can find the report of the independent auditor who reviewed the organization's financials in 2011. Go check it out right now, they have 3 out of 4 stars. How much fact checking would it have taken this site to discover that? Guess you need to take everything with a huge grain of salt."

*The two star rating is for accountability and transparency*. The number of board numbers is Jenkins retaliation to the criticism. The charity does have a 3 out of 4 stars overall rating by Charity Navigator.

Transparency is a big issue for me personally when I am looking into charities to donate or volunteer for.

It has two stars in ACCOUNTABILITY and transparency because they only have 4 board members, not 5. A charity can't have such a small number of board members to decide its actions. Don't take my word for it, here is a much better source of information than, oh say, reddit, tumblr, or all those other PERSONAL BLOGGING sites criticizing an organization that has been fighting this issue for years and HAS had RESULTS:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/invisible-childrens-stop-kony-campaign/2012/03/07/gIQA7B31wR_blog.html?tid=pm_pop

I do wonder, however, if any of these people would like to tell all those nasty things to Jacob's face, or to all the other children who are now FREE thanks to Invisible Children... hmmm...

I read it from the article you posted. Charity Navigator also states that they have not been audited by a committee. I was merely pointing out that was only Jenkins reply. They've also refused materials from the BBB (transparency!).

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12429

http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/children-and-youth/invisible-children-in-san-diego-ca-4469

I do not think anyone here is saying that what is happening isn't horrible or that something shouldn't be done. However, I do believe that we need to be holding all non profit organizations accountable for their finances and overhead. I think the idea itself is great and no one here is denying that.

We regularly repost videos without researching their content or the ones posting it. Several people here including myself decided to play devils advocate.

I think it odd that you are attacking people for using social sites and blogging for information when this video is advocating the use of these tools to spread information.

ginamaria724

This is all I have to say about that.

Uhm, I disagree with this. The only reason why people are spreading the news about Kony around is most likely because they just figured out who this man is. So, no, I actually haven't cared for Ugandan kids, but now that I know what they're going through, I will care for them and I will retweet and re-post about this topic. Instead of posting memes that will do nothing but cause negative attention, why don't you actually watch the video and do something more productive about Kony 2012.

lauralaurafish

Ok, not to beat a dead horse or anything but here it is directly from the Invisible Children website regarding every point they've been criticized:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html

nnylee

This is all I have to say about that.

Similarly,

Banks01

This is all I have to say about that.

Contributed to building schools and educating children there a couple of years ago. We installed a lab, built a community center, and repaired a facotry focusing on women trades

Also went to Sri Lanka, installed 20 laptops in a schools And was part of the team that taught dozens of teachers and hundreds of students. We helped build habitat houses and a training center to teach basic trades (they make an average of $5 a day there)


Here's a video I did of our teams efforts a couple of years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMMYJMwmiQ8


I'll change my profile pic and add some from my last trip.

Banks01

This pic was in front of a home we built in the tsunami affected area of Sri Lanka. Still the largest natural disaster human loss in history.

For those of you questioning the validity of the donation, read my receipt:





Thank you for placing an order with Invisible Children!

We appreciate your purchase.  100% of the money from your purchase goes to the area of greatest need, including our protection and rehabilitation work in Central Africa and spreading awareness about the conflict around the world. Visit http://www.invisiblechildren.com/protectionplan for more details.  If you would like to do even more, the TRI program is our recurring donation fund. It allows us to be certain that we will be able to help children recover from their experiences with the LRA long after the LRA has been disarmed.

Due to the astounding response to KONY 2012 all around the world, please allow 3-4 weeks for the processing and shipping of the KONY 2012 Action Kits within the US and Canada. For international orders, expect up to 5 weeks.

We appreciate your patience, but you don't have to wait for the action kit to take action. Visit KONY2012.com to share the film, sign up for events, and download PDF files of KONY 2012 posters.

STOP AT NOTHING."

I_give_it_2_u_str8

Credit: Reddit.

ket_the_jet

It's to the right of the Democratic Republic of Congo, north of Rwanda and Tanzania, west of Kenya, and south of Africa's newest country, South Sudan.

Of course, my degree is in International Politics with a concentration in International Political Economies. I would be shocked if a third of the people in the States could label six nations in Africa and I'll give them South Africa, Egypt, and Madagascar to start them off.
-wtk

ket_the_jet

For those of you questioning the validity of the donation, read my receipt:

...100% of the money from your purchase goes to the area of greatest need, including our protection and rehabilitation work in Central Africa and spreading awareness about the conflict around the world.

In fairness to the devil's advocate, this does not suggest that any more or less than the reported 31% of the money actually goes to central Africa. In fact, it seems like clever nomenclature to mask the exact thing that the naysayers are suggesting.

Without getting into the politics of the region, I would like to see Joseph Kony removed from his small piece of power. He's a war criminal and his actions are inexcusable. That said, I would be much quicker to donate money to Africare or Water.org or another transparent non-profit.
-wtk

Banks01

For those of you questioning the validity of the donation, read my receipt:

...100% of the money from your purchase goes to the area of greatest need, including our protection and rehabilitation work in Central Africa and spreading awareness about the conflict around the world.

In fairness to the devil's advocate, this does not suggest that any more or less than the reported 31% of the money actually goes to central Africa. In fact, it seems like clever nomenclature to mask the exact thing that the naysayers are suggesting.

Without getting into the politics of the region, I would like to see Joseph Kony removed from his small piece of power. He's a war criminal and his actions are inexcusable. That said, I would be much quicker to donate money to Africare or Water.org or another transparent non-profit.
-wtk

I have and I am. I also like to get out and sweat (hence my pic of a house we built in Sri Lanka)

This type of stuff can be intently personal, make your personal judgement, act with that decision and follow that direction.

Some people have said "issue of the day" and that it "will be forgotten shortly" and blow over. And sadly, that's accurate. Especially in today's immediate gratification society, the next status update forgets the last.

I've been involved in support of organizations in 6 different countries for the last several years, getting caught up in the enormity is paralyzing but getting out and doing one thing is the way it starts.

Here's something we did a couple of years ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMMYJMwmiQ8