Who the Hell is Kony and Why Should You Care?

Its on Facebook. Its on tech blogs. Its on personal blogs. Its on Tumblr. There is no place where the word 'Kony' has not been sighted. If you are still unaware of this sensation called 'Kony', you've come to the right place, for I shall explain what the hell exactly this 'Kony thing' is and why you should care, along with all the controversies surrounding it.

Here is the original Kony video you must watch to understand what the recent brouhaha is all about. Everything is clearly explained in this video and that is why I am not going to explain what its about :

Now, just to get an idea of how viral this video has become, here are some nice looking stats for you :

Yes, 14 MILLION views in just 4 days. Assuming you have already watched the video by now, you may very well understand the reason behind the popularity of this video. If you skipped the video above, its a request that you watch it because the cause stated above is genuine and very well explained.

The controversy regarding Kony 2012

While everyone agrees upon the authenticity of the cause, not many agree with the intentions of the people leading this movement.

This article by Mashable pretty much sums up why this movement is getting a lot of critical attention. To sum up, these are the main reasons why the Kony 2012 movement is in the news for some wrong reasons :

1. Mashable says :

"..The video has also, however, begun to receive significant backlash from organizations and publications questioning the authenticity of Invisible Children. Many of the negative critiques have been targeted at Invisible Children’s practices as an organization, not whether Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, is a war criminal."

So we know that the Joseph Kony story is real and there are no doubts that he needs to be arrested. But there is also a concern about the organization (Invisible Children) that is behind this campaign as it is being accused of misuse of funds. This is one major factor making some people (including me) a bit jittery about this whole campaign. Visit this Reddit thread to view a very thought-provoking discussion taking place about this whole issue and some more in-depth thinking.

2. KONY 2012 is being accused of promoting 'Slacktivism' - a belief (very common among the youngsters) that sharing a video on Twitter of Facebook is makes them an activist of some sort and hence contributing to the eradication of the problem. It only increases the awareness, fellas. The problem is still there unless you go out on the streets and actually do something.

Other important links worth checking out :

1. Visible children : A Tumblr blog explaining why we should think before supporting the organization behind Kony 2012. Seriously worth a read as this was probably from where the controversy originated.

2. What if : A second take on this whole issue. But then, the truth will never be known to commons like us..

3. And then I told Kony : A hilarious meme on the whole Kony issue (Warning : Nsfw language)


Well, the what side you take on this whole issue is up to you. My job was just to make you wiser than you were 10 minutes ago. Opinions please?