Kony 2012

I have to first state that I really don't know squat about Africa. I have heard many different stories about Christians being attacked and their houses burned down, children being turned into soldiers, babies being raped, the ever-rapid expansion of people contracting AIDS, and other horrors. I remember some young adults from a church I used to attend going to Africa to spread the word of the Lord and them telling me about how excited the people were to have Bibles, to hear the word of the Lord, and were eager to be baptized. In fact, they had mass baptisms where people stood in line to go into the water and fully, publicly declare their love for the Lord. Amen! The stories brought tears to my eyes but, alas, I don't know much about the history or the current governments. I probably couldn't pick out too many of the countries there on a map, not since 6th grade anyway.

With that being said, I'm sure many of you have already seen the short film called Kony 2012. If you haven't you can watch it below.



I kept seeing people posting stuff about Kony and I had no idea what it was about. I was busy reading and writing other stories. Well, tonight I had a friend (who I am always discussing politics with), post an article about the film maker, Jason Russell, being arrested for masturbating in public and vandalizing cars. So, I figured that I better find out what this Kony stuff was all about once and for all.

I found the movie and watched it. I cried. I can't stand seeing others cry and when I saw the boy Jacob, who is the boy from Uganda that the film focuses on, describe how he saw his brother killed and then he was crying about what he has gone through, and the film maker, telling him that he is going to stop "him" (the evil man responsible Kony)...it was too much for me. Yes, I have a bit of a bleeding heart. Who could watch such a thing and not feel emotions?

The whole time during the video they kept talking about how they want to see Kony arrested. Kony, we are told, is an evil man who goes around collecting people's children, forces them to take arms against others, including the children's own parents. He forces the children into sex, mutilating the faces of other people, makes the children kill and torture, and has an army of 30,000 children.

With the efforts of the film maker, Russell and others around him, he created Invisible Children. This organization is dedicated to giving these children in Africa a voice and once and for all stopping Kony. They have built their own army through word of mouth, the internet, and raising awareness by making films exposing Kony for his atrocities. They also have a starter kit for those people who want to purchase or donate to the organization that includes some bracelets, and some other Kony 2012 information in order for people to spread the word and get people to contact those in government and celebrities so that their voices can be heard.

With mounting pressure and interest, Obama has sent 100 troops into the area to hunt down Kony but unfortunately we have not been able to find him. During the video they keep saying that they want Kony arrested and brought to justice. Well, this didn't make much sense to me. My response:

Why do they want him arrested? Why don't they want his face mutilated, then ass-raped, then hung? Seems only fair. Why would anyone want to house him and give him 3 meals a day? WTF?

Honestly, it didn't make any sense to me. Why would we even bother to try him, much less work with some kangaroo "world court" that never has the US interest at heart? Why would we want him is some prison where we are feeding him 3 meals a day, and will probably have medical care and a better night's sleep with a bed, all in a temperature controlled environment? Well, as you probably figured out, this video is clearly made by a liberal who most likely has no problem with a woman killing her baby (calling it a choice), but would find it abhorrent to kill a child-murdering, raping, terrorizing monster. Of course putting him in jail is so much better than taking him out once and for all. I mean this guy didn't give any of these children or his other victims a trial, why should he be afforded anything different? Only in the diseased mind of liberal does this make sense.

It is because of this that I posted my response on Facebook and a friend of mine jumped in and basically said that the people need to take care of this themselves. Instead of the 30k army of children this man has, according to the film, he actually has a few hundred. He also pointed out that the issue was being taken out of context and that Kony had not been in Uganda for at least 5 years. What? So, again I am left a little perplexed and this exchange from my friend prompted me see if I could find a little more information on the topic.

I should also mention that I have heard about people like Kony before. From what I had remembered of stories in the past and on the news, there are several people like Kony who go around raping, torturing, and recruiting children to do their dirty work. So, I also wanted to know why it was just Kony they were going after? Why wouldn't they want to go after all these scumbags?

It turns out that I was right. Kony is just one of many and he does have only about three to five hundred in his army, not the 30k that is implied in the film. I also found a story that said the reaction of those in Uganda who saw the film threw stones in protest. They were horrified that the organization was selling Kony materials and making him a celebrity. The idea of this organization making him a celebrity of sorts and then putting this in front of the victims was too much for them to accept as being okay.

In addition, I found a ton of other videos that show Jason Russell refused to have someone audit his organization. Apparently only 32% of the money donated actually goes to the children. Silent Children works with the Sudan People's Liberation Army, or SPLA. who has been reported by several sources, as also having children serving in their army. The SPLA has been reported to have murdered and raped their own people. Prostitution activities are commonly associated with SPLA, along with reports of sexual violence.

Here is a video that discusses more of these accusations in detail:



This video clearly sheds a completely different light on this issue. The fact that Silent Children has been accused of manipulating facts in order to escalate a war is quite alarming. Why would they work with a government that has children in their army as well?

Well, the following video is a little odd but, there are some things that are mentioned that are worth repeating so, I went ahead and posted it for you.



Now for the interview:



Shorter version:



So, according to this interview, Kony is saying he's fighting the Uganda government because of what they have done. This seems to make sense and I don't see any children either. I certainly do not see 30k of children anywhere near him, not at all. Of course, they could be elsewhere but if he is giving children guns and these children have seen their parents killed, why hasn't one of these kids turned the gun on him? That was another question that I had before I went digging for some more information.

I am not at all sure what to believe. Is it possible that the crimes Kony is accused of were actually committed by SPLA but blamed on Kony in order to persuade our government to remove a man working against them? There are many that suggest this all has to do with oil and controlling a pipe line. This could be true as well. Is it possible that Jason Russell thought Kony was the bad guy and got in way over his head, not realizing the history and now he is being confronted with information he was previously oblivious to? Could this be why he freaked out and has now been arrested? According to reports it is believed he was on some type of substance. Is Russell just some operative who is working with the president to justify war?

I'm not sure I'm buying into any major conspiracy here but, one thing is for sure, there is more to this story than what was presented in Kony 2012.

Here is a video that suggests a major conspiracy:



So, I'm very apprehensive about having an opinion. It does appear as though Kony has not been in Uganda for 5 years and if he is dead, then that surely explains why they have yet to find him. If he is still alive, apparently he's not been doing anything recently so why are we there? I understand wanting to go after someone if they have done all the things Kony is accused of but at the same time, with so much time passing, it would seem that the people themselves should be handling this issue, not our government. No wonder Silent Children was originally met with resistance by the government to go into Uganda. Bush didn't touch this but Obama did. So much for being peace loving. Uganda has made many improvements and Kony hasn't been around in many years. How can Obama justify this? How can Jason Russell justify this?



This is all the information I have right now. I will probably do some more research and see where I stand on this issue. What are your thoughts? Is this a conspiracy? Is this a man who made a movie in order to make a great change in the world, as he claims? Is this all about oil? I thought we were "going green"? No?

Comment below.