Shall we take part on Kony 2012?

Shall we take part on Kony 2012?

At first, I though we should. Then I thought, maybe this is not a good idea. How much of the story is true? The campaign promotional video has all possible influence strategies known to Marketers (a compelling story, so many emotional appeals, hundreds of kids, the filmmaker or group leader own son filmed, images of dying children, lot’s of shots in poor parts of Africa, signs of bravery/activism, “we are saving the world” subliminal message embedded all over the place, etc). It makes you wonder.

When I shared the video on Facebook, my brother asked me: “where does the UN stand on issues like this?”. I could not give him an answer. Why, because I did not think about it for a second before spreading the message. Was I wrong to do so? Maybe. I am definitely wrong in not understanding the role of the UN in issues of such importance.

Is the spreading of KONY 2012 campaign immoral? Are we endorsing more corruption or even incentivizing violence? I’ve got no clue.

How could I find out? By collecting facts. But hold on, where are the facts? I have no FREAKIN IDEA! “FACTS” are often manipulated by both sides of the equation. Who should I trust?

So, I checked out these links posted by friends and acquaintances on Facebook:

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

http://theprojecttv.com.au/joseph-kony-the-movie.htm

http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/post/18890947431/we-got-trouble

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2012/mar/08/kony-2012-what-s-the-story

And this other one post by Zac Whyte (a school teacher and True Peace Activist):
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/07/kony-2012-video-controversy/

Am I endorsing a legitimate non-profit organisation? But hold on, how about when I buy and endorse Apple products and/or any other brands, how is that any different? How about the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the organizations we work for, etc. Don’t they all have their “hands dirty” somehow?

Until there is hunger. Until there is suffering. Until there are wars. We ALL have our hands dirty somehow.

So, should I have shared the video? I guess I should. Hope is a good thing, it fuels up your soul. It makes you want to do more, and do it more often. If I was tricked into sharing the video… well, you got me!

I’ve also chosen to spread the story because it was artfully engineered. A real contagious idea in the making.

I am sure there were thousands of people who never thought or believed the power of the Internet and Social Media to change the world. Maybe, more people will believe change is possible and hopefully, more people will embrace Social Media as a tool of influence.

For most of human history, the scarce resource constraining the spread of ideas from common person to common person was memory. Until the last few decades, most people did not have the ability to share ideas with large number of people. That power was reserved for the rich and powerful. Normal people communicated with their voices, and in order to be able to retell an idea or a story orally, you had to remember it. ….. Because of the Web and Social Media, everyone now has the power to type out his ideas and spread them to millions of people. Memory isn’t a big problem anymore. You have to be able to copy and paste a link, not remember an entire epic poem. The change in the environment has introduced a different selection pressure into mental landscape: attention. There are now so many ideas floating around the web, they fight for simple awareness.  Dan Zarrella.

Kony 2012 has robbed the world’s attention and increased awareness about “The Invisible children” with mastery. There are many lessons to be learned from the effectiveness of Kony 2012 (read this).

Although, I hope that people (including me) go beyond CLICKS and LINK sharing. I hope we use these events to learn and to spread more ideas worth spreading.

We need to bring issues like this to the awareness of the general public, so we continuously evolve and learn how changing the world could be possible. I also hope we learn how to recognise legitimate and transparent organisations working towards causes worth fighting for. So we can support the right people.

If I was certain that my attention and money were employed correctly, I’d happily give more. And I’d happily share more links and help these entities share their TRUE stories.

Hope is a good thing and I am full of it.

For those who’d like to watch it again. Click here.

After watching it, please share your thought and opinions.

Happy shipping!