Kony and the LRA

[sanjuro_ronin]

This video is going around:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

Info on Kony:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kony

On the LRA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord%27s_Resistance_Army

Thoughts?

[hskwarrior]

The news keeps mentioning that on facebook it is being used as an experiment. I did a little more digging and found out that video is more than 5 years old. but they never caught Kony so i don't see a problem with it being that old.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Kony's been at this for the last 20+ years.
I would love to know who is his "bank".

[David Jamieson]

Kony is one among hundreds.

Remember general Butt Naked?

There are hundreds of these guys committing atrocities on a daily basis.

I think the Kony2012 invisible children thing is addressing a real problem, but it would appear the charity is exploiting emotionalism in order to gain monetary wealth from a terrible issue.

the charity invisible children puts less than 30% of their intake into programs on the ground.

That my friends is a pathetic scam in my opinion that uses your emotions against your judgement.

Oprah has been doing this for as long as Kony has been killing parents and taking their kids.

emotional terrorism is what it is.

[bawang]

i respect him. i admire honesty.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Kony is one among hundreds.

Remember general Butt Naked?

There are hundreds of these guys committing atrocities on a daily basis.

I think the Kony2012 invisible children thing is addressing a real problem, but it would appear the charity is exploiting emotionalism in order to gain monetary wealth from a terrible issue.

the charity invisible children puts less than 30% of their intake into programs on the ground.

That my friends is a pathetic scam in my opinion that uses your emotions against your judgement.

Oprah has been doing this for as long as Kony has been killing parents and taking their kids.

emotional terrorism is what it is.

Never been much to trust any "specialized charities" or funds myself...
This is old news to me, the whole african warlord kidnapping, killing and raping" is nothing new for ANY part of Africa but more so in the central part.
Tribalisim is a horrific thing and the fact that it gets disguised as pretty much anything make sit worse.
The last I heard of the LRA they were killing gays in Uganda and the Sudan.
They were even mentioned in the movie Casino Royale by the way.

Like any other warlord, they could have taken care of him a long time ago but SOMEONE has a vested interest in keeping his ilk around.

[David Jamieson]

Never been much to trust any "specialized charities" or funds myself...
This is old news to me, the whole african warlord kidnapping, killing and raping" is nothing new for ANY part of Africa but more so in the central part.
Tribalisim is a horrific thing and the fact that it gets disguised as pretty much anything make sit worse.
The last I heard of the LRA they were killing gays in Uganda and the Sudan.
They were even mentioned in the movie Casino Royale by the way.

Like any other warlord, they could have taken care of him a long time ago but SOMEONE has a vested interest in keeping his ilk around.

You, me and most here know there are hundreds of Kony's out there.

Kony hasn't been in Uganda since 2006 Somewhere in all of this it's been reported that Obama had 100 mil advisers get boots on the ground in Uganda in October of last year.

Milk of it is that Kony operates in Sudan now.

The organization has invested less than one third of it's monies into the actual charity and that has to get picked at as it goes through the Ugandan Bureaucracy.

What the leaves the kids with and the villagers with is squat compared to what the producers of the film are walking away with as far as money, which is the point of it, goes.

So you tell me? I personally am not comfortable in giving these guys dime one without some substantial assurances regarding how they run the charity and their views on the Ugandan army itself which is a war crime machine in and of itself by many opinions and documented reports.

These are the films producers in what they themselves say is a "joke shot".
http://i.imgur.com/RlTxn.jpg

Here is an article by Grant Oyston with many referential links within it that is worth reading. http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

In the end, one's opinion and money is their own. But when we are in a bubble way over here, it's worth our time to be more informed. Should be common sense by now. I know it seems cynical, but cynicism is a required element to any investment of time, money or even belief.

[Syn7]

For the cat who asked me to produce militant christians that hurt those who don't join, there you go. It came to you all on its own. How bout that.

[Syn7]

i respect him. i admire honesty.

You respect a man who rapes you honestly?

[hskwarrior]

You respect a man who rapes you honestly?

you would wouldn't you? for the right price you're game right? :cool:

[RenDaHai]

I think what their doing is a good job.

I mean, giving money to these places is throwing it down a pit or at best just a very temporary measure.

The more we keep this in the public awareness the more chance we have of doing something of genuine help.

In DR CONGO something like 5.5 Million civilians have died unnaturally since 1998. Half of which are children. Mainly due to preventable disease and starvation brought by war, but also a great deal because of murder. One year there were 400,000 rapes... Its still going on, but its lost momentum in the media....

When a country is this f*cked up it is limited what we can do to help, but keeping it in the public awareness is very important.

Thats not even about this Kony guy, but if he falls there are plenty of other c**ts to take his place.

Uncivilised societies give these kind of Psychos the chance to flourish. The only way to stop it is to civilise the whole region. But that is not something we can force, its something they need to work out on their own. We should help as much as we can, but we can't force it, and we can't just throw money at it.

I mean, what can we actually do to really help?

[David Jamieson]

I'm 48.

Africa has remained unchanged.
There is nothing the outside world can do or will do.
It is absolutely up to these people in these countries to create their reality.
So far they have in many instances failed in a dismal way.

Africa is not helped by continued exacerbation through arms sales and resource extraction by other countries who exploit the chaos.

Kony is just a bell noise made by a few guys who aren't going to make any real difference either.

If any country in Africa cannot lift itself up, it will continue to remain in the pit or will fall.

Social Networking and awareness won't make us act or be better people. We are all aware of the strife of Africa and her people's and nations. We have all collectively ignored the situation for years and years and years and a month from now? We'll just forget about it again and move on until someone else brings out the emotional tazer to try and squeeze some pity and cash out of you.