I think one thing we know for sure is that Jason Russel doesnt have the answer to that question, the Kony 2012 campaign could have been cool, it ticked the cool box's, good looking front guy, cool music, but then became too cool and went back to being uncool. I was sucked in, I even bought the wrist band- but Ive never been cool so the hipster can recognise that I am by no means a threat and forgive me.
Everyone is sick of Kony 2012, in fact I am more sick of everyone being sick of the campaign then I am of the campaign its self.
Some people are saying that the Ugandan peoples reactions of anger towards the doco is a direct reflection of the films misguided nature. Im sorry but this is a third world country, how can we expect the civilians to understand our culture in the face book and digital technology age? How could they comprehend an idea to bring fame to someone via the internet in order to deface and potentially capture him? They cant, all they can do is watch the film and use their common sense to assume we are in some way celebrating this revolting human.
Some people are crying out for poor Gavin, the painfully cute anglo kid in the doco, trying to rap his sheltered little head around the concept of a 'bad man' Well unlike a large portion of the children that came in to contact with Kony, Gavin will live, opening childrens eyes to the hard ships that other children are exposed to, if done correctly wont harm them only encourage compassion, so no I didn't concern myself with poor little Gavin.
Jason Russell tried to do a good thing, Im still not convinced that he had bad intentions, or that any harm will come to the people of Uganda due to the making of Kony 2012, Im of the old fashioned mind set that opening our eyes and minds to a cause has to be a good thing, even if its not a 'cool' thing, and this certainly has opened our eyes, even if by doing that the film makers have put themselves in to public forum as easy targets for the ridicule that they were no doubt expecting.
Of course then yesterday, after making my opinion on the making and makers of this documentery clear what was to happen? I turn on the news to discover that Jason Russell the guys I have defended, cute little Gavin's dad, someone we were told to trust with our money was caught publicly masturbating. Great, he was caught on film running up and down the streets naked with his nob in his hands, we trusted you Jason, our crusader, the worst part isn't that poor Gavin now not only knows that there are 'bad men' out there but also that daddy gets off on flashing traffic not to mention, this gives the cool kids a sense of righteousness, all the uneducated bloggers out there (myself excluded) are patting themselves on the back for their intuitive foresight. The world is as it should be, the academics can rest again knowing that one organisation cannot change the world by (god forbid) over simplifying things to grab public attention.
Good one Jason.
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