Kony 2012: Invisible Children's Invisible Cause and Visible Lie

     Over the past few days, Americans have come out in full force to support the Kony 2012 movement, which seeks to capture the leader of the LRA and liberate Ugandan children. That would be nice if he was actually in Uganda and an actual threat to children. While young people being passionate about the world is a nice concept, the reality is we have been fooled, much like a celebrity is "killed off" of Twitter every other day. Some may forsake the skeptics and say it's a good thing to be involved, but blindly following a YouTube video does far more harm than good.
     When getting behind a cause, you should know who you are lending your money and support to. Invisible Children is more of a video production company and merchandising outlet than an actual charity. Of the roughly $9 million they raked in last year, less than a third actually went directly to improve Uganda. The Kony 2012 video was slick, but not "six million dollar" slick. Let's not even get into their $30 "Action Kits" containing posters and other crap, which is all sold for profit. IC is an evangelical group, which basically means they believe God somehow favors them and it is upon their shoulders to tame the unholy "savages" of Africa. It's the same old "heroic white man saving the blacks from themselves" story.
     Even the people of Uganda are critical of the whole thing. They feel like they are being exploited and misrepresented, and rightfully so. While I would lead you to believe the children of Uganda are out being child soldiers, they are actually attending schools. The REAL issues are bigger than Kony, a man who hasn't set foot on their soil in six years. Outdated facts and outright lies are being perpetuated as the truth.
     As I said before, people standing up for something is a good thing, but while we're focused on a nation that can handle itself, we are facing larger problems in the US that deserve our attention. The NDAA bill was passed, which means any of us could be detained without cause for no reason forever. American troops are killing innocent people in the Middle East for sport. These are facts that are readily available, yet none of the brain dead fucks on Facebook or Twitter are spreading the word. We are being led like sheep to the slaughter, yet we'll hod on to the false idea that "they" are worse off than us, when we are the ones who need help.