Reaction Paper: Kony 2012

The next 27 minutes are an experiment. Usually, statements like this are used to gain approval from viewers, but nonetheless, it is not the case for KONY 2012. Instead of approval and positive feedbacks, it attracted criticisms and condemnation. An experiment is a trial and error procedure. It is not considered to be entirely true and completely reliable; hence, the statement suggests that KONY 2012 is, at best, erroneous. As presented in the video, Joseph Kony is categorized as the number one wanted criminal by the International Criminal Court due to the number of crimes he committed for the past 26 years. Kony has been kidnapping Ugandan children, recruiting them to his group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), turning them into sex slaves and children soldiers since 1987. Therefore, to stop him and his evil deeds, the Invisible Children put up a campaign and uploaded the KONY 2012 in the internet which aims to make Kony famous. Their goal is to make Kony a household terminology. The group believes that if Kony become known the US Government will make a move and he will be caught. Unsurprisingly, the video, in just a matter of days, made a stir receiving almost a hundred million views on YouTube and other social sites. But surprisingly, behind the good intentions that Invisible Children seemingly has, some people see it as untrue and a mere scam. Some reasons as to why the video is being criticized are: KONY 2012 contains misleading facts; KONY 2012 misrepresents the victims and KONY 2012’s creator, the Invisible Children’s credibility is questionable.

KONY 2012 is erroneous because it contains misleading facts. The video, as proven by some research and statements from versed people, presented many false information. First of

FINAL DRAFT

those, Joseph Kony was cited to be in Uganda while in fact he is currently at Congo. Second, the LRA now only consists of no more than 300 members. In contrast with the thousand the video presented. And lastly, the campaign and...