People are looking to Uganda more than ever before thanks to Invisible Children's filmmaker Jason Russell and CEO Ben Keesey. Their 30-minute documentary about Joseph Kony, an African warlord, resulted in over 74 million YouTube hits in less than a week.
The documentary aims to direct awareness to Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and its atrocities of kidnapping children and forcing them into a lifetime of warfare.
Even though the video has raised significant awareness, has the interpretation of this human rights crisis been twisted out of context? Critics, politicians and even advocates to the cause are saying maybe this was not the correct way to shed light on this international issue.
Russell himself addressed critics saying, "[The video] definitely oversimplifies the issue. This video is not the answer, it's just the gateway into the conversation. And we made it quick and oversimplified on purpose."
But oversimplifying the video possibly masked other problems beyond the Ugandan mission: In the article, "Why KONY 2012 created the wrong buzz," author TMS Ruge argues, "More children die of malaria, diarrhea and nodding disease in northern Uganda on a daily basis than the monthly average of Kony's 25 years of killing. Where's the slick viral video for those children?"
Social media became the gateway for global engagement, yet did it give voices to the voiceless?
Ruge makes an even greater point when he says, "[KONY 2012] trotted out the same tired line about Africa. Torture, rape, conscription; tent poles for the single, sad story on Africa that Western society has come to accept ... the charity missed an opportunity to empower the many Ugandan and Central African voices newly visible with the advent of mobile technology and social media tools on the continent."
Should the international community take initiative to help? Yes. But should creators like Russell and "Western society" as a whole necessarily become the leaders, the front men of this issue the International Criminal Court has tried to tackle for years? Who should hold the civic responsibility?
Russell, Keesey and Invisible Children altogether lack a greater perspective - they may be advocates against the abuse and manipulation in LRA military practices but there is always more to the story.
According to a CNN article, Nick Thompson reports that KONY 2012, "exaggerates the scale of LRA abductions," and quotes a source who says, "1. Joseph Kony is not in Uganda and hasn't been for 6 years; 2. the LRA now numbers at most in the hundreds."
Kony committed these crimes in the 1990s and early 2000s according to Christiane Amanpour, and while he still remains a wanted man he is more of a threat in the Democratic Republic of Congo than in Uganda.
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The use of social media may raise awareness and while organizations like Invisible Children aim to do more good than harm, these campaigns and videos also become a setback for countries like Uganda to exercise their own power and agency over such civic issues.
They reinforce ideas that Africa is hopeless and Western countries should take charge in "rescuing" them.
While the West plays a significant role in international relations, national governments must set their own agendas to handle criminal affairs.
Pressuring Uganda's government to take charge and to raise public awareness is one thing. To define their goals and military solutions for them is another.
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