Kony 2012

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

In case you haven't seen it this is the new Invisible Children's video to bring awareness about Joseph Kony (the leader of the LRA) and a goal to capture him this year so he can be tried for his crimes. The video has had 14 MILLION views in the last 3 days. Crazy. It's worth a watch and consider if/how to get involved.

When researching a little I found this blog that criticizes what Invisible Children is doing and the Kony 2012 campaign and off of that blog there are links to many other articles about Invisible Children. There does seem to be a lot of negative press.

Invisible Children came back with this response.

So, just a few of my thoughts. Invisible Children has been around for a handful of years now. They are started as a grassroots thing on campuses.  My belief is they are not trying to scam the world or anything. I do think they are doing great things in bringing awareness about what is going on with Kony, the LRA, and Child Soldiers. They do a great job with creating videos that inform and unite people for a good cause. I do think their methods may be a little manipulating but when you believe in something you may sound manipulating I guess. When looking at their financial statements they do have a little higher "administrative costs" then other organizations and the founders are taking home about 90K each in salary's. Maybe I am living in my own little poor world but 90K seems high to me to be paying someone in a non-profit business. I do think Kony needs to be stopped. I am glad Pres. Obama sent 100 US military leaders to go help strategize. I think it's awesome this has been brought to the worlds and leaders attention. Overall I support Invisible Children's mission even if I also believe some of the criticism is warranted.

A girl's response to the Kony 2012 video.