I'm sure most of you have by now encountered that campaign against that Lord's Resistance Army creep. However, it turns out that there's more than meets the eye. Oh, not more to Kony. More to the campaign.
When I first saw that video, at the beginning I was all "Oh, wow, this is pretty innovative and interesting." But it was nary a couple of minutes when it started to feel like something was a bit...off about the whole thing. I just chalked it up to my allergic reaction to hard sells (which has, in point of fact, sometimes led me astray).
By about 2/3rds of the way through, I had had enough. I knew now that I was facing, ick, glurge. Glurge, by the way, can be for perfectly good causes; but I myself don't have to stomach it. I don't like being (non-ironically) manipulated, even by people with whom I might ordinarily agree.
As I read more, my doubts increased. Yes, Kony is a horrible man, who has done horrible things to children and others. But...well, sad to say, but nowadays there are yet still more effective ways to help Uganda, Africa, and the world. Still, it's petty to set up a hierarchy of causes. If that's what gets people going...
Finally, thanks to blogger Dusty at Left-Wing Nutjob, the other shoe dropped for me. This Alternet article, linked by Dusty, lays it out:
Is Invisible Children a nonprofit devoted to human needs, or is it a ministry devoted to bringing souls to Jesus ? Judging by a talk co-founder Jason Russell gave last November at Liberty University, it would seem to be a bit of both.
Liberty University??? Yep, that Liberty University.
Now, lest you imagine that I am simply tarring a good cause by association because of the private beliefs of its founder, well, take a look at the rest of those posts and the further links they contain therein including the rather unusual funding proportions. Frankly, even without any direct evidence of malfeasance, it's a bit of a bridge too far. A bridge too far that I will sell you, if you believe that a Falwell U connection is ever innocent.
And that once again is why DAMMIT JANET! has long been a no-glurge zone.
2 comments:
Good call, Mandos. Lords Resistance Army has been around for decades and the worst deeds now confined to history so I too felt highly suspicious of this demand that the Ugandan Army capture Kony post haste.
I did not know about the Liberty University angle. I thought it was just a ploy to further encourage more international military aggression in the region under the guise of humanitarian intervention.
Well, that clears up my confusion. I was baffled about what suddenly made the LRA 'messiah' hot internet property but I couldn't find anything 'new' on him.
Is this effort trying to leech off the groundwork laid by Romeo Dallaire's Zero Force? I know that's been steadily building a presence among youth, for more sincere reasons.
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