Monday, March 26, 2012

Kony 2012 Propaganda


This is an interesting discussion about the Kony 2012 video.

The view presented by the host is that Kony 2012 is simply propaganda. That it is outdated and misleading, and therefore, pointless.

My perspecitve is that the host sees this video only from his own perspective, not a global perspective.

By seeing and labeling Kony 2012 as misleading and a way of manipulating America into intervening, I feel this proves he is stuck in his "West-centered" way of thinking. 

His question/comment of "...making business out of bracelets.. does that solve problems in Africa?" was disturbing.  It seemed to come from a point of view similar to:
"We are all completely powerless"
"That's a dumb idea"
"You're wrong"

(Generally referred to in some cirlces as an isolated and selfish "No, but" way of thinking and being, not an open and cooperative "Yes, and" way of thinking an being.)

Again, this shows how his view is that this is a government or individual county's issue.  We all need to be aware of the injustices we face, within ourselves, within our neighborhoods, and around the world.  It is called awareness. Awareness is a global issue.  

None of the speakers mentioned how ground-breaking this video was in regards to how fast it went viral and what the implications of that could be.

If we back up and view this from a global perspective, we can see how individuals across the planet can come together to make a difference.  Videos like Kony 2012 can be utilized to bring global attention to human rights violations around the world.  This may also inspire young filmmakers around the globe who live in oppressive societies to construct their own movie about the injustices they live under.

My perspective is, they missed the point.  And, it's not their fault.  We can only understand another perspective if we are first open to another perspecitve, and then actually 'see' that perspective.

Ties back into: We all need each other. For how else would we learn?

 
This discussion could have been much more productive and insightful if the host had a wider perspective, seeing this as a human rights issue, and not as a manipulation of information or an issue between countries.

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