Wednesday, March 7, 2012

KONY 2012

There is a (not so) new movement spreading the United States called KONY 2012. It's not an election, it's an awareness campaign for the Invisible Children Foundation. Joseph Kony is leader of the "Lord's Resistance Army." He has been abducting African children to use in his army. He forces the boys to be soldiers and the girls to be sex slaves. The International Criminal Court has put him as the number one war criminal and I agree that Kony has committed vile atrocities.
KONY2012 is a viral video on youtube employing pathos, ethos, logos, and a whole lot of bandwagon reasoning to it's video. It has created this movement with the point of destroying apathy, ignorance, and bringing the whole world together to make a brighter tomorrow. How hip and trendy is that? Plus the creator of the project has an adorable son and he wears hipster shades. The video is a piece of art- as it should be because the Invisible Children foundation pulls more than 70% of its funds to make awareness videos. Before going out and buy the KONY bracelets, and join the "KONY 2012-Cover the Night:  Cornell University" facebook group (held on April 20th if you are interested)

I dare you to read this article:http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com.nyud.net/

This article not only questions the money appropriations of "The Invisible Children" but also questions the end game. We are throwing money at a Ugandan military group to take militant action against one man with an army of children bodyguards. Militant actions may also cause Kony to take even more drastic measures to protect himself than he has before. Read the article, it explains it better than I ever could.
Here is the KONY 2012 campaign video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

I still feel like I am missing some details, there is still more to investigate about KONY2012 because I do believe that it was made with the best intentions. I just wish that they spent some of the time in the 30 minute video discussing how they would hopefully reduce children collateral in their military endeavors.

Here is KONY's response to the tumblr: http://www.news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8431706/kony-2012-filmmakers-respond-to-criticism

I find it interesting that the Invisible Children's "model" is to educate the Western world, but then he belittles the tumblr argument solely by stating that a canadian high school student made it. He should be celebrating the removal of ignorance and this display of action if he was true to his mission because where the information comes from is less important than if it is true or not.


Stay informed.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Why We Think Nature Is Beautiful

Professor Eugene Hargrove has a very nice slide set titled "Why We Think Nature is Beautiful" available on the web at the Center for Environmental Philosophy at the University of North Texas at Denton. The set includes a series on the Hudson River School.

Twilight in the Wilderness