Power of the Internet

Kony 2012 has become so big and talked about in the last two days. And it's pretty awesome how the internet has helped spread the word. But of course there are concerns about Kony 2012:

1. Does retweeting, posting on Facebook, emailing the video, etc. actually accomplish anything?
The problem is not simply to be familiar who Joseph Kony is and what he is doing, but to recognize that this group that he is a leader of is doing horrible things. The real step of action that needs to be taken calls for more action than shedding tears in front of a computer screen. I wonder how many people have actually done something about this. And also why it has taken until just recently for this to become such a popular topic. Invisible Children has been an organization that has been around for much longer than just the past year. With all that in mind though, I would rather see this than ignorance of the matter. The first step to taking any action would have to be acknowledgement.

2. Should the American government be so involved?
Why does the U.S. government feel the need to be the police force of the entire world? The U.S. government has, for lack of a better word, meddled in so many things in the past. Resulting in problems and tensions between countries. That being said, because the government of the United States has so much power, authority, and resources, of course other countries and people will feel that the U.S. government is obligated to do something. Example: Rwanda. There will always be antagonists that disagree with the amount of involvement that the U.S. government puts forward, but it is probably better to act  rather than to sit idly and continue watching as things like this happen.

3. What about other problems with the world?
Some people are arguing that this problem is so far away from the United States, and it should not be our responsibility to deal with this when there are closer issues at hand. Furthermore, there are problems like this all over the world and it is hard to give each issue a finite value of urgency.

4. Problems with Invisible Children
My club in high school fundraised for this charity before. And so I guess this is very hypocritical. But people really need to do their own research too. Watching the video really isn't enough. The point isn't to kill Joseph Kony, he is only one of the main facilitators of the movement. Getting rid of him isn't going to save everyone else. People need to understand that. "The internet is bad at reacting before researching"


http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

This seems like a very negative post, but I'm happy that the LRC is getting attention. It's just the way that people approach the problem that bothers me.