The new media or the
internet is perceived to be a powerful community of homogenized heterogeneous
individuals. Everyone with different perceptions and beliefs in life come
together in the World Wide Web to communicate both directly and indirectly with
one another and think almost in the same way. One perfect example of this
scenario is the sympathy gathered by a viral video Kony 2012 which has gathered
70 million views for only five days.
Kony 2012 is a 30-minute
film persuading everyone all around the world to find, stop, and arrest the top
1 worst criminal in the world Joseph Kony. Kony
is the head of a Ugandan rebel group Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) who is
involved in the kidnapping, mutilating, raping, and killing Ugandan children.
The ‘Kony 2012’ advocacy gained the support of America’s bests-- politicians,
celebrities, and business tycoons.
THE REALITY...
It is considered a fact that
America has long been perceived as a hegemonic country trying to be known as
the dominant class in the society. Sometimes this dominance is advantageous to
both America and the people being dominated but most of the time it is detrimental, like what happened to Middle Eastern countries.
In this case, Kony 2012 is
trying to persuade the world that Uganda has a leader who has to be captured
and killed in order to end his tyrannical control, and that Americans and the
rest of the world must unite to fight him. This move and its use of social
networking sites to promote its cause can be considered at first glance to be
liberating, freeing the victims from oppression, but the move at its core is indeed
suspicious.
It is suspicious because the
problems in the region around Uganda are much more complicated than removing a
single leader. The problem in Uganda is interwoven from corruption, diseases, famine and to all other sorts of irregularities. It is suspicious because
this viral video could actually be profit-driven. It has been reported that
Uganda owned an oil reservoir and black gold deposits. This Kony 2012 video might
then be considered as a smoke screen toward America’s goal of exploiting
Uganda’s rich resources in the same way America fooled us by telling everyone
that they want to help liberate the civilian Muslims from their terrorist
neighbors. But in the end, they just killed civilians and militants alike. What
was supposed to be a promised of help turned into a promise of tragedy and
despair, leaving so many wounded families.
And now, what does America expect from us? Support them?
Think again.
