KONY 2012 - 10 YEARS LATER: The CRAZY Viral Social Media Campaign Fuelled by White Saviour Syndrome
1,033In March 2012, the first viral social media campaign of its kind was launched by the NGO Invisible Children. It focused on Ugandan Christian Warlord Joseph Kony who had long been chased by the Ugandan and US government for his widespread and brutal crimes he had inflicted on people across various African nations.
On the surface the social media campaign made it seem simple. Joseph Kony was bad, Ugandan and Sudanese military was good. Buy Invisible Children Kony merch to help the hunt for this warlord and finally bring him to justice. This made the campaign extremely palatable to people as it seemed completely moral unambiguous.
However, the charity quickly drew criticism as well as praise. Ugandan's and Africans criticised the White Saviour aspects of the campaign while human rights groups pointed out that the Ugandan military also had a terrible record of human rights abuses. There also wasn't much clarity on where the money was exactly going nor who was astroturfing the campaign. It turns out far-right Evangelicals had helped astroturf Invisible Children as they had long been involved in Uganda. This stress eventually led to Jason Russell - the face of the campaign - having a mental breakdown on the streets of LA.
In this video, we discuss the legacy of Kony 2012 and how it influenced modern social media activism while also critiqing it from a 2022 perspective.
.00:00:00 - Intro
00:04:40 - Who is Joseph Kony?
00:07:35 - What was the Kony 2012 campaign?
00:13:00 - Criticism of Kony 2012 in 2012
00:19:00 - Kony 2012 and the White Saviour Industrial Complex
00:23:45 - How Kony 2012 was used to push evangelical religion
00:29:00 - Kony 2022?
00:30:30 - Closing Thoughts
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