So those of you that pay any attention to my facebook, or have talked to me about this, know that I'm not a fan of this misguided movement. I'm not going to get into all the reasons why I'm against because I feel I've already made that clear, namely it's outdated, oversimplified, and offensive. Anyway rather than writing specifically about the movement, I'd rather take a closer look at the response to the movement.
Already the video and the proposed movement have gained incredible amounts of support. It's been reposted by a number of my friends and it's been talked about all over the twitterverse by celebrities and influential people. This support literally grew overnight and out of nowhere. For me this leads to the question; why? Why has this gained so much support?
I had to ask this question because after I watched the video I did not feel like reposting it. Sure, it made me think, which is rarely a bad thing, but it made me think about different sides. Now I'm not saying that I wanted to hear Kony's side, because rarely does a warlord have a justifiable reason to murder and pillage, I mean the side of the Ugandans. Since the video was clearly made by an American it made me wonder if he was as informed as he seemed to think he was. After doing a relatively small amount of research it was clear that he was not.
That still leaves the question as to why this movement has gained so much support? I think it's pretty simple. Overall most people are good, or at least they believe themselves to be. That being the case when a "good" person sees the video they are upset. They want to help, but what can they do? Wait, all they have to do is repost the video? And maybe if they feel like helping even more they can buy some bracelets and a poster. It's so simple. It's so easy. And therein lies the true genius of this movement. Us "good" people want to help the world, but honestly it's a lot of effort to make a real difference, and we've got stuff going on. But this movement allows us to feel like we're making a difference with just a few clicks. It's what Tim labeled "slacktivism," which has got to be my new favourite word.
So if it was so easy for me to just share the video and feel good about myself why did I choose to go down the much more tumultuous road of denouncing it? At first I thought it was just because I'm so cynical, but I've realized that isn't it at all. If it was just cynicism I'd be dismissing this movement based on it's efforts. I'd simply believe that no matter what you try the situation can't be fixed, but I don't believe that at all. I denounced the movement simply because it is misguided and it really only took a little critical thinking to discover that. Honestly I think this "critical thinking" is the best thing I've gained from university. Not just the ability to think about something in-depth, but the need to. I mean, a few years ago when I was in highschool I would've loved this movement. I mean social media combined with street art to take down a warlord, it's got everything. I was talking to Tim the other day and he agreed that before university he would've been into it as well. So obviously university is not just about the facts and the books, but truly a different way of thinking. I believe this is what Rick Santorum is so afraid of. It's like when you go to a magic show, you don't just think "wow," you think "wow, how'd he do that?" In a way that's how I see the world now. Face-value is worthless in such a convoluted world.
