Wyatt Eberspacher
Topic: World
Joseph Kony: Brutal warlord who shocked world—Hilary Whiteman, CNN
March 9, 2012
WC: 1,110
In the light of our recent curriculum of the two World Wars and especially of the horrors committed by the Nazis in the second world war, it is deeply saddening leaders capable of committing horrible acts of cruelty continue in part today. There is man in the world today who continues to rule by an iron fist, and terrify his people. This man is Joseph Kony, the much talked about warlord from a recent viral 30 minute video. He enscrips children into his army and ruthlessly slaughters any malcontents.
Kony came into power because of his position as a spiritual leader to his people. Though Kony is not revered as a god, for now, he is revered as a kind of mystical priest and healer. The people of Uganda supported him much the same way that citizens supported royalty in the middle ages. They support him despite the fact that to punish fathers he sells their daughters into prostitution. He is on the list of the UN's most wanted, and we can only hope his reign is put to rest soon. Kony is a glimpse at the true tradegy and terror that can be created from blind faith and the twisted ambitions of cruel men.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have three questions about the topic
ReplyDelete1) since when we have violent warlords in Africa?
2)what are we doing about it?
3)why aren't we more infromed about this topic of humanitarian concer?
@GIUSSE There have been warlords in Africa for all recorded history. To name a few recent warlords and to learn information about them, you can read this article http://www.usnews.com/news/slideshows/5-most-notorious-african-warlords. The U.S. has a strict foreign policy (which seems to revolve around oil) and is hesitant to try and help ever single issue that comes up. It's unrealistic to expect the United States to act on every atrocity committed in humanity—it's also unrealistic for us to know every atrocity that happens.
DeleteBut when presented in this media savvy form, Americans are quick to jump on board to support an irrelevant cause. Kony has been rumored to be dead, and is definitely out of the country since 2004. Because of a video, Americans think that liking a video and maybe putting up a poster will fix Africa's problems.
Africa has many problems that need our active support. There's no need to be distracted by this moral disruption. What does it say when the leader of Invisible Children loses it and gets arrested for masturbating in public?
I found this article very interesting. Joseph Kony hasn't been in power for a while now; but many people still consider him a threat. I personally don't think the money that is being invested in this problem is being properly applied. This FOR-profit charity only really contributes 20% of it's resources to a source that is NOT capable of solving said problem. The money should be given out to a Private Military Company, who will make it their sole job to seek out and kill Joseph Kony and bring him to justice.
ReplyDeleteI agree Joseph Kony is a person that is wanted, and is a ruthless dictator that people fear and do not want to stand up against, but he is not the only one out there. There are probably so much ruthless dictators that do even more than he does, and we still do not help the other places, just because a viral video shows off what he does, all of a sudden we want to help? Why couldnt we just help these people without it having to be a viral video reminding us what is wrong in this world.
ReplyDeleteInvisible children, the company responsible for the "Kony 2012" video, and the campaign to stop Joseph Kony has been under a lot of scrutiny lately with a low amount of money going to actually funding action and a high amount contributing to paying for it's employees and transportation. Although Kony did contribute to widespread terror among Ugandans, but in truth Kony has not been in power for a while now. Hopefully this awareness will not lead to more funds, but better allocated and better spent dollars toward stopping child soldiers and terrorist communities.
ReplyDelete