README: Kony 2012

Hello, some of you might know about this already, but I'm betting a lot of you don't.

Joseph Kony is one of the worlds worst war criminals alive today. He abducts children and uses them as their army, forcing them to kill their own parents, and others that they love. If they try to escape him they die.

This video covers everything you need to know.

Ugh, what a piece of shit this fucking scum is.

*me adds Kony's Wikipedia entry into my Wikipedia "Morons" sub-folder*

Kony rhymes with Sony.

Coincidentally, My opinion on either of them is about equal.

The video's worth a watch. The intent is to spread awareness of the guy rather than the whole "volunteer and donate money" thing. Not a damn thing wrong with educating everyone on the issue (which, TBH, I knew surprisingly little about).

Also, I find it hilariously ironic that a blog named "resistapathy" is trying to encourage people to do nothing. :P

And obligatory counterpoint opinion link (warning: picture D: ) and middle-ground-ish post, since we're linking blog posts about it.

Why don't they just bust his ass?

[PROTOTYPE] said:
Why don't they just bust his ass?

I think his guerrilla soldiers may hamper the country from simply "busting his ass".

Ugandan is left alone in this fight. They have little to provide the Western Worlds like the Middle East has.

[PROTOTYPE] said:
Why don't they just bust his ass?

They don't have oil.

Grain of Salt said:

Not quite everything. (Warning: background music)

Pretty interesting. I always thought Invisible Children was somewhat patronizing towards Ugandans, but it seems like the entire charity is basically a money-making scheme, while occasionally sending privileged white kids to Uganda to fuck around and make a sappy video about what a meanie Kony is without explaining what the hell is going on there.

[PROTOTYPE] said:
Why don't they just bust his ass?

Why don't you bust his ass?

[PROTOTYPE] said:
Why don't they just bust his ass?

Well, that's the problem...

He's almost like Osama bin Laden... he's too clever (at least that's what he wants us to think) and keeps evading capture.

EDIT: Ack, owned by a stupid typo. :P

Grain of Salt said:

Not quite everything. (Warning: background music)

What I learned from that article:

1) Priveleged white people are not allowed to use their status to help anyone, because that's racist and hypocritical.
2) Grassroots organizations don't handle their money as well as multinational conglomerates, so you shouldn't trust them.
3) Peace talks don't accomplish anything, because Kony retaliates and kidnaps more children. Oh wait, I meant the VIDEO. They cover that in the first five minutes of the VIDEO. It's one of the reasons the VIDEO gives why Kony should be stopped.

Technician said:

Ugandan is left alone in this fight. They have little to provide the Western Worlds like the Middle East has.

Doesn't the U.S. give a ton of money to Haiti every year for relief? I can't think of much that they could offer us either.

What's with all this Kony 2012 stuff I've been hearing? I know Romney's not the most exciting candidate, but is this guy really that much better?

40oz said:

Why don't you bust his ass?

Buy me a Chaingun and i'll solve the problem.

HavoX said:

He's almost like Osama bin Laden... he's too clever (at least that's what he wants us to think) and keeps evading capture.

Laden wasn't clever, Pakistan gave him refuge for eight out of ten years the US had been chasing him.

Vordakk said:

Doesn't the U.S. give a ton of money to Haiti every year for relief? I can't think of much that they could offer us either.

Maybe they want a feel good story.

Bucket said:

What I learned from that article:

1) Priveleged white people are not allowed to use their status to help anyone, because that's racist and hypocritical.
2) Grassroots organizations don't handle their money as well as multinational conglomerates, so you shouldn't trust them.
3) Peace talks don't accomplish anything, because Kony retaliates and kidnaps more children. Oh wait, I meant the VIDEO. They cover that in the first five minutes of the VIDEO. It's one of the reasons the VIDEO gives why Kony should be stopped.

The problem is that these dolts have no idea about the situation in Uganda outside of "CHILD SOLDIERS BAD :(" and are actually causing problems. The LRA hasn't been a real threat to Northern Uganda for years, and in fact the government has been trying to do some peace talks with the LRA via Kony's wife.

However, these morons are stirring shit up there and may make the LRA a threat again because they want the USA to fight a mini-war with the LRA so they can stroke their egos. This will provoke counter-attacks from the LRA in Northern Uganda. IIRC they sabotaged at least one peace process because they wanted Kony's head on a pike, even though getting him to surrender or negotiate a deal is much more realistic.

It's basically a bunch of white, well-to-do 20-somethings trying to get involved in a very complex situation and messing it up because they know shit about it, while giving the rest of the world the view that the problems in Central Africa are black and white. They're basically making things worse by giving the impression that the status quo is like it was in the 90s. This is no longer the case, but you couldn't tell from their videos.

Right now the real issue in northern Uganda is whether there should be an amnesty system for those that participated in the LRA's activities, not fighting them off. Of course, you'll never see Invisible Children tell you about this because you can't make an emotionally manipulating video out of it nor can you put a lot of white people in it.

It's interesting that the video about Kony goes viral just as the US is sending military advisors to Uganda.

I'm not going to make any conclusions. Just putting that out there. Think!

[PROTOTYPE] said:

Buy me a Chaingun and i'll solve the problem.

Good luck doing that, he's far more dangerous than you think.

A chaingun is a fictional weapon, I'm afraid. There is a similar weapon called the Minigun, but it's really not a good idea to carry it around anyway. Here's why:

In the movie Predator, one of the Commandos was armed with a 6-barreled rotary Minigun, fed from a backpack ammo box. While this may give you the impression that Miniguns can be used for infantry support, the reality is that the movie actually used a special, blank firing version of the Minigun. The electric motor was powered via cable, hidden in the actor's pants, and the actor who played the Commando had to carry a bulletproof vest and a protective mask to avoid injuries from the fast and violently ejecting empty cases.

Had this gun been fired using real ammunition, the actor would've ended up lying on his back, being forced off the legs by the violent recoil. The "backpack" ammo capacity also could be worth only several seconds of firepower. Let's calculate: 2,000 rounds of 5.56mm ammo will weight about 25 kg (55 lbs); 2,000 rounds of 7.62mm will weight about 2 times more, making such load almost impossible to carry on foot. Yet this load of ammo would provide only 20 or so seconds of fire. Add some powerful batteries to power electrical drive of about 4KWt (4+ horse-power), and the bulk of the gun itself, and you'll see that even the strongest of man wouldn't be able to carry this load, less to fire it with any chance to hit, due to extremely powerful recoil.

Well... maybe except in video games. :P

The solution is to use a wimpy chaingun that fires more slowly than your average machine gun.

No, wait. The solution is to charge the target with a double-barreled shotgun and fire off two shells point blank.

Gez said:

The solution is to charge the target with a double-barreled shotgun and fire off two shells point blank.

Exactly. ;)

I doubt a minigun would have much utility as an infantry weapon, in any case. Even the M249 is going to be phased out for an M4 variant because it is considered to be too big and cumbersome.

Gez said:

The solution is to use a wimpy chaingun that fires more slowly than your average machine gun.

No, wait. The solution is to charge the target with a double-barreled shotgun and fire off two shells point blank.

Use a machete, they don't need reloading.

HavoX said:

A chaingun is a fictional weapon

Incorrect.

Other than that, this Kony guy sounds like a real piece of shit.

HavoX said:

What HavoX said about the minigun...

Then what's the point of the minigun?You're supposed to hold it on a support or something?

It's meant to be attached to a vehicle.

FYI: They responded to their critiques.
http://www.invisiblechildren.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/critiques.html