Image: Memegenerator, Imgur
The Kony 2012 phenomenon has only lasted for a few days, but unfortunately, meme fatigue is settling in.
Sure, drawing attention to the abominable acts of Joseph Kony, a leader of the Ugandan militia group, the Lord’s Resistance Army, is a superb idea. After all, the LRA is responsible for abducting thousands of children, forcing them into slavery or into the militia itself. However, the means that the NGO, Invisible Children, took to produce this 29-minute documentary are rather damaging. The video, and the NGO, has raised concerns of manipulating the truth and mismanaging funds with sordid donations or unfair charitable payouts.
Read More: What’s the deal with Kony?
Read More: Kony 2012: A Viral Campaign of (Dis)Information to Save Children in Uganda
Read More: Why You Shouldn’t Feel Guilty for Resenting Kony 2012
The video brings a good cause to light, but it’s a shame the message has been tarnished by factual and ethical blunders on behalf of the producers.
In other words, to some viewers and skeptics who are tired of the Kony 2012 awareness campaign and its associated scandal, the message has become, sadly, “yada, yada, yada.”
So, for those who have gone weary of the Kony 2012 campaign, perhaps it is time to take a look at the Pony 2012 campaign instead.
Donations to Pony 2012 can be made to The Human Fund; “Money for people.”
But, in all seriousness, the best means to support the Kony 2012 message of stopping the LRA, is to help Ugandans help themselves. As my colleague Scott MacDonald wrote yesterday, “that means supporting charities that operate from within — charities by Africans for Africans, such as Concerned Parents Association or the Concerned Children and Youth Association.
Next time someone links to Kony 2012 on your Facebook wall, attach a link to one of those organizations and suggest that people spend their money there instead.”
Of course, there is always another, lighter route: Save a child, buy a pony.
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Joanna Adams writes the Morning Cable, and lots more, for Toronto Standard. Follow her on Twitter at †@nowstarringTO.
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