Kony 2012 Criticism

Kony 2012 Criticism, Hosting more than 100 students, the Cross-Cultural Leadership Center teamed up with Invisible Children to screen the viral “Kony 2012” video before spring break.

The film is a way for Invisible Children to raise awareness of the continuing 26-year conflict in Africa, said Hannah Fordham, Invisible Children’s Northern California team leader. It is also a way to make Joseph Kony a household name in hopes that he will be captured by the end of 2012.

Kony kidnapped more than 30,000 children into the Lord’s Resistance Army and forced them into conflict, Fordham said. Boys became soldiers and girls became sex slaves.

No other Invisible Children video has gone viral the way “Kony 2012” has, she said. In the past, screenings were the main way to raise awareness. Now, screenings help give people tangible ways of getting involved and put a face to the cause.

Each traveling Invisible Children team consists of five roadies, or full-time regional representative volunteers, Fordham said. Volunteers from Northern Uganda travel with each group to share their accounts of the conflict.

The face of the cause for the group that traveled to Chico was a Northern Ugandan woman by the name of Patricia Akello. She told her stories of conflict in Africa, having her home burned, her loved ones abducted and seeing fear every day.

“There are many close people to me who were abducted and who died in this conflict,” Akello said. “There were many, not just one or two or three. Many.”

Akello came to the U.S. with Invisible Children a month ago, after earning her college degree in Uganda with a scholarship from Invisible Children, she said. Only 1 percent of women in Uganda receive a university education.

The LRA moved to the Congo and Central Africa in 2006, Akello said. Ugandans experienced living without fear for the first time. Before that, people slept in the jungle to stay safe, and if the LRA found children with their family, they would be forced to kill their parents.

Students at the screening were encouraged to be a part of the change after hearing Akello’s story. Sofia Trejo, a senior psychology major, has been involved with Invisible Children since attending one of the organization’s protests with her husband in San Francisco a couple of years ago, she said.

“When we become passionate about something, we actually want to do something about it, and that is what we need to do,” she said.

Jason Russell Breakdown

Jason Russell Breakdown, Celebrities such as Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Cory Monteith, Kim Kardashian and Kristen Bell played a pivotal role in galvanizing online support for Kony 2012, the viral video created by Jason Russell and his Invisible Children foundation aiming to stop the abuse and killing of children at the hands of Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony.

But after the director ended up hospitalized Friday after an apparent freakout, many of those same folks have gone radio silent…except for a few.

So what did these celebs have to say?

“Thank you @BenKeesey your tireless eloquence never ceases to amaze me,” tweeted actress Kristen Bell, linking to a video Invisible Children posted updating people on Jason’s condition under the “global media spotlight.”

The Forgetting Sarah Marshall star, who’s been a steadfast Kony 2012 supporter ever since the video went live, further defended Russell.

Bell replied to one follower with a link to an Atlantic article about what people can learn from the helmer’s very public breakdown: “@Bpd116 ur misinformed & r judging based on salacious headlines. Be Human. Drop the stones.”

Jason Russell Kony 2012

Jason Russell Kony 2012, Hosting more than 100 students, the Cross-Cultural Leadership Center teamed up with Invisible Children to screen the viral “Kony 2012” video before spring break.

The film is a way for Invisible Children to raise awareness of the continuing 26-year conflict in Africa, said Hannah Fordham, Invisible Children’s Northern California team leader. It is also a way to make Joseph Kony a household name in hopes that he will be captured by the end of 2012.

Kony kidnapped more than 30,000 children into the Lord’s Resistance Army and forced them into conflict, Fordham said. Boys became soldiers and girls became sex slaves.

No other Invisible Children video has gone viral the way “Kony 2012” has, she said. In the past, screenings were the main way to raise awareness. Now, screenings help give people tangible ways of getting involved and put a face to the cause.

Each traveling Invisible Children team consists of five roadies, or full-time regional representative volunteers, Fordham said. Volunteers from Northern Uganda travel with each group to share their accounts of the conflict.

The face of the cause for the group that traveled to Chico was a Northern Ugandan woman by the name of Patricia Akello. She told her stories of conflict in Africa, having her home burned, her loved ones abducted and seeing fear every day.

“There are many close people to me who were abducted and who died in this conflict,” Akello said. “There were many, not just one or two or three. Many.”

Akello came to the U.S. with Invisible Children a month ago, after earning her college degree in Uganda with a scholarship from Invisible Children, she said. Only 1 percent of women in Uganda receive a university education.

The LRA moved to the Congo and Central Africa in 2006, Akello said. Ugandans experienced living without fear for the first time. Before that, people slept in the jungle to stay safe, and if the LRA found children with their family, they would be forced to kill their parents.