Please read this article if you're concerned about KONY 2012: [link]

This article sums it up perfectly. But this whole anti-Kony campaign has also revealed two very important things:

1. The internet is a powerful weapon. We are connected more than ever and we have the power to turn tables in the blink of an eye. Think about SOPA. Within a few hours, the internet exploded and people, thousands of us, said "This is wrong!" Think about how much influence YOU now have, the abilities you have to spread a word and have it catch on like fire. "With great power comes great responsibility."

2. The internet is open access. Anyone can post anything, be it truth or lies, be it part of a truth. But in order to access the whole truth, one must dig deep. Deeper than a single viral video. Internet generation, I commend you for taking a stand. But please, do your research before jumping to conclusions. Figure out where the money is flowing, what is at stake beyond the pages of journalism and beyond the lens of a camera. There are always sides to a story that are not shown.

The Truth is what every single one of us needs to pursue every time we donate to a cause, every time we point fingers, and every time we take a stand.
How can you do this? You can ask yourself these questions:

- Always look at who is presenting the information. Who is presented as the villain? What do the authors of the information have to gain?

- How do you feel after reading/watching something? What made you feel this way? Why did this information source make you feel this way?

- What is the source trying to make you do? Spread awareness, donate to a cause, call a senator? How is the source related to the donation receiver, any ties to people in seats of power (ex. Congress)?

- What part of the world is this information referring to? Do YOU know anything about the culture, economy, political stability, and conflicts pertaining to that area? If not, you can't ask yourself the next question...

- Who is not being represented in this article/film? And lastly...

- If action is taken, who will suffer the consequences? Every one of us hopes it is only the 'bad guy,' but that is often NEVER the case.
When you create webs of conflict that are as complex as the Kony case, you can be sure that many innocents will be hurt before the end... IF we charge in blindly, IF we try to stop something beyond us, without the proper knowledge, IF we only cry "Stop!" without specifying how it should be stopped, IF we fund causes without knowing what piece of the cause our money is going towards.


So please, don't stop your passion. But at the same time, don't be blinded by it either.



-Canyx