JESSIE GAMBRELL
STAFF WRITER
On April 23, chalk and signs were put up all over campus essentially “glorifying” Kony. “Kony 2012” the poster says, along with a picture of Joseph Kony, a war-lord from central Africa. This signs were first made to promote the short film, “Kony 2012” from the makers of “The Invisible Children,” a different short film documentary that shows the cruel world of children being abducted by Joseph Kony to become soldiers in his army. This film was a huge hit and had a huge following.
“Their original documentaries were great, I just don’t know what this (Kony 2012) does. I have heard that it is a scam,” said student, Tyler Allred.
The documentary, “Kony 2012” depicts how the Invisible Children organization intends to capture and get rid of Kony. The signs and other propaganda are a means to raise money for “the cause” of “capturing” Kony at last. But there has been much speculation as to where exactly all this money is going.
“I kind of think that it [Kony 2012] is a scam. The money, where does it go? I don’t know what is going to do for us catching him,” said freshman, Ryan Vaickus.
One of the three film makers of “Kony 2012,” Jason Russell, was discovered, Thursday, March 15, on a street corner in downtown San Diego, naked and having an alleged “meltdown” in public. He was arrested and is being treated medically for the incident. This among other “sketchy” instances give reason to doubt the validity of the Invisible Children organization. But this incident also helped the “Invisible Children” and “Kony 2012” videos become more viral, since everyone wanted to know everything involved with the scandal.
“I heard it was the most viral video, it seems like a big “trendy” topic. The writing all over the school though, definitely made me more annoyed with it,” said CSUSM staff member, Nick.
The signs all over campus, I believe, were at first well intended, but now it seems to have “over-run” the school and that we are getting away from the whole point that they seem to be striving to be making. Some of the chalk on our school grounds even says, “Kony 2012. Make him famous!” I am not sure who wrote these or if they are even affiliated with the Kony 2012 team, but this I do believe is not what they meant to say. We do not want to “glorify” someone who is a mass-murderer and communist and by saying, “make him famous” no matter how they meant it, is glorifying him. Uninformed students might support who they believe to be a good person for the sake of our misleading public media. I hope that we can see and realize that something has gone wrong and we need to change this.