Sometime
before spring break, I logged onto my Facebook.
After scrolling through my Newsfeed, I noticed a story that read, “20 of
your friends have shared the KONY 2012 link.”
I thought about clicking it for a second, but I quickly shifted my
attention to Tumblr. After logging into
my Tumblr account, I discovered that my Dashboard was also packed with recent
posts about KONY 2012. I thought it was
imperative to watch the video since it seemed so… important and almost
“trendy.”
Invisible
Children’s Stop Kony campaign draws attention to Nicolas Carr’s ideas on the
impact of social media. The Invisible Children’s website
(www.invisiblechildren.com) states, “We are storytellers, activists and everyday people who
use the power of media to inspire young people to help end the longest running
armed conflict in Africa.” The KONY 2012 video was added to YouTube on March 5,
2012. It is now March 18, 2012 and the
video has received 82 million hits! 82 MILLION! It went viral for about 3-7
days after its release.
For
those who have not watched the video, here’s a quick summary. The filmmakers of Invisible Children have
created a video to inform the U.S. citizens about a belligerent rebel leader, Joseph
Kony, in Uganda. Kony has formed an army of abducted children to perform profane
military tasks. The video urges U.S. citizens to inspire the U.S.
government to send military aid and asks for financial and moral support.
Here’s a link to the video if you’re interesting in watching it: KONY 2012 Video
Carr
notes that our society has made a shift over to the cyber world to send and
receive information, and I strongly agree with this point. I think the KONY 2012 campaign demonstrates
this philosophy perfectly. Since the video has been released, there have been
multiple responses that have also been released. For days, the web was flooded
with opinions on this matter. It is fascinating that a YouTube video on an extremely tender topic could stimulate
so much hype.
In
this day and age, we are able to receive and send information at rapid speeds. Sometimes
I wonder if social networking or the Internet is partly responsible for the
recent “Occupy Movements.” Also, I feel
that many countries that have been oppressed by their governments use the
Internet to rally and fight back. I bet the Cold War would have been extremely different
if things like Twitter and Facebook were available. I agree with Carr that social media has
integrated itself into all aspects of life, including politics. Determining whether or not this integration
is positive or negative is complicated, though. I think it differs on a
case-by-case basis, and it is hard to make that judgment since the Internet is
so young.
I cant agree with you more Kaitlyn. The KONY 2012 campaign is a perfect example of the impact that the social media has. I remember the people of the Invisible Children campaign coming to my high school. This video which has recently spread like rapid fire is a very moving and upsetting thing to watch. Its something everyone should have the chance to see.
ReplyDelete- Michelle Krupnik
I completely agree with you. It's crazy because it does't take much research to see that this KONY 2012 stuff is completely overhyped. The people of Uganda are annoyed because Kony and his army haven't been a threat in over six years. It's truly is incredible how fast things can spread over the internet. It's almost scary. Anyways, great blog I enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteDan Murphy
I also agree with what you have said. It seems like with every new movement or campaign that has begun, has spread from the internet through the means of social networking sites. I believe that this way of spreading awareness about something can be quite positive because it is a way to "educate" people of all different ages, since most websites allow you to be as young as thirteen years old.
ReplyDelete-Dan Portnoy
I agree as well. I feel like people are definitely moving tot he internet to fight battles against many things, especially the recent Kony campaign. Pretty much everything is shifting toward using social networking sites to spread awareness and things like that. I know from personal experience that things like the Walk for Hunger, Relay for Life and other events along those lines allow members to post to Facebook to raise money for the walks.
ReplyDelete-Cassie Daley
Completely agree. No one knew who KONY was and all of a sudden he is all over the Internet. One person posts it and all of a sudden more than 82 million are viewing it. Instead of just viewing it online someone needs to get up and do something about it. This cause has only to do with Uganda but because of one video practically everyone in the United Stated knows about it. Im glad the internet is used for this kind of awareness but I wish people were more aware of the terrible things happening in our own country.
ReplyDelete-Chelsea Slates
I agree, KONY would definitely not be such a big story without the internet. I also find this to be a great example of how our society finds things out, because had it not been for social networking sites, I probably would not have known what KONY was either. The internet is updated so quickly that it is always the first place I check for news, for checking things like the nightly news, or the daily newspaper takes more time than simply checking Facebook, or an online news source.
ReplyDelete-Meagan Cox
I bet you're completely right about the internet and the cold war.think of the stances people would have taken or the potential fear or laws prohibiting the internet for a short time that could have happened that would have been interesting to read about in history books.
ReplyDeleteKelsey Coughlin
I completely agree with the points you made. The whole KONY campaign would not have been as big as it was without the involvement of the internet. However, I think it's interesting how you said it was "trendy" at the time to get on the bandwagon and watch the film. It's also interesting to see how the hype over the campaign has faded since it first came out. Showing how thing on the internet can sometimes just be fads that people follow.
ReplyDelete-Jeanne Aggouras