"The LRA are an extremist group, their ideology is based on the creation of a theocracy which would be founded on the Ten Commandments. There seems to be little to no acknowledgement that the crimes that Joseph Kony and the LRA commit are argued, by the perpetrators, as in the name of Christianity; just as the crimes of Al-Qaeda are argued in the same way as in the name of Islam.Read the entire article (March 13) by Matthew Vickery here.
Yet there are no calls for Christian leaders to condemn and speak out against the horrific acts committed by Kony and the LRA; and so there shouldn’t be, these crimes are not the responsibility of the Christian population of the world, they are the responsibility of a handful of extremists.
No Christian will sympathise with Joseph Kony, and so why would we ask the Christian community for an apology, or explanation. Yet the opposite is true when applied to Muslims and Islam; we demand apologies and explanation from faith leaders, and we demonise the religion as being backward, uncivilized, and inherently extremist.
The hypocrisy is blatant.
In my opinion, despite the propagandist feel of the KONY 2012 campaign there have been at least two positives: the first is a renewal of interest in global politics and of far-away conflict, even if it is at a rather simplistic level, and has connotations of the ‘white man’s burden’. The second however is rather revealing. Kony 2012 has unmasked Western hypocrisy in regards to our treatment of Muslims and the Islamic faith.
Unfortunately I hold little conviction that the 60 million viewers of the Kony 2012 video will be as vocal about this hypocrisy as they have been about Joseph Kony himself."
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Comment: The connotation of the white man's burden is no small matter in the production of this video. It is downright racist and the fact that fingers are not being pointed at the white man's religion (the ones making the video) is telling.
If Kony was Muslim it would have made it easier for the video and its proponents.
But Kony is a Christian though that fact is not mentioned - it is purposefully avoided. I do, however, have a feeling that even if the question of his Christian beliefs are pressed the response would be that he is not saved/baptized in the right/true manner.
Muslims, like black people in general, are however responsible for any misdeed done to or imagined by whiteness (the preference for marking this as western over whiteness is somewhat lost on the author).
The complexity of the religion of Islam and its diverse followers is made irrelevant by a purposeful gaze - one that assumes Muslims are the racial Other and in perpetual conflict with civilized whiteness even when they are asleep or deceased.
The complexity of the religion of Islam and its diverse followers is made irrelevant by a purposeful gaze - one that assumes Muslims are the racial Other and in perpetual conflict with civilized whiteness even when they are asleep or deceased.
That is the business of racism and it goes far beyond mere hypocrisy.
In the Kony video the further racist assumption is that Christ and God are in fact white Americans.
In the Kony video the further racist assumption is that Christ and God are in fact white Americans.
Onward!
Ps. Has Angelina Jolie come out in public to condemn the brutal murder of 9 innocent Afghan children by that yet unnamed/unidentified US soldier or is her high profile identity primarily to point fingers at the black ass of folks like Joseph Kony?
8 comments:
Salam,
It is my sincere opinion that this KONY 2012 show is nothing but a scam. It is the worst case of the white man's burden I've seen so far. The people of Northern Uganda are outraged and angry at the video and yet the people behind the campaign, 'Invisible Children' have called their critics 'misinformed and biased'. In other words, they rich white men are more knowledgeable of the situation in Northern Uganda than the people from that region. White man's burden at it's finest.
I don't know if you've come across the report linking a radical Christian group with the IC? This whole situation is a mess.
WSLM eccentricyoruba:
Thank you for saying this without minced words.
It needs to be heard.
The whole video campaign is a "sham" as you say meant to raise the 'moralizing' profile of a right wing Christian group.
And they are gaining ill-informed converts as we write here.
Their Facebook page is buzzing I have read.
I think the timing of this video is not without purpose - it raises the right-wing political agenda of those concerned/related in an election year.
It also has the added effect of hiding the manner that the US military (AFRICOM) is militarizing the east African region.
Obama sending 100 military advisers to Uganda is just the tip of the iceberg.
I have not seen the specific report you mention but I am not surprised.
You are absolutely right - the situation is a mess.
Peace my sista.
Onward!
Ridwan
It seems the valid criticisms that can be raised about that piece of trash has no end.
I would be surprised if much of their "support" is not just another part of the show--bought and paid for. Before those utter cowards disabled the video's comments, the only ones with any significant up votes were clearly critical of it, and most pointed out the recent oil discovery there. Most of the generic "let's kill osama, er...kony" came from usernames like agentorange34289.
I smell a fat leak on the horizon that's likely to finish them off.
Pstonie great to hear from you again. Thank you kindly for your perceptive comment.
You are absolutely on the mark with your observations. The entire region is being militarized because of oil interests (which is related to security concerns).
These interests are located in Kenya too (Lamu and coastal region) and there is a proposed pipeline that will run from Lamu through southern Sudan into Ethiopia and Uganda.
Though the pipeline seems to have secured Chinese capital that is exactly why the growth of US interests.
This is in effect a proxy war that is reminiscent of the cold war conflicts in the region.
AFRICOM is slowly settling in and let's not forget that there are US "blacksites" across the region already.
Kenya and Uganda and Ethiopia have even turned to the US-Israel alliance to train their security forces.
Soon Israeli forces will be battling Al Shabaab directly in Somalia and Kenya - it is just a matter of time.
I think here is where your observations speak loudest: the emphasis on demonizing Kony into an Osama figure that "everyone hates" like Angelie Jolie has said.
When everyone hates Kony the entry of the US to do the kind of humanitarian massacring it has done in Afghanistan/Iraq is well in place.
So the US and these fringe groups work in alliance - an alliance that cannot perceive of a peaceful world because peace in these capitalist terms is not profitable.
And everyone, anywhere, irrespective of religion or identity, is worse off as a result.
Be well Pstonie.
Onward!
Ridwan
Boom
Invisible Children, Makers of KONY2012, Spied For Ugandan Regime ---WikiLeaks
Oh my this is an interesting revelation. They are a shady group of folks for sure.
I hear the follow up video is similarly problematic.
Thank you kindly for bringing this to my attention Pstonie.
Peace to you.
ridwan
Oh Pstonie before I forget I wondered if you had read Jay Naidoo's written support for Kony 2012.
I am not a fan of Jay after listening to him read from his book at a conference held during his tenure at the Development Bank of SA.
I happened to see him arrive in a chauffeured limo and then had to sit through more than an hour of drivel about his concern for poor people.
It amazes me that no one called him on this article at the Daily Maverick:
http://dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2012-04-04-theres-a-light-in-the-get-kony-campaign
Peace to you.
ridwan
I hadn't, but he definitely got the same script the video makers did. "War sucks, let's invade!"
And the brilliance of suggesting they're trying to end child exploitation by getting facebookers to approve a war they know literally nothing about.
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