A Particularly Inflammatory Response to a Particular Trend on the Internet Known as KONY 2012.

I am not going to lie: trends on Facebook, Twitter, and all sorts of social media really annoy me. Here's why:
They are trends. Which means they are cool one moment, and incredibly lame a few moments (or days) later.
Trends are constantly in flux. They change all the time. Remember the eighties? Okay, neither do I, because I was born in the nineties, but you get my point. There was a point in time when fluffy bangs and dressing like you were about to workout all the time was the biggest trend in fashion. If you dress like that now, I can promise you, we will make fun of you. And if you workout in stirrup leggings, legwarmers, and a sweatshirt that slips off one shoulder, then I just feel bad for you. I digress. Trends are not relegated merely to the fashion world. In the last decade, with the advent of social media, there are now topics that are "trending." On Facebook, it means massive amounts of likes, reposts, and shares. On Twitter, it means hashtagging and retweeting. YouTube trends equal millions of views, with an equal number of "like" or "dislikes." It all gets rather tiresome to be honest. Did I create a "What People Think I Do" photo for my Facebook? No. Do I hashtag my tweets? Rarely. Do I watch a YouTube video simply because it has for some reason gone viral? Maybe.
The current trend of all of social media is this "movement" called KONY2012. You know what I'm talking about. If you don't, then you have no friends on Facebook, or you probably aren't on Facebook, or you definitely aren't reading your newspaper.
I have not watched this thirty minute video. One, because I am fasting from YouTube for Lent. Two, I don't have that long an attention span. But I have read a few articles, and read the newspaper article in today's Metro. And I knew who Joseph Kony is,what the LRA is, and what Invisible Children is probably five years ago, which is more than I can say for the majority of people who are caught up in this veritable whirlwind of trending social justice.
For example, I happened to click on someone's Facebook and looked at their wall. Here is what I saw: ******* changed their profile picture (to a KONY2012 ad), 7 posts all saying "************ posted a link to *********'s wall" then "********* is attending Kony 2012 "Cover the Night", and best of all, "******** likes 'Invisible Children." I mean, I literally LOL'd.... Talk about making yourself look like the ultimate bandwagon-jumper.

And I know I sound totally judgmental, but I have to say this: a lot of people I see getting on this trend are people who have never before shown an interest in anything remotely related to social justice. Ever. These people could have cared less about child soldiers and a Ugandan guerrilla until Facebook made it cool. It looks like a pathetic attempt to validate themselves as human beings by clicking "like," "I'm Attending," and throwing some cash at an organization.

I do not want to negate those who are genuine. I believe Invisible Children, before all of this, had a great mission and was doing a lot for the former child soldiers, providing sponsorship, schooling, etc. But this campaign to make famous the "Worst Known War Criminal" and make "the world know who he is" (sounds contradictory...?) seems a departure from that. True, I haven't seen the video. Yet from what I have seen, it is sensationalized beyond all belief: Joseph Kony is in hiding; the LRA now numbers maybe 200, and the atrocities Kony committed began in the 1980s. I didn't see anyone "liking" Facebook groups and offering to plaster a town with anti-Kony posters, lobbying for the US to bring him down. 

I get it: I'm ranting. I get it: I look insensitive.

And not that it matters to anyone, but I am incredibly passionate about social justice. I am pro-all life, because all life is sacred; which means I am against war, the death penalty, abortion, poverty, etc. That will make conservatives say I'm an idiot liberal (which they have before, and one of them is heading up "Cover the Night" in my college's town. Oh, the irony). Liberals will say that I am too conservative for not being "pro-choice." Whatever. It is all semantics. Point is, I don't care about people and problems in the world because a Facebook post, YouTube video, or even my friend told me to. I care because I'm informed about what it is that I care about. I care because I love people.

I'm not trying to put myself on a pedestal. I'm just trying to say, check your motives. If your motives are pure, then great. If this video has opened up a whole new world of social justice to you, great. Just don't let it be a trend. Let it change your life. Don't let it stop here. Let it continue into the next week, month, year, and decade. Live a life of justice.