So whose brilliant idea was it to schedule a coordinated effort of social action on International Call In Sick And Play Widespread Panic Day?
As if 4/20 wasn't already booked by Hitler's birthday, the anniversary of the Columbine shootings, and nincompoop stoner numeroligists, it was selected by Invisible Children, the group behind the KONY 2012 campaign, for their "Cover the Night" movement, in which a global tagteam of outraged dogooders show Jospeh Kony that his rebel army is no match for a downloadable stencil kit.
The day of action, which mostly involves spray painting the KONY 2012 logo everywhere, is a culmination of a few days' worth of contacting national and global leaders encouraging the arrest of Joseph Kony:
I'm on record here and here as calling the KONY 2012 campaign something between a dud and a scam; you know you're running a bad organization when your spokesperson getting arrested for public masturbation is not your biggest problem. After the initial KONY 2012 video went multi-plantium viral, interest in the campaign dropped to zero in direct correspondence with the schedule of March Madness, suggesting that what looked like a new horizon in social action was actually just a way to keep busy until you could fill out your brackets. Invisible Children has since come under withering critique from the international community for simplifying African politics into a palatable, feel-good message and wasting the attention they've garnered on an exiled warlord rather than the scores of development issues facing Africa. Meanwhile Ugandans were outraged over their portrayal in the film as helpless victims dependent on white saviors.
The Cover the Night campaign seems to be garnering little to no interest. A poor Guardian reporter assigned to the story found that the Cover the Night UK page had 10,000 likes ("the means by which Facebook users express support," the gentleman writer helpfully informs us), but little evidence of actual action, and noted that some of the individual protest pages "do not appear to exist."
Meanwhile, a cursory scan of the hashtag #KONY2012 and #coverthenight on Twitter revealed little by way of organic messaging; it seemed mostly Invisible Children one-hand clapping in the internet void. Let's hope this whimper is the last of what has been, despite all good intentions, a phony and mendacious campaign.
BONUS: Here's the disclaimer at the bottom of Cover The Night's stencil page:
Invisible Children does not condone any type of illegal activity, including vandalism or trespass, in the distribution of KONY 2012 materials. Our company accepts no liability for consequences, including loss or damage, that may arise in connection with their distribution. Any action you take in relation to KONY 2012 is strictly at your own risk. Everyone can agree that Kony must be stopped, so just ask for permission to post these materials.
In other words: if you get caught, you're on your own. But it was all for a good cause, right?
Giovanni Ketchem:
http://youtu.be/Iu68TFa0EXo
I think this was the worst so far. They destroyed someones artwork. A wall mural was sprayed over with a giant version of their meaningless symbol. It hurts watching this video and seeing these misinformed idiots do this.
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