Making Kony Famous 2012

The media has a major impact in the way the people become aware of Kony’s actions in East Africa. They provide information about the enslavement of children and bring awareness to what Kony is doing to the children of Uganda. If it wasn’t for social media, people wouldn’t realize the awful things being done and try to stop it.
At age 25, Joseph Kony became the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) (enough, n.d.). The LRA is a violent rebel group that fights against the Ugandan government¬¬ and plans to overthrow the President and create a state based on Kony’s interpretation of the biblical Ten Commandants. If Kony’s goal was to overthrow President Yoweri Museveni and to use Uganda’s children to do it, why wouldn’t …show more content…
He started by spreading the fear of escape, giving the message that if anyone tried to leave the LRA they would be hunted down and torture if not killed. He would also reduce their connection with things of their culture, such as; clothes they used to wear, foods they used to eat, and games they used to play. This would twistedly morph the brains of the children to think of the LRA as their new “home” and adds a sense of loyalty the kids have to the army. Another horrid thing that Kony did was lie about their religion and make it to where he seemed like the godly figure. In fact, escaped LRA soldier Edward said he truly believed that Kony was “a godly person” because “they made [him] believe that” (How Joseph Kony Brainwashed Child Soldiers, n.d.). Kony also promised a future for the LRA fighters, a future where after they had overthrown the government that they would be rewarded and showered in wealth. He had said that some of them would be granted a government position. These sick things that he said, forced, and promised brain washed the Ugandan children and turned them into his puppets (How Joseph Kony Brainwashed Child Soldiers, …show more content…
But with no intension of such an impact, Keesy states, "If you're gonna release a video that gets a hundred million views," he says, "your PR needs to be bigger than one intern." (Mone, 2014). Everything happened so fast that “they weren’t ready” for anything. They didn’t have anywhere to put their donations that they were getting, they didn’t know what to do with the children that were being saved from Kony’s kidnappings, and they didn’t know what to do next. People were making posters, buttons, and signs (see appendix 1) which brought more attention and more stress onto the Keesy and his “team”. Although the concern people had and what they were willing to do to help might have been good, the overall work that had to be done might have gotten to some people. Russelll, for example, had a meltdown not even two weeks into the video going viral and was caught by TMZ running around naked in San Diego. (Mone,