mbjones

The following links are meant to stand with the previous bit I wrote. My opinion hasn’t really changed all that much: #Kony2012 is to be applauded if it succeeds and getting people deeper into the issues of the region. If it stands on it’s own though, without deeper engagement, I don’t think it rightfully can be applauded. My concern is that it stands more often than not on its own. These links will helpfully flesh out the issues and concerns and drive us into a deeper understanding of how we can rightly be involved.

• We’ll start with this: Ben Keesey, one of IC’s founders responds via video to some of the criticism. Personally, I don’t think it responds to the right pieces of the criticism, but here it is for your perusal.

• Slate wrote a good article on “Crowd-Sourced Intervention”. It’s good food for thought.

• One item that I’ve seen come up several times is the lack of an LRA presence in northern Uganda BUT the presence of an odd disease (nodding disease) only affecting children. Many Ugandan voices in particular would like to see more awareness about this.

• Rachel Held Evans wrote about the situation for Relevant Magazine. It’s worth a perusal at the very least.

• This is a video from an Ugandan journalist. Her voice is worth hearing. She pointed as well towards this coverage by Al Jazeera detailing the reaction of several thousand Ugandans watching Kony2012 for the first time.

• And finally, in a more amusing twist, apparently quite a few folks have been confusing Joseph Kony with Carl Weathers.

Invisible Children have a new video out (Kony2012) and it’s made a splash in a big way. The vast majority of the publicity you’ve likely seen is positive but there have been a few less than excited voices out there. I have a natural aversion to anything that goes viral in such a big way so it took me some time to check it out, and upon doing so found myself with mixed emotions.

• I’m honestly glad that they are trying to raise awareness about an important issue: a vast history of injustice in the central/eastern African region perpetuated by the LRA and Joseph Kony.
• There has been a lot of discussion about IC’s financials. It’s not all that bothersome to me that so much of their cash goes into video advocacy. I expected that. I think IC did a good job of speaking to this issue specifically here
• I’m honestly quite uncomfortable with several aspects of it.
• I’m not keen on how much the issue has been oversimplified. IF the video thrusts folks into learning more and digging deeper, GREAT. But I’m not sure it’s doing that. And you still have to deal with the fact that it glosses over information that’s quite important (and at times gives some questionable info as well)
• I’m not keen on heavy US involvement or placing an un-critical eye on Ugandan army involvement either. Particularly in regards to the latter, they have their own war crimes to answer for in this region. In regards to the former, it wasn’t exactly an altruistic involvement: we got the Ugandans to fight in Somalia for us.
• I’m not keen on the advocating of direct violence as a solution. Especially when nonviolent approaches are currently working (and have been for some time). I won’t go so far as to say that its beyond a state’s power to exercise violence if she deems it necessary, but it should never be done lightly. Direct concerns here: will cutting off the head kill the LRA? Probably not, and we are left with a new, potentially more troublesome problem. Also, do we not think that Kony will surround himself with a large number of children? Ignoring that they are brainwashed and holding guns, and assuming the innocence of childhood, the collateral damage potential is massive.
• Flowing from the above, Obama’s “kill or capture” order makes me uncomfortable. I’d much rather see, and celebrate, justice rather than death.

Anyways, I don’t want to spend much more time writing on it. It has worth in raising awareness but I would encourage you not to stop with it, or what IC is trying to do. Dig deeper into the issue. Listen to Ugandan voices. There is significant work going on in the region, actively seeking justice and peace. Get involved there. Listen to the voices of successful nonviolent resistance and heed their cries.

VC Camp 2011 from Brandon Jones on Vimeo.

This is a video I recently produced detailing a camp we helped put on.
Specifically, the video tells the story of one of the young women
involved (whom my wife has spent quite befriending) and how her story
impacted the kids.

This is pretty amusing. Fox, covering health care reform protests last week, use footage from several months ago (different event/much bigger crowd) instead of the footage from the actual, less attended, event. Have some integrity!

My workplace did a video spotlight featuring me. In it I had the opportunity to begin sharing my vision and passion in life. They put it on youtube, so I thought I'd post it here for anyone interested in what I currently do day to day.

Filmed at the show in Norman on Sunday night. I didn't film it though - just found it on youtube.

This is quite a fun remix. Listen all the way through.