Since the video took over Facebook yesterday evening, I’ve had some time to actually reflect on what I saw and how I exactly feel about the KONY 2012 campaign. This morning I read the criticisms. This afternoon I spoke with and heard the opinions from a number of people.

“Have you seen the KONY 2012 video? That thing spread like wildfire over Facebook last night!”

“Everyone thinks their a social activist now just because they’re re-posting it.”

“I hope everybody realizes that simply posting the Kony video does almost nothing…If you want change then do something about it!”

“People who share the KONY video should be able to do this.”

Here’s a few of my scattered remarks:

• The purpose of this video is to raise awareness and that’s exactly what it did.
• If I hadn’t watch the 30minute film on Facebook, I would’ve seen it on some other blog.
• Just because you re-post the video and change your default profile picture doesn’t mean you are a social activist.
• I’m sure you felt bad for 30 minutes, but what did you do with that fleeting emotion after?

Facebook, though I love it for its capabilities, can be dangerous at times. It sometimes makes us out to be ingenuous more so than I think we would prefer to appear. The message was powerful in that it was able to spread rapidly. It was relevant and tugged at some heart strings. It was modern because “HEY! it featured YouTube, Timeline, and icons in pop culture like Rihanna!” I think what lured me in the most was the overall design and production of the entire video. To put it simply, it was well made. We may not be able to STOP KONY exactly, but it sends the general message to everyone who watched that there are many others out there in the world just like Kony. Genocide…Invisible Children…this isn’t new. It’s just a different approach.

For everyone that reposted this video on Facebook with strong opinions about actually “doing something”, you had better be out on April 20th doing what you are essentially pledging to do. If you believe in sharing it then you should at the least back up your actions by striving to actually make that change.

I want to make it clear that I support the movement and the campaign. When I was in high school, I was involved with a program called Project Darfur and even helped organize a benefit concert for the organization to raise money for Invisible Children. However, my intentions for posting the video yesterday evening was to share a well-made film that was relevant in the news. I am not claiming that I am going to take down Kony and his army myself. I am not sharing it on every outlet possible. I am intrigued by the movement though and will be out on April 20th to document the event and witness something huge. Just because you watch a 30 minute film doesn’t mean you know everything. I encourage all of you to educate yourself on this and keep learning – keep reading. Learn all that you can about this movement and read the criticisms to see both sides. I promise to do the same.