By Will Malkus
Radio Editor
So I’m not going to talk about hate. Let’s talk about something else this week. Let’s talk about Facebook.
Facebook is uniquely our generation’s. It belongs to us, and that’s not to say that our parents don’t use it, but really it’s ours. We use it every day, and we’re at the point where not having a Facebook is more likely to be met with shock than simple acceptance. Our whole lives are on Facebook; it dictates how legitimate our relationships are, whether you consider someone a friend or not, and if you don’t have a Facebook, good luck getting invited to things.
Now, I’m not going to deny that it’s possible to survive without Facebook. People do it and I have no doubt that they are far more productive than those of us who do use Facebook. Speaking for myself, I don’t think I could do it. I may seem to be coming down pretty hard on Facebook here, but in all honesty, I don’t hate it. In fact, this week I’m going to talk about how much I freaking love Facebook.
First I’m going to tell you a story, and it’s not a happy one. Joseph Kony is the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, a militant guerilla group with religious ties. He kidnaps children. He kidnaps a lot of children. It’s estimated that Kony’s group have abducted over 100,000 children, usually killing their families in the process. And why do they do this? They recruit the children into the LRA and force them to fight. With an abomination like this going on, you’d think it wouldn’t take long for some kind of action to be taken, but there’s the problem.
Kony doesn’t want anything.
This isn’t a group that’s trying to seize power and they’re sure as hell not freedom fighters. They profess to simply be “spreading the word of God,” yet they do so through violence and killing and kidnapping. Kony is a monster, short and simple. The International Criminal Court indicted him as a war criminal and terrorist in 2005, yet he has avoided capture for six years. The U.S. finally took action in October of 2011, when two bills specifically relating to the capture and trying of Kony for his crimes were passed unanimously through the House and the Senate. One hundred troops were deployed to Uganda, but have so far been unsuccessful.
And here’s where Facebook comes in.
Jason Russell, a filmmaker, recently made a 30-minute documentary called “Kony 2012” which brings to light all of Kony’s atrocities and calls for the American people to take some action. Not a lot of action so don’t panic. The plan is to give $10 dollars or reposting the video increase awareness. Russell believes that if people stop making a fuss about this issue, politicians will stop trying to solve it. The solution is to make everyone aware that this is happening; make Kony so recognized that he can’t hide anymore. This video has been all over Facebook in recent days. Last night when I shared it, I realized what an amazing tool our generation has.
Facebook not only allows for an exchange of ideas, it encourages it though the “Like” button and the ability to post links. It’s great to be able to send your friend that video of the cat playing piano, but this video has been blowing up all over the place, and that is so great to see. Check the video out for yourselves: you can find it by searching “Kony 2012” on YouTube and you can get involved by going to www.causes.com/konypledge to sign the pledge to end the pain this man is causing, or by going to www.causes.com/donatekony2012 to contribute whatever you can to the effort. The most important thing is to get the information out there, and wouldn’t it be awesome if we used Facebook to save lives?