Several months ago, Joseph Kony would have been less than a household name. Now, he’s all anyone’s talking about.
Kony 2012 is a protest created by the charity Invisible Children to make Joseph Kony “famous” and arrest him for his crimes in Uganda. Kony has been the leader of the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) terrorist group since 1987. Supposedly, when his army was running out of soldiers, he abducted boys to fight for him and girls to become wives for his officers. Over all, he has abducted over 30,000 children. The LRA are encouraged to rape, injure and murder civilians. Now, Kony’s army has migrated more into the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic.
The Kony 2012 video on YouTube has gotten over 75 millions view and growing. The video starts of with the introduction of a man named Jason Russell, one of the founders of Invisible Children. Russell shows us a boy named Jacob that was one of the children abducted to be in Kony’s army. Jacob tells us about how his brother tried to escape Kony’s army, but was caught and killed in front of Jacob. When being asked what he would say to his brother if he was still alive, Jacob started to tear up, then Jason makes him a promise and says that they are going to do everything they can to stop Kony.
Invisible children is trying to bring attention to the atrocities that happen to the kids in Africa are invisible to the rest of the world. They explain that if any of this happened in the United States, it would be on the news everywhere, however it’s just everyday life for the kids in Africa, hiding and trying to avoid the rebels as much as possible.
Since the video has been posted there has been some controversy on the topic of Kony 2012 and whether or not Invisible Children is a honest charity to trust your money with. Rumors have spread that Invisible Children’s donation money is mostly going to their own expenses. However, Invisible Children swiftly  these assumptions. On their website, they have posted their breakdown of their expenses. They stated that about one third of their money goes to the causes, all the rest goes to fundraising, film creation, awareness, and management.
People have also been saying that Kony died several years ago. The argument is back and forth and videos have been surfacing and resurfacing taking the argument to  newer heights, yet nothing can be proven unless Kony is found dead or alive.
Kony 2012 will definitely be a story for the ages, good or bad, anyone can decide that for themselves. The cause just proves how incredible and fast it is to inform people these days. Although, informing is just the first step to a long journey ahead.