So, do you know who Kony is? Probably. If not, give it another day and it will show up in your social media feed. For those in the know, or not, the recap is this: nonprofit Invisible Children dropped a 30 minute call to arms (literally and figuratively) regarding the plight of Ugandan children at the hands of Lord's Resistance Army strongman Joseph Kony. The project's stated goal is to harness the power of social media to bring pressure on the world (read: American) community in order to bring Kony to justice in the international courts.
The response is the exemplification of why we use the term viral to describe the spread of information in the digital age. Within a couple days, it was trending on Twitter and making the shared rounds on Facebook. The response is so large, even the traditional media has been in on the story early.
And then came the response that most people have yet to realize is merely the next step in the meme process, the memetic backlash. Just like there were people calling for the end of the "What-my-mom-thinks-I-do" meme less than a week after it reached critical mass, there are those who, with very legitimate concerns, are calling into question the whole movement (and they've done a great job of summing up the reasons why people should be wary...see here, here, and here.)
In a sense, this is where the true power of the Internet lies. In a moment, what is put forward in the public sphere can be vetted publicly by anyone else. But this is also where one of the key dangers lies - that our worst interpersonal tendencies show up in our avatars' interactions as well as our physical ones.
The problem here is not that the cause is unimportant (if you think it is, you need help) or that the criticism isn't worth exploring (it really, really is if you care about more than looking like you're making a difference). No, what's wrong with this situation is what's wrong with our culture in general at the moment (or maybe always has been). Our national religion has become binarism to the point where, in this case, you are either a fervent supporter of this cause and ready to "make Kony famous" or you must see Invisible children and the "fauxtivists" behind it as shady and not worth engaging beyond shouting them down when they're on campus to give a presentation. And that's the end of where the rhetoric would leave our list of choices.
Instead. I say choose both. This particular cause is a window into one of the massive number of issues that hurt children throughout the world. And with the viral popularity of the Kony 2012 video, a blinding spotlight is now being cast on the organization that sparked the interest in the first place. With that combination, the issue (and others like it) can receive the attention they deserve and Invisible Children can be held to a higher standard than it appears they have been to this point.
Everyone, no matter their feelings about the organization, can get involved and improve the math here on both sides of the equation.
Of course the either/or approach could be more effective. Just look at how well it works in the political arena.
