Sunday, March 18, 2012

Kony 2012



What a strange thing the internet is. It gave huge coverage to the situation with Joseph Kony and the LRA via the movie Kony 2012. But it brought down huge criticism as well. Why? I don't know. At first I thought it was the Justin Bieber phenomenon - it's a big thing and it's not my thing, I think I'll call it stupid. But maybe it's a macho thing; the movie tugs at your heart strings and young males don't like to admit having heartstrings. Whatever it is, it's taken a toll on the founder of Invisible Children:

(Reuters) - The director of a video gone viral that calls for the arrest of fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony has been hospitalized in California for exhaustion following an "unfortunate incident," his group said on Friday.

It said filmmaker Jason Russell's condition stemmed from the emotional toll of recent weeks.

The 30-minute YouTube video called "Kony 2012," viewed by tens of millions of people, aims to wake up the world to atrocities committed by Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, including kidnapping children and forcing them to fight.

"Jason Russell was unfortunately hospitalized yesterday suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition. He is now receiving medical care and is focused on getting better," Ben Keesey, head of Invisible Children, said in a statement.

"The past two weeks have taken a severe emotional toll on all of us, Jason especially, and that toll manifested itself in an unfortunate incident yesterday," he added, without giving details.

AWL readers may remember me mentioning that Lumberkid has been an Invisible Children supporter for years. It's great that the film has taken off but she reports encountering its detractors as well. It's unfortunate, but there's no way I can shelter her from stupid people, they're everywhere.

Speaking of stupid people, driving home from work today, I had to lock the brakes to avoid a horse mounted cowboy on the highway. I say cowboy because he had the hat and jeans. He probably also had an iphone and was on his way to Starbucks, but he was cowboy enough to drive a horse into the traffic lanes. Ten minutes later a half dozen weekend bikers shredded their way through cars and shoulders at speeds in excess of 85 mph. Obviously on their way to an organ donor conference.

Stupid people.

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