Public Dissent and Critiques of Jason Russell and Invisible Children

Jason Russell was marked as the voice of this new movement, and at the same time helped with its downfall. According to Alyssa Newcomb of abc News, “ The callers reported the underwear-clad male was in the street, interfering with traffic, screaming, yelling incoherently and pounding his fists on the sidewalk. Several people in the area tried to calm the male but he continued to act in a bizarre and irrational manner.” This male, found to be Jason Russell, was reported to have suffered from an episode of psychosis, due to the stress he was under from the KONY 2012 campaign.

Along with the criticism of the front man who lost it and their financial situation, there are reports of dissent from the movement due to a familiar myth: White man sweeping in to save the day. As found in an article by M.G. Vassanji, there is lots of dissent coming from Africa, where the Invisible Children have claimed to be helping:

"Rosebell Kagumire, a Ugandan blogger, observed, "this is another video where I see an outsider trying to be a hero rescuing African children. We have seen these stories a lot in Ethiopia, celebrities coming in Somalia." The film only furthers "that narrative about Africans: totally unable to help themselves and needing outside help all the time." Another blogger, TMS Ruge, wrote, "Africa is our problem, we hereby respectfully request you let us handle our own matters. If you really want to help, keep the guilt and charity in your backyard. Bring instead, respect, and the humility to let us determine our destiny." And novelist Teju Cole tweeted provocatively about "the banality of sentimentality" and the "White Saviour Industrial Complex." Others saw a "white man's burden" message repropagated."

The White Saviour Industrial Complex is something that is clearly written all over the KONY 2012 video. It is mostly about Americans coming to save Jacob, to save the children, to stop Joseph Kony. This is especially apparent towards the end of the film with the large groups of primarily white kids who are pictured campaigning for KONY 2012. The whole purpose of the video was to incite help and a reaction from the United States Government, to send troops or resources to Uganda.

A final critique of KONY 2012 lies in their blatant misrepresentation of facts and a few key things that they chose not to include in their video. According to CNN's Moni Basu, "A student blog called "Visible Children" linked to a photograph of Invisible Children's founders -- Bobby Bailey, Laren Poole, and Jason Russell -- posing with hardcore weaponry with members of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, who have battled the LRA." There is not much peace to be found in fighting and war. The Invisible Children claimed that they want to take down Joseph Kony as he is responsible for child soldiers, murder, and rape, but the next statement by Basu makes the LRA not look so different afterall."The group is in favor of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government's army and various other military forces," the Visible Children blog post said. "Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People's Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them."

Home. Who hates KONY 2012?