ATCC: Something Fishy In Lake Albert

Lately, the blogosphere, as well as the CorpoRat/SCUM "press," has been abuzz with comment and opinion about a video about 'exploited, child soldiers' in Uganda and efforts by a whitre/western missionary group with shadowy connections to the Fundie/homophobic Rightards who are urging Uganda to make homosexuality a capital offense. The original vid, "Kony 2012"--slickly produced, tightly edited, one-dimensionsal--"KONY 2012", went "viral," collecting some several millions of hits in the first week on YouTube, and raising a firestorm if indignation and missionary zeal and donated CASH to GET KONY, the Monster of upper Uganda!

It reeked of SCAM from the first breath, to me. I am irredeemably skeptical about doo-gooders anytime, but white do-gooders in Africa? The last time that worked well was with Albert Schweitzer.

I said similar things on FBook, over the weekend, and earned the fierce rebuke and blockage from several one-time friends, who were avid supporters of the group in question, "Invisible Children." And I have not been dissuaded of my opinion that it's a piece of white-boy/Xian/Fundie/Murkin "feel-good" fund-raising exploitation of the victims for an agenda which is not at all transparent, by subsequent efforts by the group and founder Ben Keesey, to further gild the lily. It's a "viral" version of the "missionary of the week," the folks who travel from parish/congregation to parish/congregation raising money to bring jeevbus to the heathens, only with better production values and a veneer of sophistication. But it's plainly made to attract sympathy and donations.

Far be it from me to pronounce, but there are no end of clues, hints, and tells as to the disingenousness, if not outright mendacity of project.

One, probably the major one, and probably most significant for having been left entirely OUT of the KONY chase case being made in public, is that Uganda's newly proved oil reserves and industrial claims happen to be conveniently located in the region where the 'missionaries' are encouraging international military intervention to "get Kony, and the remnants of the LRA (Lord's Resisttance Army). According to Ugandans, themselves, The LAST TIME Kony/LRA posed a danger to Ugandans was more than 5 years ago.

But the region he's supposed to infest is, by coincidence I'm sure, a region where the Central Govt (of the hated dictator, Museveni) in Kampala wants to militarily strengthen its grip, and dampen resistance because of the recent revelations about oil reserves along and around and under Lake Albert, on the Sudanese and Congo borders. Kony is of the Acholi people who inhabit the region, and who are intenslely hostile to the Museveni Government in Kampala. And he returns their sentiments.

And, if what they say is still true, to militarily" take out Kony, they're going to have to kill a lot of the kids they say they're trying to save.

Imho, the whole thing's a scam, designed to exploit the tragedy of the victims for the 'spiritual' and material aggrandizement of the 'missionaries," and/or their sponsors. It preys on white messianic/philanthropic guilt. The setting is perfect: a long way away. There's a perfect villain: a wild-looking, dangerous-looking, threatening-looking black man. And there's children at his mercy.

The only thing that would be better would be if the children were white and/or female. But you can't have EVERYTHING in your neo-imperialist fantasy, now, can ya, hippies...