Goodbye my Kony island baby!

Does something have to go viral in order to gain support? Nowadays it seems the answer is yes. The Invisible Children peeps have posted a video that has gone viral, and while I didn't give into it initially because of that very reason, I felt I needed to if i was going to write about it. Now I won't re-cap the video, or even try to talk politics here, but let's take a look at the viral aspect and its impact on the overall campaign.

For years now I.C. has been working to spread the word about the mistreatment and brutal attitude towards Ugandan children as perpetrated by Ugandan warlords. Now they have released a video casting light on one such warlord Joseph Kony in hopes of having him removed from power via an arrest. So, how does and organization that rarely makes it into the papers all of a sudden show up on television and news sites and in the papers? That single viral video.

Facebook, and the internet in general, have opened up doors that have not existed before and given social/political activists (among others) ways to reach out and spread their messages.

But with that kind of attention there are bound to be side effects. For example, once again I.C. is being scrutinized for its tactics both in the media and financially. They have come under heavy fire for their over-generalizations of an event spanning several decades, and for having discrepancies in their financial reviews where it seems only a third of their funds actually go to aid Ugandan children.

It seems that media coverage comes at a cost for both sides.