PUBLIC OPINION > KONY 2012 Can Make a Difference
SodaHead News
2012/03/08 23:00:00
Invisible Children's KONY 2012 campaign evoked a storm of social media shares and memes this week, making Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony an overnight anti-celebrity, which is exactly what the campaign set out to do. But there's still an enormous amount of discussion over whether or not awareness is enough to take down the despicable man. There's a good deal of controversy surrounding Invisible Children's message. Is it implicitly militaristic? Are donations being used wisely? Do supporters even understand the situation? There are a lot of directions to take this conversation, but to start out we opted for a general question... the big question: Will it make a difference?
The results weren't as overwhelming as Invisible Children might like them to be, but KONY 2012 hit its mark. Well over half of the respondents are convinced the campaign can make a difference, even if that change might be unclear at the moment. At least people are talking about it. At least now we can hold that broader discussion about what we can do to help, if anything. As for the doubters, they have good reason to hesitate. The Top Opinion summarized the skepticism remarkably well with an Elrond meme: "One does not simply... destabilize a Ugandan warlord by liking Facebook status." In other words, the awareness is nice, but it's just not that simple.
Women Are On Board
We actually didn't expect there to be much of a gender difference here, but it was impossible to ignore. Female voters were 20% more likely than men to say KONY 2012 will make a difference. Maybe women are more optimistic, or maybe men are simply skeptical about the military implications. Even then, more than half of the male voters had faith in it.
We actually didn't expect there to be much of a gender difference here, but it was impossible to ignore. Female voters were 20% more likely than men to say KONY 2012 will make a difference. Maybe women are more optimistic, or maybe men are simply skeptical about the military implications. Even then, more than half of the male voters had faith in it.Facebook Finds Supporters
This is probably the most remarkable demographic we found. Looking at the age breakdown, every group over the age of 24 voted about the same, with just under half admitting it could make a difference. But the two youngest groups were way more optimistic. In fact, teens were nearly twice as likely to buy into the campaign. We suspect Facebook has something to do with it.
This is probably the most remarkable demographic we found. Looking at the age breakdown, every group over the age of 24 voted about the same, with just under half admitting it could make a difference. But the two youngest groups were way more optimistic. In fact, teens were nearly twice as likely to buy into the campaign. We suspect Facebook has something to do with it.Reluctant Conservatives
On the political spectrum, the controversy remained. Liberals were mostly for it, and conservatives mostly against. And the reason is pretty obvious: Intervention. Conservatives are likely worried about the implied intervention required of this movement, whether that's military or economic.
On the political spectrum, the controversy remained. Liberals were mostly for it, and conservatives mostly against. And the reason is pretty obvious: Intervention. Conservatives are likely worried about the implied intervention required of this movement, whether that's military or economic.If you'd like to vote on this question, dig deeper into the demographics, or engage in existing discussion about the topic, visit our poll about KONY 2012. We'd love to hear from you!
Top Opinion
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Philo-Publius 2012/03/08 23:55:13
Send Obama (Back) to Uganda with his buddies Rick Santorum and John McCain since they care so much, not my troops paid for by MY taxdollars and endless Chinese debt with Hillary making the deals. America is a ship of fools in denial being scammed by dumb obvious criminals
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Jun 4 2009 ..... "Uganda: The Next Saudi Arabia?"
Uganda is a landlocked country of 32 million that's a bit smaller than Oregon. GDP: $1100. And, according to this report of a meeting with a representative of the US Department of Energy, may have reserves that ...
Send Obama (Back) to Uganda with his buddies Rick Santorum and John McCain since they care so much, not my troops paid for by MY taxdollars and endless Chinese debt with Hillary making the deals. America is a ship of fools in denial being scammed by dumb obvious criminals
................
Jun 4 2009 ..... "Uganda: The Next Saudi Arabia?"
Uganda is a landlocked country of 32 million that's a bit smaller than Oregon. GDP: $1100. And, according to this report of a meeting with a representative of the US Department of Energy, may have reserves that "rival" those of Saudi Arabia.
(For reference: Saudi Arabia produces well over 10 million barrels of oil a day and has reserves estimated at 267 billion barrels.)
The DOE expert says Uganda could produce 3.5 million barrels a day, and possibly much more, and then offers US help with environmental and governance issues.
I have no way of knowing how accurate the prediction of Uganda's oil reserves is, but even if there is a lot of oil there, there's no doubt that the place and oil source we call Saudi Arabia was the product of a particular moment in world history, and a particular relationship between the US as the emerging post-colonial world power and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which needed protection as the Cold War heated up. In other words: More than oil made Saudi Arabia what it is today.
By contrast, this moment in history is a dramatically different petri dish. As this article shows, Uganda is actually considering NOT exporting its oil, which would mean that the reserves, no matter how large they are, would not realize their full value. Furthermore, Uganda is seriously looking at doing deals with both Iran and China--both in their own ways emerging powers without the baggage that the US has.
And the US has neither the diplomatic suasion nor the air of military invincibility that it had 50 years ago, or even 10 years ago. The US military, through AFRICOM, has a complex relationship with the government of Uganda and rival groups in nearby Democratic Republic of the Congo. Earlier this year, AFRICOM helped plan a horrifically botched raid on rebels who turned around and killed 900 civilians.
It's probably fair to say that regardless of how much oil is found, there will never be another Saudi Arabia, willing to invest so much of its income in creating spare capacity to keep America's vision of the world afloat with cheapish oil. For the US, chasing Saudi Arabias and oil reserves around the world has been part of our 20th century version of manifest destiny. But with incredible speed, the whole venture --both the good and the bad--is changing.
You thought Obama ended the war in Iraq? March 6 2009 .... "Why 10000 Ugandans are eagerly serving in Iraq" - CSMonitor Thousands of men and women from poverty-stricken Uganda risk their lives for $600 a month in Iraq ......
October 14th 2011 .... "Obama Sends 100 US Troops to Uganda to Combat Lord's Resistance Army. ..."
The reason for this grass-roots effort isn't from any government, it's from citizen outrage against the world's worst living mass-murderer. Tens of thousands of innocents have been raped, tortured, murdered, and mutilated. Thousands of children have been abducted and forced to kill their own parents. And we, in the comfortable West, should refuse to lift a finger? Multiply these victims by tens of THOUSANDS:
You really want to let this continue for another 20 years?
Oct.14,2011
"Obama sends 100 troops to combat LRA in UgandaIn a letter to Congress, President Obama said troops will act as advisers in efforts to hunt down rebel leader Joseph Kony"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/wor...
And guess what happened 6 days later in Libya .... in between here & there?
Oct. 20, 2011
• Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled Libya from 1969 until August this year, has been killed by forces loyal to the country's new government.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/wor...
http://allafrica.com/stories/...
Leave oil exploration and discovery to the experts in the field.... literally.
I'll make this easy.... Searc~ About 1,010,000 results (0.08 seconds)
http://www.google.com/search?...
http://www.theblaze.com/stori...
Do some reading, it's edifying: http://lacigreen.tv/otherish/... http://www.theblaze.com/stori...
The ultimate goal is to capture this man who uses kids to kill. Seems if we don't have a financial interest in it its not worth it to conservatives.
The "man" hasn't even been heard from since 2006. Get with the times. We don't even know if he's alive or dead. Go read on the subject before passing judgment. The people of that region DON"T WANT US meddling in their affairs & making things worse. Ron Paul is correct in that we need to keep our nose out of other countries' business until we actually know what's going on & know what they need or want us to do. Seriously, read what I gave you & if you need some more, particularly from people who live there, come back & I'll give you more sources. I mean, I'll do the work for you.
Conservatives ARE compassionate; we're just not stooooopid & naive. This is a perfect reason why governments should stay out of the lives of others, for the people, themselves, are the ones that know whether or not they need our help.
Also, it's a very naive person who gives money & time for a cause before they are educated on the possible ramifications of their actions. I'd give the shirt off my back to help anyone in need, but we're not of their culture & we're not there on the ground to know what kind of situation they are "currently" in, or any intervention that is specifically needed by "outsiders", if any.
Apparently, the people of that country don't want Westerners or the "white man" to interfere. Should we not respect them?