The Sins of Sensationalism and Hype

Our culture is one of the Now. What's new, what's cool, what's in? I could go on and on, but it's already been said enough. Instead, my focus is on when this attitude extends over to humanitarian matters. It happens all the time. A huge disaster occurs, a major response is generated, and then, once it's a few weeks old, it all fades away and people forget about it. Often, this leaves the job half done as in New Orleans and Japan and Haiti. There's also a factor of laziness to it, too. So many people think "Oh, I'll just raise awareness, that will be enough." And they post on facebook so much that their friends are all annoyed and they change their profile picture and they put up posters everywhere and they think that they are actually making a difference and it's all absurd. It's stupid and it's naive and they never know what they're talking about beyond the headlines(ignoring the articles themselves) and whatever the first charity they find on the matter spews out to generate interest. They do no research and they're swayed by sensationalist, sentimentalism found in documentaries, but the never actually do any of the footwork.

WHERE IS THE CHANGE?

The answer is nowhere, because we've raised "awareness" so we've done our part. And once everyone is "aware" we can go back to our lives, content that we "did" something to help.

And yes, this frustration is currently directed at this "KONY 2012" campaign that Invisible Children is heading right now. Even IF this campaign get Joseph Kony arrested, then what happens? Can we reasonably expect the LRA to dissolve without him? What if it doesn't, and somebody far worse steps in? And what if it does, and  we've now given aid and helped build up the military of a fascist government that has a human rights violation record of its own? And what are we going to do to help rebuild? Are we going to do anything, or are we just going to "bag and tag" a warlord and get the heck out of dodge? And what about the children who successfully avoided the kidnappings and are now thieves and prostitutes? What are we doing for them?

And who are we to be the world police? Don't people ask that all the time? Then when something like this is resurfaced, we all cry "think of the children" and insist that America send off it's soldiers to take charge and save the world.

Now, I'm all for overthrowing Joseph Kony, and stabilizing that region of Africa. I'm all for saving the children. But I think that you need to be fully informed and have a plan before you can go raising awareness and spreading the word. Knee-jerk reactions don't do anyone any good, and it's better to have a plan before doing something than to doing something but that something doing nothing or worse. Educate yourself on the matter, then you can come talk to me about awareness and activism.

Oh, and Invisible Children? The word you want is "infamous." Connotations and definitions matter.