The Broadcaster

BHS students, teachers have mixed feelings about Kony 2012

Wednesday, March 21, 2012 By Catherine E. Lemel, staff writer/reporter

People from all over the globe have been clamoring to meet the new feature on YouTube, Joseph Kony. According to Kony2012.com, Joseph Kony has been known as a leader of a rebel group since 1987, however, he has not been a household name until now. Kony first appeared when he took over an existing rebel group and renamed it The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA quickly earned a reputation for brutal tactics and if the supply of soldiers was getting low, Kony would go out and abduct children, boys would become soldiers and girls would become “wives” for the other soldiers. The LRA is also encourage to “rape, mutilate, and kill civilians, often with a blunt weapon.” Back when Kony first started his rampage on Uganda only a few select people knew about him, but in years past the number of people aware of his doings has increased. He used peace rallies to gain more power and to arm his soldiers so he can keep control of an area and keep abducting children. Freshman Mary McKeller said “I felt that it was really scary that things like that happening everyday and we don’t always know about it”. She said that after hearing about the things that Kony did she will be more aware of herself and her surroundings. Most discovered Kony and a group formed known as Invisible Children Inc., and they set out to arrest Kony and end the LRA for good. The organization has produced a video on the on the Invisible Children website that explains why it is necessary to have Kony arrested it explains that the purpose of the video is not to celebrate Kony, but to bring about awareness of all the crimes that he has committed. Freshman Aly Pagano said that she helps spread the word by talking all the time about Kony 2012. Pagano said that “the video made me more aware of things going on in the world and it also made me more sensitive to the fact that kids my age are not as fortunate”. Freshman Madeline Jones said that she is glad that people are doing something about Kony, but she has mixed feelings about it because she wants to know why we can’t do something like that for our own country. She said “it is not bad to reach out to other countries but that the problems within the US need to be solved before we can really help the people in other countries.” Sophomore Hannah Smith said that when she saw the Kony 2012 video she wanted to help and she became more aware of what was going on in the world around her. Katrina Ronneburger, Brevard High School graphics teacher, said that she was moved very much by the video and felt that she wanted to support the program. Ronneburger said “I wanted to buy an awareness kit that Invisible Children was selling but became less enthusiastic about the program when she heard that the founder of the program had been arrested for public nudity.”