Twitter seriously has become my number one social media connection, especially since I have decided to phase out my Facebook page (which I seriously have found to be the hottest mess of ads and unnecessary "improvements"). What makes it even easier to use - the trending topics. Two kind of stood out to me this week - Kony 2012 and What I Love About Africa.
The Kony 2012 trend was started by Invisible Children, a very well known activist group famous for it's work in Uganda to end the abduction of children that are turned into soldiers by the infamous leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Joseph Kony. It looks like Invisible Children (also the name of their first documentary that revealed the atrocities of the Lord's Resistance Army) have created another film titled Kony 2012. You can watch it below (yes, it's on YouTube, legally, by Invisible Children).
Overall, this is well done, well marketed and well targeted. This is a movie for disenfranchised white middle class people who only think of Africa in the sense of war, famine and disease. This is for them to give their money and other kinds of support to end Joseph Kony's power in Central Africa. This is, again, another failed opportunity to educate people about an African nation (in this case, a region) that has some issues but also has some serious strengths. This is why Ugandans are generally upset and disappointed with this film.
Before I continue and before someone sends me some hate mail, let express that I do support the efforts of Invisible Children. What Joseph Kony is doing to innocent children in Central Africa is a grave crime against humanity and he must be stopped. Anyone reading this SHOULD support this cause. Secondly, not all white middle class people are disenfranchised from what's going on outside of their white bubble, but a lot of the ones in the United States are (let me not get started on why). I am also not saying that Ugandans shouldn't be upset. Hell, they need to get mad to make it standard to show the world what Uganda is REALLY about.
This was what the What I Love About Africa trend was all about - showing the realities of a continent that sadly is the most misconceived. The trend was started by Diaspora African Women's Network (DAWN) founder and executive director, Semhar Araia (Twitter ID: @semhar).
What I love about Africa is people don't play passive aggressive - they're assertive aggressive. Kony 2012 (the film, not the movement) pissed them off because they know that there are many more layers to the story that the film did not address. There are stories from many people in Uganda and neighboring countries that have lost family and children to Joseph Kony's nonsense. They want them to be heard. I'm also sure that those who have watched the movie in the United States do not know that humongous oil reserves have been found in Uganda and the country's economy has seen substantial growth in the past decade like many other African nations.
Other things I love about Africa: innovation seems to never stop, having a conversation face to face is highly revered and opportunities seem to be endless (the European colonizers and the United States noticed that and currently so does China). I'm glad so many people hashtagged this trend and celebrated the many great things about such an amazing continent. I also like the people that treated the hell out of those ignorant fools that said the loved that everyone in Africa is black. NEWSFLASH: not everyone in Africa is black. Go read a damn book.
Both of these trends brought some buzz to Twitter and hopefully opened some eyes to the good, the bad and the ugly in Africa.
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