What we can learn from Kony 2012

CCBR: [C]ognitive dissonance plays a large role here. People are far more likely to get involved with stopping an injustice that they play no part in. It’s easy to get angry at Joseph Kony, because it is wildly unlikely that any of us will ever be guilty of his heinous crimes. It is far more likely that we will be involved somehow in an abortion, whether it be as a perpetrator, bystander, or simply a silent assenter. Directing our anger at someone like Joseph Kony seems a safe outlet for righteous indignation.

. . . When we see the success of other campaigns, it should strengthen our resolve to be better spokespeople. While we can recognize the hypocrisy inherent in a population inflamed against child-torture while willing to silently assent or actively endorse a more widespread practice right here at home, that instead should spur us to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. The Kony campaign is exposing the injustice, showing us pictures of mutilated children and graphically detailing the horrors being inflicted upon these innocents. They are confronting the culture, tirelessly petitioning the politicians while at the same time educating the public by going to the schools, speaking at universities and taking their message to the streets. They are making their message impossible to ignore.

And so must we. We have a much harder road ahead of us. We are not battling foreign demons, but our own cultural demons. Charity starts a home, yes, but many people would prefer to look elsewhere. Quite simply, we must make sure that they do not. We must make sure that they cannot. When I see a campaign with the success of Kony, it leads me to one conclusion: We have to work harder.