Who Is The Real Warlord?
This morning before school started, a student came into my classroom with an urgent request. She asked me to watch a 30-minute YouTube video about a warlord in Uganda who is involved in child trafficking. She said his name was Joseph Kony, and she mentioned that she really understood the stuff we'd been discussing in class about food being used as a weapon in places like Africa.
I was honored to hear of an instance when my students are actually taking to heart the things they are learning in my classroom. I promised her I'd take a peek at it later. What was funny was that another student in a class during the day mentioned that he'd heard something about this "Joseph Kony" thing, and wondered what it was about. I'd thought about my visit with the student this morning, and wondered what kind of crusade this may be turning into.
After classes were over and my student conferences were over, I pulled it up to watch. It is a slickly made but poorly arranged "documentary" from a gentleman who'd made friends with a victim of the awful human rights violations that occur on a regular basis in these places, and he began to urge everyone to get on board with his campaign to take out Joseph Kony through Otpor tactics: getting as many people as possible to join the glorious cause through novel and engaging marketing strategies.
I watched about half of it then turned it off. Just wasn't interested enough in it, got frustrated with the poor quality of story-telling -- it was riveting, but he was just all over the place with it; I mean the first five minutes were about the power of the new global/social media and how he wants his very young son to know things. It was just gratingly manipulative.
The main reason I was put off by it is simply because it continues to reflect a woefully deficient understanding of the way things really work in the giant world of political machinations. Yes, I am in wholehearted agreement that there should be no Joseph Kony's around to do anything evil with children, or anyone for that matter.
But the truth is that Joseph Konys are around only because World operatives make it that way, and they are given the power to enable the Joseph Konys by the very people who revile them. Joseph Kony is merely an actor in a grand reality show to draw people like the guy who made the video and my students and the millions who will be stirred with outrage into more intractable devotion to the World System. (This dude's YouTube video has nearly ten million views as of this afternoon.)
Really, what is going to happen with the best of the presumed possibilities regarding Joseph Kony's fate? Let me know if I've got this right.
Enough people get roused into action to put however much pressure on whoever-wherever (those more visible World operatives who come through like knights in shining armor, perhaps?) to actually stunt Kony's activities, whether by dethroning him, marginalizing him, assassinating him, whatever.
Then what?
You've got hundreds of other warlords or warlord-wanna-be's ready to take his place. Hey, the World operatives themselves are the properly ordained warlords exploiting the whole thing to begin with.
This is the World System in action. It is what it is. Joseph Kony or anyone else, if the World operatives can manipulate what he does and what everyone else feels about it so it keeps more people from Christ, then they are doing their jobs dutifully.
That Christ character by the way, He's the one who'd bring true justice to the Joseph Kony situation. Except that true justice applies to all of us, as well, and to be honest, we'd not fare a whole lot better than Mr. Kony. That's why we'd need His mercy if we ourselves hoped to escape the fate Mr. Kony has in store for him.
In my latest home page piece, I mention in the notes that I consider the motivational gift from among those in the 12th chapter of Romans to be prophecy. I've debated with myself whether to include that, because the World has twisted that office into something quite controversial. A prophet is widely thought to be a maniacal psychic, or a crazed blitherer, or an arrogant condemner.
Nah, he's just a truth teller, that's all. If he is doing what a prophet is supposed to be doing anyway, he's just telling the truth about things.
The prophet is so threatening, however, because he does share brutal truths that people hate hearing. I know I'll never make any money on this venture. I know I'll be dismissed with "I just don't get what you're saying and I'm actually afraid to." That's cool, I'm used to it. I understand that telling people they're just as rotten as Joseph Kony and in need of the cleansing of Christ's blood just as much as he does puts people off.
Sadly because the campaign to draw people to the Kingdom is not as glitzy and glamorous and "feel-goody" as this YouTube poster's is, it won't be attended to with as much zeal.
But it is still the truth about things...
I was honored to hear of an instance when my students are actually taking to heart the things they are learning in my classroom. I promised her I'd take a peek at it later. What was funny was that another student in a class during the day mentioned that he'd heard something about this "Joseph Kony" thing, and wondered what it was about. I'd thought about my visit with the student this morning, and wondered what kind of crusade this may be turning into.
After classes were over and my student conferences were over, I pulled it up to watch. It is a slickly made but poorly arranged "documentary" from a gentleman who'd made friends with a victim of the awful human rights violations that occur on a regular basis in these places, and he began to urge everyone to get on board with his campaign to take out Joseph Kony through Otpor tactics: getting as many people as possible to join the glorious cause through novel and engaging marketing strategies.
I watched about half of it then turned it off. Just wasn't interested enough in it, got frustrated with the poor quality of story-telling -- it was riveting, but he was just all over the place with it; I mean the first five minutes were about the power of the new global/social media and how he wants his very young son to know things. It was just gratingly manipulative.
The main reason I was put off by it is simply because it continues to reflect a woefully deficient understanding of the way things really work in the giant world of political machinations. Yes, I am in wholehearted agreement that there should be no Joseph Kony's around to do anything evil with children, or anyone for that matter.
But the truth is that Joseph Konys are around only because World operatives make it that way, and they are given the power to enable the Joseph Konys by the very people who revile them. Joseph Kony is merely an actor in a grand reality show to draw people like the guy who made the video and my students and the millions who will be stirred with outrage into more intractable devotion to the World System. (This dude's YouTube video has nearly ten million views as of this afternoon.)
Really, what is going to happen with the best of the presumed possibilities regarding Joseph Kony's fate? Let me know if I've got this right.
Enough people get roused into action to put however much pressure on whoever-wherever (those more visible World operatives who come through like knights in shining armor, perhaps?) to actually stunt Kony's activities, whether by dethroning him, marginalizing him, assassinating him, whatever.
Then what?
You've got hundreds of other warlords or warlord-wanna-be's ready to take his place. Hey, the World operatives themselves are the properly ordained warlords exploiting the whole thing to begin with.
This is the World System in action. It is what it is. Joseph Kony or anyone else, if the World operatives can manipulate what he does and what everyone else feels about it so it keeps more people from Christ, then they are doing their jobs dutifully.
That Christ character by the way, He's the one who'd bring true justice to the Joseph Kony situation. Except that true justice applies to all of us, as well, and to be honest, we'd not fare a whole lot better than Mr. Kony. That's why we'd need His mercy if we ourselves hoped to escape the fate Mr. Kony has in store for him.
In my latest home page piece, I mention in the notes that I consider the motivational gift from among those in the 12th chapter of Romans to be prophecy. I've debated with myself whether to include that, because the World has twisted that office into something quite controversial. A prophet is widely thought to be a maniacal psychic, or a crazed blitherer, or an arrogant condemner.
Nah, he's just a truth teller, that's all. If he is doing what a prophet is supposed to be doing anyway, he's just telling the truth about things.
The prophet is so threatening, however, because he does share brutal truths that people hate hearing. I know I'll never make any money on this venture. I know I'll be dismissed with "I just don't get what you're saying and I'm actually afraid to." That's cool, I'm used to it. I understand that telling people they're just as rotten as Joseph Kony and in need of the cleansing of Christ's blood just as much as he does puts people off.
Sadly because the campaign to draw people to the Kingdom is not as glitzy and glamorous and "feel-goody" as this YouTube poster's is, it won't be attended to with as much zeal.
But it is still the truth about things...
Comments
Post a Comment