Kontinuing Justice

A couple of days ago I posted a very, very brief post, merely to share with my readers that the Invisible Children Charity, the guys behind the '#Kony2012\ campaign, had made and released a new video. Entitled 'Move', I finally got round to watching it, and was interested by it. I hope you will be too.

Being a product of the internet, the opening and production values of this video are excellent. Having grown up with slinkys, I identified with this image. Despite the flaws in the Invisible Children campaign and organisation, you can't help but identify with a lot of what they are saying. I am technically a millennial  I do use technology, but I want to accomplish things, and I want to build God's kingdom. The video 'move' goes straight to the heart of the issue, with a recap of one of the Invisible Children's earliest campaigns, which (perhaps predictably) is done in excellent poppy style. 

I'm entirely on board with their aim, their intent, and the desire for justice. This new video, 'MOVE', seems to have made a good balance between West and Africa, a good balance between content and style. I'm hopeful that this will continue. Jacob returns - from his heartbreaking cameo in the KONY2012 original video - as a much more confident young man. It is good to see the continued challenge to look at Kony, and his crimes. But don't trust me. Watch the video.

I've blogged before about Christian Conviction and Social Media, and a large amount of what I said there still stands. We saw the effect of prayer and social media in concert especially in the case of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani. This was a challenging story, but I was grateful to come  home one evening to find that Nadarkhani had been freed.

There is some fascinating stuff in this video. There is a real open-ness about the attempt to make the cause 'relatable'. Its refreshing to see such high quality media from a charity aiming for something clear. After a massive surge in social media - I couldn't log on to facebook for a few days without being confronted with it - there was a fading away of interest and support. I'm hoping that such an attitude is not just my generation, the millennial,  but instead a blip. Because at the end of the day it would be wonderful to read stories about people hearing something about an issue of justice, and then act on it. I'm hoping that we will use social media to make a difference - thats one of the reasons I blog, tweet, and try to respond to messages comments and emails. Social media can be a wonderful tool. it can also be damaging - as many recent news stories show us. 

The midpoint in this latest video, though, is good. There is an awareness of the issues and controversy that arose in response to the initially very viral video. The transparency regarding Jason (creative director and star of the Kony film) and his psychotic breakdown was superb. As a response, this is an excellent piece of media. The challenge of "slacktivism" is a valid one - let us never be people who think that sharing things online is a genuine way of changing the world. Social Media can only ever mean something if it reflects what is going on in the real world. The Kony campaign, for good or ill, demonstrated this perfectly.

And this video has another strength. The honesty and transparency of Jason regarding his personal issues will hopefully serve as a firm challenge regarding attitudes to Mental Health. The mind of a man (or woman, or child) is a delicate and powerful thing, hence why the World Health Organisation (WHO) have a "World Mental Health Awareness Day". That was last week. Hopefully this video will add to that.

I'm going to close here. Watch the video (posted below and in the previous post) and let me know what you think.

This has been a long and rambling post. That is largely because it is about a video that has a myriad of issues touched on, and a topic or group of topics that are both vital and controversial. I'd love your comments - whether they be on Kony, Invisible Children, Social Media, Mental Health, or the Millennial generation. Thanks for reading.