If I see a homeless man on the street and give him money, and he spends that money on booze, was I wrong?
Today I saw the video for www.Kony2012.com. It moved me to tears. This isn't an issue I'm hearing about for the first time. I've known about the issue for a long time. This is the first time though, that's I've heard someone with a plan, and that was inspiring to me.
Here's the thing though: Kony2012 has its dark side. Their financials are less than stellar, they're not being run the way I would run it. They're supporting the Ugandan army, and that's not something that I'd want to side with. They're also not the only charity doing something. You can Google it all and find a lot of reasons NOT to support this charity. Those are good reasons, and I wouldn't fault you for it, except for one thing:
Who WILL you support?
My problem with picking apart a charity is that it's often done by people doing nothing to support the cause. I don't know that this is the best way to end this. But it's certainly better than nothing at all. My issue with it is that Kony2012 is going crazy viral. It's more or less, all that's on my Facebook wall. And then someone smart comes along and gives you five good reasons not to support Invisible Children, and guess what? You stop being a human concerned about positive change and you become a consumer. You're purchasing charity. You're supporting something with that money and now you want to agree with EVERYTHING the charity is doing with that money. That is impossible, so the immediate response is then to do nothing at all. Take your money and go to Starbucks (by the way, I disagree with a lot of their charities too).
Compassion International, as a charity, is MUCH better run than Invisible Children, as noted by Charity Navigator - you can decide for yourself if you agree with how they rank what makes a "good" or "bad" charity. But I haven't heard from Compassion International about this issue, and what their plan is. I have seen nothing but www.Kony2012.com all morning. I don't think I'd send them a monthly cash donation, but I'm more than happy to buy the t-shirt and posters and put them up. I'd be happy to raise awareness.
But then that's an incredibly tricky word: Awareness. It's tricky because we're selfish. Raising awareness implies that if we are aware, we will act. And that's incorrect for a huge number of people. This will get spammed. People will ignore it. The fact that the video is 30 entire minutes long will lose a huge number of people. That's sad. It's sad that people will change their profile pictures and not write their politicians. But if you change your profile picture, and do nothing else, and one of your friends sees, and they write their politicians, then something's been accomplished. You've created real awareness, the kind that produces change, even with your apathetic trend following. And that's something. It's better than nothing.
It's a strange world. It's a world that can't be charted in a financial statement. Invisible Children gave only slightly more than 30% of their total income (over 8 million) to the actual cause. The rest was salaries, marketing, travel expenses, etc. But if their marketing budget makes our government spend huge money in solving the issue, should that be charted too? How much money has been spent as a direct result of Invisible Children raising "awareness"? That's not charted, it can't be. It's possible that this "shady charity" could end the regime of Kony. They might be better equipped to do it than anyone else, and so they got my $30 today, and I'll get a bumper sticker and some posters that I'll put up. I'd be happy to let you photocopy them if you like.
Don't run somebody down because they're not doing it how you would do it, or how you think is right. You only earn that right when you're doing something yourself. Don't kid yourself into thinking that you're not supporting causes that you likely disagree with when you make your purchases every day.
If I give a homeless man on the street five dollars, and at the end of the day he spends it on liquor, that is not up to me. I believe that God honors generosity and I do not believe that His arm is so short that He can't use that $5 in a multitude of ways. I also believe that God honors education, and thoughtful giving. Occasionally I give to homeless people on the street, sometimes I don't.
You don't have to support this charity. You should support this cause. If it was my child who was kidnapped, who was being tortured and raped I will tell you one truth: I wouldn't care about the politics of who rescued her. I wouldn't care about their spending habits or their political affiliation. I would care about my baby coming home. Find someone, ANYONE, who is working towards that end, who has a solution you can agree with, and support that. With your time and your money and your letter to your local politician. Get involved. Change the world. But DO NOT do nothing and point fingers at those who are doing it "wrong". Do not diminish their cause and turn people who were doing something, into people who are now so confused about who to side with, that they're now doing nothing. That's a crime too, in my books.
Today I saw the video for www.Kony2012.com. It moved me to tears. This isn't an issue I'm hearing about for the first time. I've known about the issue for a long time. This is the first time though, that's I've heard someone with a plan, and that was inspiring to me.
Here's the thing though: Kony2012 has its dark side. Their financials are less than stellar, they're not being run the way I would run it. They're supporting the Ugandan army, and that's not something that I'd want to side with. They're also not the only charity doing something. You can Google it all and find a lot of reasons NOT to support this charity. Those are good reasons, and I wouldn't fault you for it, except for one thing:
Who WILL you support?
My problem with picking apart a charity is that it's often done by people doing nothing to support the cause. I don't know that this is the best way to end this. But it's certainly better than nothing at all. My issue with it is that Kony2012 is going crazy viral. It's more or less, all that's on my Facebook wall. And then someone smart comes along and gives you five good reasons not to support Invisible Children, and guess what? You stop being a human concerned about positive change and you become a consumer. You're purchasing charity. You're supporting something with that money and now you want to agree with EVERYTHING the charity is doing with that money. That is impossible, so the immediate response is then to do nothing at all. Take your money and go to Starbucks (by the way, I disagree with a lot of their charities too).
Compassion International, as a charity, is MUCH better run than Invisible Children, as noted by Charity Navigator - you can decide for yourself if you agree with how they rank what makes a "good" or "bad" charity. But I haven't heard from Compassion International about this issue, and what their plan is. I have seen nothing but www.Kony2012.com all morning. I don't think I'd send them a monthly cash donation, but I'm more than happy to buy the t-shirt and posters and put them up. I'd be happy to raise awareness.
But then that's an incredibly tricky word: Awareness. It's tricky because we're selfish. Raising awareness implies that if we are aware, we will act. And that's incorrect for a huge number of people. This will get spammed. People will ignore it. The fact that the video is 30 entire minutes long will lose a huge number of people. That's sad. It's sad that people will change their profile pictures and not write their politicians. But if you change your profile picture, and do nothing else, and one of your friends sees, and they write their politicians, then something's been accomplished. You've created real awareness, the kind that produces change, even with your apathetic trend following. And that's something. It's better than nothing.
It's a strange world. It's a world that can't be charted in a financial statement. Invisible Children gave only slightly more than 30% of their total income (over 8 million) to the actual cause. The rest was salaries, marketing, travel expenses, etc. But if their marketing budget makes our government spend huge money in solving the issue, should that be charted too? How much money has been spent as a direct result of Invisible Children raising "awareness"? That's not charted, it can't be. It's possible that this "shady charity" could end the regime of Kony. They might be better equipped to do it than anyone else, and so they got my $30 today, and I'll get a bumper sticker and some posters that I'll put up. I'd be happy to let you photocopy them if you like.
Don't run somebody down because they're not doing it how you would do it, or how you think is right. You only earn that right when you're doing something yourself. Don't kid yourself into thinking that you're not supporting causes that you likely disagree with when you make your purchases every day.
If I give a homeless man on the street five dollars, and at the end of the day he spends it on liquor, that is not up to me. I believe that God honors generosity and I do not believe that His arm is so short that He can't use that $5 in a multitude of ways. I also believe that God honors education, and thoughtful giving. Occasionally I give to homeless people on the street, sometimes I don't.
You don't have to support this charity. You should support this cause. If it was my child who was kidnapped, who was being tortured and raped I will tell you one truth: I wouldn't care about the politics of who rescued her. I wouldn't care about their spending habits or their political affiliation. I would care about my baby coming home. Find someone, ANYONE, who is working towards that end, who has a solution you can agree with, and support that. With your time and your money and your letter to your local politician. Get involved. Change the world. But DO NOT do nothing and point fingers at those who are doing it "wrong". Do not diminish their cause and turn people who were doing something, into people who are now so confused about who to side with, that they're now doing nothing. That's a crime too, in my books.
