What is KONY 2012?
Today's viral video won't make you laugh or feel good. Actually, it's the extreme opposite. The film will spark outrage and ask you to make a difference. That's what KONY 2012 is about.
If you have a Twitter or Facebook account, you've seen multiple messages about "KONY 2012" or urging you to "Stop KONY." Many are scratching their heads wondering, "What's KONY?"
It all started yesterday when filmmaker Jason Russell posted a 30-minute documentary about Joseph Kony, leader of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), and the thousands of children his army abducts, turning boys into child soldiers and girls into sex slaves.
Russell produced the video for Invisible Children, which details the atrocities Ugandan children face, focusing on a teenager named Jacob, who witnessed his brother's murder.
The film asks viewers to get the word out and pressure the US government to find and capture Kony. And thanks to some of Hollywood's biggest stars, millions of people now know the ruthless leader's name.
Celebrities including Chloe Moretz, Rihanna, Olivia Wilde, Zooey Deschanel and Alec Baldwin tweeted links to the video and asked followers to do the same. "whoa! we need to #STOPKONY 2012," Deschanel tweeted to 1.7 million followers. Alec Baldwin took a lighter approach to the campaign: he suggested dropping Rush Limbaugh on Kony or putting the rebel leader in a cell with Ann Coulter.
