smalltalk°

You know, I have to say that as disgusted I am by the Kony (Kolonyal) campaign, I think the reporting that Jason Russell was “drunk and masturbating in public” is unfair. We shouldn’t fight misinformation by more misinformation.

It seems quite clear from the video footage released and by the accounts given that he wasn’t masturbating in public as some kind of perverse sexual pleasure, but had rather stripped off his clothes, was pounding his fists and screaming - in other words, having what looks like a very severe mental breakdown.

The problem with the Kony campaign was that it encouraged people to do no work to think about or research an issue - it confirmed what people thought they already knew about Africa and African conflict, so no-one bothered to doubt, think, or look deeper.

With all the stigma and assumptions surrounding mental illness, I don’t like to see this issue be treated as a kind of gleeful revenge, as though it doesn’t matter what the truth of this situation is either. We should ask ourselves why it is that we continue to be constantly fooled by the media, and why we continue to not educate ourselves, look deeper and not accept at face value the narratives we are given.