This is
my take on KONY 2012 using the Potter’s Box Process Approach from Media Now. This is on Page 476 of the Seventh Addition, just in
case you are curious. Although the
way I use it is a lot different from the book example, I think it’s a good way
for those of us who view media (not just create it) to think through ethical
situations we see in media daily.
In Quadrant One, we first have to take the situation at
hand and identify all of the facts.
Honestly, one of the most frustrating parts of this KONY 2012 saga is
that it is so unclear what is fact and what is fiction! Of all of the media outlets and
coverage out there on this subject, it is extremely unclear to me who is
ethical and who is not. Although
there are not many, these are the facts I am confident about:
1.
Invisible Children, INC. created the video KONY
2012
2.
Joseph Kony has committed thousands and thousands
of war crimes over decades in Uganda
Those
are literally the only things I can think of surrounding this topic that I know
to be definite truths. I don’t
know about anyone else, but that just seems kind of crazy to me.
In Quadrant Two of Potter’s Box, we identify our
values. By doing so, we have to
decide whether the situation at hand is actually helpful, or whether the tools
used are unethical/in bad taste. I
think that the actual video KONY 2012 is a very powerful tool for a seemingly
great cause. This video single
handedly shows the power that we have in the world of media. The real question is, when is that power
truly used for good and not outweighed by bad? Like most things in today’s media, the scandal and possible “conspiracies”
surrounding an issue have outshined the original problem at hand. No longer is the KONY 2012 video merely
about putting a stop to something that is evil and against most people’s
morals, it has become a media storm of conspiracy, mud slinging, lies and
scandal.
We use Quadrant Three to look for general principles to
make sense of the ethical issue at hand.
I think that the Social Contract Theory is a great way to easily outline
what has happened with this video.
As someone who is a philanthropist and honest person in their daily
life, we expect the people involved and the organization Invisible Children to
be the same. If we plan to give
time or money to these people, we expect them to uphold values that are in line
with ours. When stories begin to
develop, such as the news that founder Jason Russell was arrested for being
naked and possible under the influence of something in public recently (yikes),
and countless of other things surrounding the KONY 2012 campaign we start to
question whether Invisible Children is upholding their end of the contract.
Lastly, in Quadrant 4, we have to make our final decision
and clarify our loyalties. Do we
believe the media that reports Invisible Children and KONY 2012 to be a scam
purely to make profit, or do we decide that Invisible Children really is
helping war efforts in Uganda and other African countries and they do deserve
our help? Well, for me this
Quadrant remains undecided…
(Word Count 560)
I believe this is a situation where the recipient of the message is uneducated about a specific issue happening in a specific place in the world, therefore he/she must reply on some form of media to portray the story in an honest manner. Unfortunately, some people will take advantage of the lack of knowledge of the receiving audience and report the issue in such a way that will line their wallets while providing some, if not minimal support, to the victims to which the crime is happening.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree. I feel like a lot of issues/messages are perpetuated simply due to ignorance. Of course, that doesn't mean the person spreading a particular message is doing it to be harmful to others. They just might not realize that there is more to a story than what they are seeing.
DeleteVery good points. I think the craziest part about this entire ordeal is how the guy from the video got arrested the other day! I mean, I could understand someone buckling under pressure when millions and millions of people see your video in a matter of days and you become the center of both good & bad opinions, but I'm convinced that to do what he did (I won't go into details, although I'm sure you've heard) you would have to be on some crazy drugs or something ... I think that with social networking being so popular nowadays and Facebook becoming a medium of popularity, many people indeed did jump on the bandwagon and share the video when they saw it to look good to the public. Does that mean they didn't truly think it was a good cause? No, definitely not. But I think in the end, despite the criticism and skepticism, the video did its job in producing mass awareness in a matter of days, and is a great example of just how powerful social media is.
ReplyDeleteI watched the video while I was doing some more research today and it was very weird! I think even some of the worst mental breakdowns may not produce such crazy behavior, so who knows! If he was on any sort of drugs I'm sure we'll all find out as soon anyone else. There's definitely no question that there is now a huge awareness of Joseph Kony, but who knows if the search for him is even relevant. Many people believe he's actually been dead since the early 2000's!
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