I just watched the Youtube video "KONY 2012" off my FB newsfeed and am pondering at this moment, amongst other things, on the lifespan of the emotional response derived from propaganda (whether the intent be good or bad),and its correlation to how quickly a message (factual or not) is passed to an audience.
Social media and the internet has allowed for any message of any kind, be it about love, hate, religion, antireligion, inspiration, injustice, etc., to be passed to individuals around the world within seconds. If the message is packaged properly and provokes an internal emotional/spiritual/intellectual response, it then in the least, becomes a physical response of a "click"; it is either forwarded, responded to, argued against, and sometimes, even researched and validated.
We are now in a time, where internet propaganda has the power to create enough response quickly and gather people to start riots, spread hatred/racism/anarchy, and even bully others. It also has the power to overthrow governments, coordinate physical protests and celebrations, and reveals how weak and powerful we as humans, can be.
Any propaganda has the potential to bring about change; negative and most importantly, positive. The internet has allowed us to speed up the process somewhat, although I wonder if the lifespan, that is, the length of time, I allow myself to be inspired by/motivated by/impacted by these messages has shortened because of the internet age iteself. How many different messages and videos are we bombarded with on a daily basis through the internet? If I don't act on my inspiration almost immediately, then I run the risk of losing it, and being distracted by another video, this time about cute little kittens holding light sabers.
Kudos to the organizers and video editors of KONY 2012, for tugging at our hearts, and reminding us to be human and act with humanity. And for using the internet to bring about a positive change, if not in your ultimate goal in bringing Joseph Kony to justice, then in our hearts, for a little while at least.
To be continued... When im no longer a zombie.
