By Andrew W. Griffin

Red Dirt Report, editor

Posted: October 8, 2012

reddirtreporter@gmail.com

OKLAHOMA CITY – Uh oh. The mysterious group behind Kony 2012 is back!

The last time we noted the Kony 2012 viral video here at Red Dirt Report was back in June. A lot has happened since then. And we see Invisible Children leader Jason Russell sitting down with Oprah Winfrey, telling her he is “theatrical” and not necessarily gay. Repressed, perhaps? Okay. Fine. So, why is he back on the talk-show circuit pushing his interventionist, evangelical propaganda? Slate.com is calling the Oprah interview "odd."

Well, because a new video is being promoted by Invisible Children. This one is called “Move” and they are hoping it surpasses the 111 million viewing mark, which is what the original video did, making it one of the most-watched videos of all time.

 Of course the via a slick marketing campaign – it became the pet issue of social-media folks and Lady Gaga, among others for about three days back in March 2012 – was to get African and world leaders to nab Kony. Easier said than done. He hasn’t been seen in years.

But that didn’t stop an army of Kony 2012 viewers to tack up posters in public places, in an attempt to get the word out. Here in Oklahoma City, for a weekend in March, the Bricktown entertainment district was virtually choked by all the Kony 2012 posters.

Months earlier, though, we had addressed the sudden  involvement of U.S. forces (100 “advisors” at last count) in Uganda. We wondered what the real motive behind that military action on the part of the Obama administration was all about. So, when the Kony 2012 documentary flooded Twitter, Facebook and the other “usual suspects,” we were skeptical.

As we wrote exactly seven months ago: “Red Dirt Report has written extensively in recent months – since President Obama sent 100 “military advisors” to that region last October – about the situation in Uganda, dealing with the LRA and with peripheral issues (Oklahoma City’s “Pros for Africa”, Sen. Jim Inhofe’s involvement with the pro-Uganda, secret congressional group “The Family” (aka “The Fellowship”), the virulently anti-gay legislation circulating in Ugandan parliament, and the mysterious “drug death” of Oklahoma native and well-respected videographer Jeff Rice in a Kampala hotel last month. We know Yoweri Museveni is a corrupt dictator and is tightening his grip on Uganda.”

And as it turns out, we had good reason to be skeptical of the Invisible Children, founder Jason Russell and the right-wing politicians who jumped at the chance to help promote the cause that was allegedly promoted to highlight the wanton brutality of the Central African butcher/warlord Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army.

As it turns out, thanks to independent writers and researchers – including Wayne Besen – Russell had noted in 2005, at a Christian conference in Texas, that Invisible Children was caught on tape saying his group was to be a “Trojan horse” to introduce Invisible Children’s version of Christian fundamentalism to the “secular realm.”

Russell, who would have a mental breakdown shortly after the Kony 2012 “explosion,” would streak naked in San Diego, apparently masturbating in the light of day, out in the open.

So who was pulling Russell’s strings? Sounds as though one of his alternate personalities came through that day. He says he is on medication now, and sees a therapist. He admits he was “crazy and out of control.” So, what of the imperialistic tone in the videos, Mr. Russell? Are you calling out Museveni? Note this story for more on that angle.

And now? Well, Russell and his cohorts are still promoting the same cause, while trying to put the aftermath of Russell’s naked antics behind them. Invisible Children still wants Joseph Kony caught. Of course, who wouldn’t. But we sense there’s something more going on here and we think it has something to do with crypto-fascist elements inside the Beltway. A group seeking control of vast mineral resources in central Africa under the cover of paternalistic “missionary” work, albeit wrapped in a Facebook-friendly package. And then there is that strategic angle. AFRICOM, anyone?

Further research by Besen and others revealed that Invisible Children was funded by the extremist and anti-gay National Christian Foundation and the secretive “Family.” Surprise! Surprise!

Forbes magazine, back in April, also noted that the viral trends online showed that Oklahoma City was one of the top mid-sized metro areas in the U.S. The reporter writes that the Kony 2012 movement emerged from places like Oklahoma City, Birmingham, Ala. and Pittsburgh, Pa., supported by “Christian youth, many of whom post Biblical psalms as their profile bios.” That might explain why OKC's Bricktown area was an area where the Kony 2012 message was particularly noticeable.

That’s fine and good, but do you think those Christian youth – and the countless celebrities and pundits out there who got behind Kony 2012 – would want to know the full story? AS Russell himself said, according to an Alternet story, students at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. were told to spread Kony 2012 propaganda and the accompanying fundamentalist message via “extremely low-key, or stealth evangelism.”

We hope peace comes to Uganda and the surrounding region, but Western interventionism and meddling is going to worsen things. The people of that region need to take it upon themselves to correct the serious problems they face. A place to start is by electing new leadership and ending Museveni's reign, particularly as Uganda celebrates its Golden Jubilee when British rule of Uganda ended on Oct. 9, 1962. To learn more about the real problems facing Uganda - beyond the spectral Kony and his decimated LRA - note this enlightening story. 

Copyright 2012 Red Dirt Report