Have you heard about the latest must-see? Everyone is talking about it. In all seriousness, I have rarely - if ever - heard such unanimous, passionate praise for a film.
STOP KONY 2012 is a campaign from the Invisible Children charity to bring to justice - and, ultimately, arrest - Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army fighting the government in Uganda's civil war, through the medium of social networking and the power of the ordinary Facebook user.
And that ordinary Facebook user has proved to be powerful indeed, with anyone who's anyone hailing the mighty muscle of the 'share' button in bringing about the staggering ascension to public interest of Joseph Kony. Invisible for twenty years, it could only have been the Facebook Generation that brought this monster to attention.
What made YOU share it? Probably, like me, your reason is relatively straight-forward. I shared it because it depicts the brutal and the disgusting and the inhumane, and as many people as possible should be informed about what Joseph Kony is doing.
However, I also shared it because STOP KONY 2012 is changing the conversation of our culture. The Western world has seen something, and they don't like it. And by putting it in step-by-step format, starting with what we do best, they have made the world want to - and able to - do something about it. This is the start of a new approach to international politics.
Yes, we have been spoon-fed every aspect of this campaign. But if that's what it takes to get people to unplug themselves from their iPods and LISTEN, then what, I ask you, is wrong with the help of a spoon?
It is easy to see how the film has achieved such dazzling fame. The logic displayed at the end, for example, is flawless. In order for Kony to be arrested, we, the public, must show the US government that it would be very much against their interest to withdraw their 'adviser' troops from Uganda. That it is very much in our interest - and that it should be part of everyone on this planet's interest.
The film itself is a masterpiece; it hits you hard with its calculated, immeasurably skilled tight-rope walking of the line between factual and heart-wrenching, personal and international, brutal and warm. The inclusion of Gavin, the son of the film's narrator is the icing on the cake - his role is calculated but equally never once fails to move you. There is something magical about the way watching a child's forehead crumple and mouth pout in incomprehension as they come to terms with the concept of a real-life baddie changes your own perspective.
STOP KONY 2012 should be celebrated as a film: that is without question. But, far more importantly, it should be celebrated as a movement - celebrated for its persistence, the staggering amount of work that has no doubt gone into it, and for its achievements in rousing people to want and work for change.
However, I have one, fundamental, criticism. Please, hear me out. I know, sometimes, with popular posts on Facebook, or with top trends on Twitter, there are those people who think themselves Pretty Damn Cool if they choose to dislike it. They post often unnecessarily harsh statuses and comments about organisations that everyone believes in, in order to be controversial, or different, lauding it above others as if to say, 'have you not seen through this faςade? I HAVE!' Mine is no such criticism.
The major - and only - flaw of the film is this: it oversimplifies the issue. The head Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, concludes his contribution with the following: "We need to plan how to arrest Kony. The criminal here is Kony. Stop him... and then solve other problems". It is in this pause between the initial plan of action and the effects of this plan of action that the problem lies.
It is all very well arresting Kony, bringing him out in front of a world of eyes glued to laptops, eyes watching news feeds, eyes wanting justice. But what of these "other problems"? What happens after we've arrested Kony? Uganda is - and has been for as long as the majority of people alive today can remember - extremely unstable. There is a possibility that the rest of the LRA will withdraw and go into hiding after Kony's arrest. There is a possibility that they will not.
The US government face more than a financial/security interests assessment. They face the very real possibility of a repeat of Iraq and Afghanistan - deploying troops to Do Good with the forgotten possibility of tipping the country into turmoil, at which point, where do they stop? Do they withdraw and leave a mess, a worsening of the civil war, a loss of more lives, a massacre of more children? Or do they deploy more troops there, resulting in another Catch 22?
We should support STOP KONY 2012. We should do everything we can to help, to spread the word, to campaign. Above all, we should join in the global conversation that is changing the way we operate as a global culture. But we should not reduce an extraordinarily complex issue to a battle between the Big Bad Selfish US Government and the Peace Keepers.