I have recently been educated about the Kony movement and all the people that are focusing on this issue of bringing Kony to justice. What I firstly noticed was that the man who started the campaign had a personal encounter with one of Kony’s victims. This experience seemed to have a strong impact on the person who started the Kony campaign as – you can see in his documentary video – he vows heroically to the victim that he will bring Kony to justice.
The documentary proceeds to show footage of the movement and people becoming aware of this issue and joining this movement. The main focus is about how ‘if enough people care and are aware, we can change this/stop this’ – and from this point there is proclamation that people are in fact becoming aware of the issue, and ‘answering the call’ to support the movement, either through donations, networking or awareness demonstrations. It is about how the ‘power of people coming together and caring’ can make the world a better place and bring justice.
Very heart-warming, isn’t it? If I were a supporter of the Kony movement, I would be inclined to feel great about myself in playing my little part in this movement. Who knows, maybe they will even catch Kony one day.
However, being one who is not asleep to the prevalence and extent of abuse in our world, one of the first questions I had to ask was “what about all the other atrocities in this world that are taking place which are not being address/given equal attention to as the Kony campaign? Why is one issue/group of people being valued more highly than another?”
Why is the same amount of attention being brought to issues such as: animal abuse and factory farming, prostitution and sex trafficking, starvation, other various wars and conflicts taking place throughout the world, issues of poverty and economic inequality – just to name a few. This is always my first point of contention with any ‘cause’ or ‘movement’ for justice/a better world – does it address/regard all life equally? Is it a complete solution that recognizes the nature of the system itself as abusive and is thus relevant as a solution to all the various subsequent outflows of a system that is based in inequality?
Because otherwise – if this is a solution to the lives of some and not others –then it would appear that this is a vendetta of specialized interest – which, upon watching the Kony documentary, it does.
Don’t get me wrong, I have been down this path before – the ‘cause’ path – I am fighting for a ‘cause’ and ‘this is my charity’ – the desire to be a good person. What I had found throughout all my efforts was that much of my action taken had in fact been based in guilt, self judgment and regret, and that even those points I had been using as an excuse to wallow in my own inability (choice) to not actually change myself for the better. I focused on ‘the cause out there’ so that I didn’t have to change ‘the problem in here’ – ME.
This goes back to what I mentioned about the prevalence of abuse within our world system. What I found was that it was each one that is individually equally responsible for creating and perpetuating the world systems (primarily the money system) that create such catastrophic outflows as all the social issues that I mentioned above. Thus I realized that as a real solution, it was myself – as well as each and every single other human being – that required self investigation as to how I am existing and what I am creating, and subsequently: what are the systems that I am participating within that are creating the world as it exist today?
The reason why charity or any kind of a charitable solution was not mentioned in that last paragraph is that charity is in fact not a way of taking self responsibility, because it is implying that one is stepping in to be a savior and solve a pre-existing problem – it is not implying that one is stepping in to solve a problem that THEY have created. And if this is the case, is this not a point of blame? Where one becomes so shocked and appalled at what the apparent ‘bad guys’ have done that they can then step into the situation like some kind of hero and save the day?
This is like the knee jerk reaction that we are conditioned to have with social issues and charities. We are NOT conditioned in a way where we see how we are directly responsible for creating the conditions/outflows that exist in this world. We ARE conditioned to want to be good, to be Hollywood heros, to fight the ‘bad guys’ – but what if there are ‘no bad guys’ because in fact each one is equally responsible on an individual level for creating the world as it exist? What if the creation of the ‘good guy’ to fight the ‘bad guy’ was in fact just perpetuating the evil that exist in this world to continue to exist because we are In no way actually getting to the core/reality of how abuse is created in this world in the first place.
That is why supporting a real solution is such a difficult thing to do and requires REAL self-movement – is because it is not pre-programmed! We are not conditioned to question the money system. We are not conditioned within the principle of equality – that there are no real heros or villains, that those are just roles that are created through a system of unequal value, intrinsically within which polar opposites will always be created. If we were conditioned this way, the world would have already started to become a better place by now, for real.
What charity has otherwise only done is ‘cut the head off dandy lions’ – to borrow a phrase I picked up today. It is trying to erase a problem in one place by reacting to it – rather than actually ‘cutting it off at the course. You see, all things in this world cost money – even inequality and abuse have to be financed to exist – and likewise so does a solution – we have to allocate the financial resources to real, sustainable solutions. If we do not re-design our monetary system in a way where money does not have power over life, and where money is always allocated in a way that will best honor life – then these kinds of scenarios as outflows of the current money system will always manifest. We will get rid of one Kony – and another will appear somewhere else in the world.
This is the nature of the current money system. It is here in support of self interest, of abuse, of spiteful competition, in the pursuit of power and control. As long as we are existing within such a monetary culture, where starting point is of scarcity of resources due to our self interested fight for survival, there scenarios will manifest again and again – as our history has shown us.
Thus, a new money system is the only real solution, and I understand that this will be difficult for many to understand because standing up for a new equal money system is not in our programmed, conditioned definitions/ideas of what it is to do a noble, good thing with real integrity – that has been sabotaged through charity.
I understand the temptation of it. With charity, you get to feel like your making a real difference. You feel better about yourself. You feel like your doing something for the better and from this you feel absolved. Sounds nice and feels great and warm and fuzzy – but is this not the most dangerous thing when solving the problem in fact requires that one recognize themselves as part of what is creating the problem? We require to understand HOW.
But this will require real common sense as you will not be conditioned/programmed/brainwashed to support an equal money system. There is no wonderful feeling that will possess you in taking part in supporting an equal money system because the socially agreed upon value of supporting equal money as being a noble thing – doesn’t exist! You will not be recognized as a wonderful, good person because that view doesn’t exist yet. You will not have a large rally of people all around you to make you feel good and energized because you are no longer and army fighting for a cause – you are an individual taking self responsibility.
Supporting an equal money system is the hardest thing in the world to do because you have not been brainwashed to do it. Otherwise the world would have changed by now. It is no easy task and requires real self movement and self honesty. What else would you expect when it comes to changing the world for real?
Adrian Blackburn's Blog 