Microtheme

The topic I will be researching and discussing for my microtheme is Kony 2012. Kony 2012 is a viral video that reveals the horrible conditions children in Uganda are living in under the war lord, Joseph Kony. There are two reasons I chose this topic First, Kony 2012 is one of the first slacktivist movements. It was a Hollywood-style production video, that was so well made it received 21 million views in three days. in 2012, this did not happen often, even though it now happens almost every day in social media. I would like to research how this video was created, what it's actual goal was, and how it effected viral videos of today. The second reason I chose this topic is because, when this video first came out, I knew of it almost immediately like most other people, but never followed up on it, or found out what the outcome of the video was, which is now a social norm for viral videos and many slacktivist movements. I would also like to research how viral videos become famous so quickly, and whether this is good or bad, and whether the people featured in videos such as Kony 2012 are de-humanized, or feel non-existent because of videos like these.