Damn you, Kony.

Alright. So Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army are responsible for kidnapping children and turning them into sex-slaves and child soldiers, for the spreading of his odd mix of Christianity/Mysticism, for attempting to turn Uganda into his particular brand of theocracy, for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. But now we in Minnesota have a real reason to wake up…now it’s turned personal.

Someone spray painted “Kony” on the Spoonbridge. You know, the iconic spoon and cherry sculpture that I have in my blog banner? And because one good tag deserves another, the vandals hit two more of the outdoor sculptures. You can see the vandalism of the spoon here. According to the City Pages the vandalism may be linked to Invisible Children’s Cover the Night campaign, which took place on Saturday at the same time that the graffiti occurred.

Now I’m really upset. Grrr! Now I want to go out and find Kony and bring him to justice. And it’s all thanks to those vandals!

Said no one ever.

Kony is evil. Finding him and bringing him to justice is important. But vandalism – whether the target be our cherished Spoonbridge or the side of building – isn’t the kind of tactic that generates widespread support for your cause. There were other legal, more visible ways to participate in Cover the Night. Organizing people, printing literature, knowing the details of the cause you support, prepping your elevator speech, getting out and spreading the word about Kony is hard work, hard work that these people could have committed to doing if they really wanted to be effective. Spray paint is lazy. Activism fail.

Damn you, Kony.
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