Kony 2012 Founder Detained By Police
This guy really likes to go viral.
Only this time, in an ironic twist of fate, Jason Russell, co-founder of the Kony 2012 campaign, has reached public attention after he was arrested by San Diego police on Pacific Beach for being drunk in public and allegedly masturbating. The 33 year old filmmaker was also allegedly vandalizing cars, and police concluded he was “on something” at the time of his detainment.
This happened around 11:30 PM, and police arrived on the scene after residents complained about the naked Russell who was running through traffic, screaming and thrashing about. His strange behavior was unusual enough to prompt the police to bypass arresting and instead take the man in for medical and psychological care, and he was taken to a medical center. "He was no problem for the police department however, during the evaluation we learned that we probably needed to take care of him," said an SDPD spokesperson. "We determined that medical treatment was a better course of action than arrest."
According to the website, he was the organization’s “grand storyteller and dreamer”, and a practicing Christian with two children and plans for nine more. His wife addressed the event and said that he "has never had a substance abuse or drinking problem, and this episode wasn’t caused by either of those things. But yes, he did some irrational things brought on by extreme exhaustion and dehydration." According to the wife, Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 campaign brought a lot of attention to Russell and he took the heavy wave of criticism personally.
Jason Russell was unfortunately hospitalized yesterday suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition. He is now receiving medical care and is focused on getting better. The past two weeks have taken a severe emotional toll on all of us, Jason especially, and that toll manifested itself in an unfortunate incident yesterday. Jason’s passion and his work have done so much to help so many, and we are devastated to see him dealing with this personal health issue. We will always love and support Jason, and we ask that you give his entire family privacy during this difficult time.
Okay. So the man was in considerable emotional or psychological distress of some kind. I mean, what we’re meant to understand is that he is the emotional and artistic core of IC, and there’s a plethora of similar cases of individuals of artistic persuasion going berserk following a wave of attention or criticism. Creativity and sensibility are often accompanied by some measure of insanity, or oddity, but perhaps I expected someone like Russell, who seemed so convinced of his cause, to be a little more impervious to the criticism, overwhelming as it was.
I’m no fan of the Kony 2012 campaign, but this doesn’t mean I’m against Russell himself. It’s his campaign that bothers me, and its goals - even more importantly, the methods proposed for achieving his goals. I see the man as some self-indulgent privileged Westerner who stumbled across a conflict that is now over, but was new to him. He chose to do something many privileged white men do after such human rights revelations: he sough the unconscious validation of his own privilege through the emotional gratification that such a awareness campaign and human-rights slacktivist movement can offer. It can give a fortunate, successful westerner the reassurance of importance and ability.
I’m not saying he’s aware of all this. I could very well be wrong. But this is how I see the man, and I believe that there is always the possibility that although misguided, Russell genuinely believes in his goals and methods. He may very well genuinely believed bringing conflict to a country trying to move away from war for a decade is a good thing. But I find that a little harder to believe than the alternative. He lied about Joseph Kony and the scale of his army. He made it sound like the conflict is still raging, like Kony is still active, like the abductions and myriad of other crimes are still a thing of the present. Truth is, they’re not. Kony’s army been gone from Uganda since 2002, its numbers are 60 times less numerous than IC’s suggestions; ever since, Uganda has been trying to heal the scars of war and move on with their lives peacefully, not through more conflict and bloodshed.
When confronted about the misinformation spread by Kony 2012, Russell openly admitted to embellishing the facts to make the documentary have a stronger impact on viewers. I quoted him before, but this is what he said: “No one wants a boring documentary on Africa. Maybe we have to make it pop, and we have to make it cool. We view ourself as the Pixar of human rights stories.”
This is a man who is willing to lie about something as noble as a humanitarian cause. This is a man who cares more about how shocking or viral his documentary is rather than something more genuine like portraying the plight and achievements of the people of Uganda more accurately.
He’d do those people more justice by having their suffering respected and related in honesty, not inflated, twisted, re-written or exaggerated. That does not suggest respect for them or their struggle. It doesn’t prove any level of understanding for Uganda’s authentic issues and reconciliation efforts. If anything it paints the picture of a man seeing this cause more like inspiration for his artistic endeavors in film-making, as a means to acquire attention and further his fame.
This breakdown episode seems to have generated some sympathy for Russell, and has elicited some regrets from his previous critics. Some people believe his breakdown is some sort of indication of the authenticity of his beliefs and good will towards Uganda.
Personally I see him having the same sort of embarrassing breakdowns many performers, musicians and public figures eventually succumb to. Maybe it’s some sort of fame inebriation. Many people spiral down once they reach this peak. Some get up there and stay cool, others break down. It's probably some sort of self-indulgent dam-breaking, some manifestation of feeling on top of the world and godlike. Maybe quick, viral fame can do that to a man. Or he could genuinely have succumbed to some sort of breakdown as a result of sleep deprivation and dealing with his criticisms. But I’m having a hard time believing a man who’d lie and mislead under a humanitarian guise can have this sort of gut-wrenching guilt trip.
Or maybe it was just a publicity stunt. You know, the “just trying to make the children visible, officer” kind.
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