The Media: Quick to Make Famous, Quicker to Destroy

Except for some elderly adults who despise technology, there is hardly anyone with access to the Internet who has not heard of the Kony 2012 movement. The media has made it an overnight sensation with millions of viewers. Quite recently the YouTube hit video has gotten the media stamp of approval—up until now. Today when Kony 2012 is typed into Google over half of the pages that come up are about the creator of the video, Jason Russell, who was arrested for public masturbation just last week. The media is like that two-faced friend that plays both sides and is quick to turn around and stab in the back. Because of Russell’s public display of his “wee-he-woo-who,” the beliefs of a few have spiraled into the beliefs of many thanks to the media. With such a viral video also comes a big crowd of judges. Now when people hear “Kony 2012” they think of Jason Russell’s arrest and believe it is a reflection of Invisible Children. The opinions of some have been mediafied (a misleading blow up of an issue in the media) and convinced others who were once supporters of “Kony 2012” to question its credibility. It is simply amazing how fast the media can make people’s question their views, and even more incredible is how those same views are thought to be justified.

            It is an unrealistic idea to believe everyone is perfect (except Mother Teresa of course), but it is even worse to judge people’s life work on a single incident of bad judgment. There is no reason to go from being a Kony advocate one night to waking up the next morning despising Russell’s cause. Once more, the media has built up an irrational idea. The idea that one man’s personal incident should be reflect a whole group of people. The Invisible Children organization is one that has thousands of employees and millions of supporters all of which are independent of any personal decision members choose to make. A famous “Pirates of the Caribbean” quote says, “One good deed is not enough to redeem a man of a lifetime of wickedness.” In the case of Russell, one bad deed should not be enough to condemn a man of a lifetime (or eight years at least) of goodness, but the media does not care about influencing the public’s opinions.

            The capture of Joseph Kony is not any less important because the appointed “leader” of the movement had a mental breakdown. How the public views Russell after his arrest directly relates to how they view the Invisible Children organization now, but that should not be the case. Children are still being abducted, mutilated, and killed for no reason at all. It is understandable to view Jason Russell differently and take any future videos from him completely serious because of his actions (look at girlfriend beater Chris Brown), but it is a radical leap to question the organization solely with this as evidence. The media has a reputation of bring people up to a level of fame with positive attention to destroying them as soon as they screw up. 

Becker, Jacob. "Lights Shined Too Bright On Russell." Pipe Dream. 20 Mar. 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
Lights Shined too Bright on Russell 

As a writer for the Binghamton University's newspaper Pipe Dream, the author tries to explain how the pressure of the media can influence even the strongest people to break down. He uses Russell as the perfect example of how the media made him famous over night and also destroyed him in the same amount of time. The author also admits that although it is natural to not take Russel as seriously as before, it is wrong to judge the organization he represents based on his actions that night. His article talks about the way the media is now contributing to people having unjust opinions of Invisible Children. The media is using their power to keep ideas of unwarranted doubt spreading among the people and continuing to add pressure to Russell and others lives who made once bad mistake.