Kony 2013: Where Are The Invisible Children One Year Later? [VIDEO]

I was buying windshield wiper blades when I first heard about “Kony 2012.” I remember curiously rushing home from the store to see what all the fuss was about (I probably left my smartphone next to the toilet). Of course, I, like a lot of people, watched that video, raised my fist in solidarity with the “Invisible Children” movement, and then promptly forgot about all of it.

I was eating a bowl of peanut butter Cap’n Crunch when I should have been “Taking Back the Night.” I was eating Trix when I should have been buying their “Stop Kony” promotional kit. Hell, I only remembered it was the one year anniversary today because Mashable reminded me. As most of you can clearly relate, I figured it might be beneficial to check in and see just what the Invisible Children campaign is up to one year later. Turns out, they’ve been doing some good without us.

According to statistics on their site, civilian killings in the region have dropped 67% since that video was released, 89% of ex-Kony child soldiers cited Invisible Children’s “Come home” messaging (via radio towers, leaflets and helicopters) as the reasoning they abandoned Kony, and two of Kony’s top commanders have been “removed from the battlefield” (whatever the hell that means).

Social media-wise, Kony 2012 made Joseph Kony the 9th most googled person last year (of course, he was beat out by amongst other things, One Direction, Morgan Freeman and “Lin-sanity.”). Also, at it’s peak, #Kony2012 was being tweeted out 1,200 times a minute, and it became the most-liked not-for-profit Facebook page with 3.1 million likes while being the fastest growing viral video ever.

But Kony is still out there, murdering and doing whatever it is despot warlords do when they aren’t murdering. More depressingly, the one year timeline for Kony reminds me that it is time I got some new wiper blades. Don’t judge me — you aren’t going to do anything either.   

To see more “slacktivism” at its finest, check out this attempt by 4chan to get teenage girls to show their boobs to somehow help Justin Bieber out.