In its first five days on YouTube, a video called “Kony 2012” by the Invisible Children organization had gained more than five million views. Today, that number has soared to more than 85 million views since it was first released on March 5. Last year, long before the video was posted, Invisible Children’s revenue was almost $14 million. This year, with the incredible popularity of the Kony 2012 video, Invisible Children’s revenue should be expected to grow as exponentially as its popularity.

The video’s open is almost ominous, “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time is now.” These words, displayed somewhat dramatically, set the stage for an intense experience that plays with the emotions of the viewer after flickering to a quiet video of our earth.

In addition to the actual Kony 2012 video, another positive aspect of the Invisible Children organization is its transparent budget. Many people critique Invisible Children’s spending. In 2011, the organization reports on their website as having earned an unrestricted revenue of $13,765,177, and spent $8,894,63, most of which went to Central African and Awareness programs, including the Legacy Scholarship Fund. Still, a significant amount went to buying awareness products and film creation.

The video also makes sure to keep Americans within their comfort zone by whitewashing it. Not completely, though, as there is still footage of Ugandan people suffering, but the face of the organization is still a white man, Jason Russel, and the video features his white son often.

This idea, dubbed ‘slacktivism,’ is a term coined by Dwight Ozard and Fred Clark in 1955. The term accurately defines what Kony 2012 has been so far. The job of the participants was mainly to share the video with their friends and spread the word. Doing this takes one, maybe two clicks at the most. In today’s internet-based society, this is a perfect example of how it is so easy to do good without even leaving your house.

Despite problems with the organization, critics should at least give Invisible Children credit for planning a very smart, relevant campaign. Invisible Children presents Joseph Kony like a presidential candidate to the uniformed American, with posters and t-shirts plastered with slogans such as ‘Kony 2012’, the political elephant and donkey and posters with Kony’s face on them. They use simple steps, include using social media to their advantage by telling viewers that, if nothing else, they should use social media to spread the word.

Overall, although the movement is strongly American-imperialistic and the U.S. playing the superhero to other countries, it is hard to say the movement is all bad. The fact that Invisible Children, a relatively young organization, has had their video viewed over 100 million times in just over one month is impressive of the American people, and it is true that this is a serious issue, but at the same time, its our problem too.

April 20, 2012 at sundown, the day Invisible Children sets as ‘Cover the Night,’ will be one to remember. It will show how much today’s young adults not only care- but how willing they are to get off of their computer and actually participate. Sure, it is all too easy to post, ‘Watch this video!!!’ with a link to it on Twitter, but this event may- not to put too much pressure on one day- determine whether or not the next generation will be able to even begin fixing some of the mistakes of previous generations. Is Invisible Children putting too much responsibility on us?

The Kony 2012 video has been blocked just days ago due to “content from DigiSay Limited and Scripps Local News, one or more of whom have blocked it on copyright grounds,” states Youtube. It’s too late, though. The harm– or good has already been done.