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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2012

MANAGING EDITOR: Leah Spagnoli - 815.753.9643

PERSPECTIVE
www.northernstar.info

KONY inspires thoughtful conversation in youths

Taurean Small
COLUMNIST

Eric Lee | Northern Star

Whats with this music?

touch that. Also, compare that to the record holder for most albums sold in a week (NSyncs No Strings Attached ) at 2.42 million in the year 2000; she didnt even come close. Since these are the only genres that yield record sales worthwhile to major labels, other genres, particularly all forms of rock, have taken a major hit. Granted, wellestablished rock acts like Green Day, Pearl Jam and The Offspring continue to make records and sell reasonably well, but truly good new rock music has become a rare occurrence. The last awesome rock album that came out was Rise Againsts fth album release Appeal To Reason. That album pumped out truly amazing songs such as Savior and Audience of One that were huge hits on the rock charts, and it was Rise Againsts most commercially successful album until the release of Endgame in 2011. However, Appeal to Reason was released in 2008 and is still 450,000 copies short of going platinum (1,000,000 copies sold), something a band like Limp Bizkit was able to do with their sophomore album Signicant Other six times back in 1999 and 2000. The commercial streamlining of music has also stied creativity, and every new pop hit is a clone of the last. Almost all pop music today consists of the same dance beat and hooks that are repeated way too many times. Just because a melody gets in your head easily doesnt mean youre going to be happy about it. Where did the good, thought out and best selling music go?

Colin Remes
COLUMNIST

The music industry has certainly changed over the past 15 years, and not at all for the better. The advancements of technology have allowed digital distribution to expand exponentially, in particular illegal downloading, and it has caused actual record sales to plummet signicantly. Just 10 years ago, it took millions of album sales to reach No. 1 on the Billboard records sales charts. These days, moving a few hundred thousand units in your rst week of sales is enough to get you to No. 1. One of the major effects of illegal downloading is a narrowing of the playing eld of music genres that are commercially successful. The remaining three genres that still actually turn a prot are Rap/Hip-Hop (Drake, Lil Wayne), Country (Lady Antebellum) and Pop (Lady Gaga, Adele). And even someone as popular as those artists mentioned are now, his or her level of popularity in the late 90s and early 2000s would have yielded up to three times as many record sales. Its difcult to argue that Lady Gaga is not the biggest music artist of any genre right now. Her second fulllength album, Born This Way, sold 1.11 million copies in its rst week. That seems pretty good, but shes the only artist these days that can even

Whether you support Invisible Children or criticize their business practices, you cant deny the recent videos, KONY 2012, viral success. In just two weeks, their YouTube video reached over eight million views and collected 1.3 million likes from viewers. Packed with an empathetic message, critically acclaimed production value and an inspiring call to action to arrest Joseph Kony, Invisible Children succeeded in garnering media attention for its cause. Whats even more exciting about KONY 2012 is the trend of youth involvement (or interest) in government and politics. Of course its a far cry from an 18 year old running for local or national ofce, but it is at least a crack at breaking down young Americans political apathy. In just two weeks, the video managed to build a strong Internet presence. On YouTube, featured videos top comments were related to the KONY 2012 video. On Twitter, not only was it the number one trending topic, it also gained the support from major celebrity gures. Singer Justin Beiber retweeted to his 18 million followers, #Kony2012 is number 1 trending topic on Twitter worldwide!! See why It might change ur life. Entertainment mogul Oprah Winfrey tweeted to her 10 million followers, Thanks tweeps for

Courtesy of Invisblechildren.com

sending me info about ending #LRAviolence. I am aware. Have supported with $s and voice and will not stop. #KONY2012. A mention from Oprah alone is enough to get any bandwagons wheels rolling, but just as quickly as the video gained steam; it fell under re from Internet critics. Like any other hot topic, the medias spotlight can and will expose imperfection. Many viewers expressed concern over where their donations were going, oversimplifying a complex issue and the accuracy of their claims about Uganda. Invisible Children has since issued a statement in response to those criticisms. So, did this backlash do any major harm? Not at all. In fact, the immense amount of criticism may have helped the cause even more. Buying a bracelet and action kit from Invisible Children wont end any wars, but that was never its aim. These items were tools for social awareness (if Twitter, Facebook and YouTube werent enough), and with people questioning the credibility of the

organization, many more people have independently researched the issue for a better understanding. Moreover, younger people are looking deeper into the issue. Something teenagers wouldve considered, too boring to be concerned with is now a topic of conversation. Where do Invisible Children, supporters, critics and interested viewers go from here? I encourage everyone to follow the saying sunlight is the best disinfectant. Invisible Children should also continue to address any misconceptions and misunderstandings it has caused. As far as the inspired youths of today looking to give Kony a piece of their minds, I encourage you to continue to research and spread the information you learned about Uganda. Im looking forward to seeing the wave of political and social issues that will follow Invisible Childrens suit. Like KONY 2012 creator, Jason Russell said, were not just studying human history, were shaping it.

Eulogy for a dear childhood friend, AIM

Adam Arinder
The Daily Reveille, Louisiana State U. via UWIRE

We want to know what youre thinking. Write us a letter to the editor at northernstar.info/opinions. You might see your letter in print.

A piece of my childhood died last week. I used to spend hours pecking furiously at the keyboard, chimes ringing back and forth as hours raced by while I communicated with my friends in an amazing new way over the Internet. AOL Instant Messenger became a gateway for a new enterprise of communication. It was texting before texting. It was social networking before social networking. It was revolutionary for its time. Last week, The New York Times reported AOL would be closing the doors to its West Coast ofces, notifying roughly 40 employees they would be out of a job by the end of the month. While some may scoff at my dismay for the termination of the once-great instant messenger, if you think about it, AIM inuenced much

of the way we use the Internet today. Back before texting and smartphones ruled the world, online instant messengers were the only way to quickly communicate with another person beside picking up the phone. AIM users could also customize their font size, color and background, giving them the rst opportunity to have their own online persona. People were nally able to freely express who they were on the Internet. AIM also led to sites like My Buddy Prole, where users were able to customize a prole with activities, likes/dislikes, quotes and anything else they wanted people to check out. Sound familiar? Im not saying Mark Zuckerberg got the idea to create Facebook directly from AOL, but shortly after My Buddy Prole arose, Friendster became big. After Friendster there

was MySpace. And we all know that after MySpace died, Facebook took over our lives. Texting was the leading cause of AIMs downfall. Why sit on a computer all day waiting for someone to sign on when a quick text could do the same thing? Before it goes away forever, I encourage everyone to sign into your AIM prole one last time. Hell, if someone is actually online, send them an IM and see what happens. While certainly outdated in this day and age, its sad to see something once so popular and widely used become discarded as nothing but a piece of technological history. As you sign onto Facebook or send someone a text message, remember that none of this would be possible without the existence of AOL Instant Messenger. Rest in Peace, AIM.

Kelly Bauer, campus editor editor@northernstar.info | 753.9644 Phone: 815.753.0101 Fax: 815.753.0708 Web: www.northernstar.info EDITORIAL BOARD Kim Skibinski, editor in chief editor@northernstar.info | 753.0105 Leah Spagnoli, managing editor editor@northernstar.info | 753.0117 Dave Gong, online editor editor@northernstar.info | 753.9642 Editorials re ect the majority opinion of the Editorial Board; columns re ect the opinion of the author alone. Ryan Felgenhauer, city editor editor@northernstar.info | 753.9646 Jimmy Johnson, sports editor sports@northernstar.info | 753.9640 Connor Rice, scene editor editor@northernstar.info | 753.9639

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