This last week as the Kony 2012 meme swept through the trending topics, I wondered why at first that I wasn’t all that curious about it. When I first saw the tag #STOPKONY, my immediate reaction was, this must be the next #SOPA, #PIPA, or #ACTA. Initially, I let it go without any investigation.

But then it kept coming across my feeds. Again, and again. And again. Besides Twitter, I saw referencing posts on Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, and Instagram, all in the matter of a few hours. Of course, I eventually felt like I wouldn’t be informed if I didn’t know what this was about, so I did my dutiful Google search, and brought myself up to speed. … Yunno, in all of 30 minutes.

So, Joseph Kony, a really harmful person whom has done terrible things that outrage and enrage us: It’s no wonder that so many people want to help raise awareness by passing along this kind of information.

As I see it, however, certain problems with regards to the enthusiasm of all this sharing begin to emerge, such as people reposting information they haven’t taken the time to vet. And there are certainly aspects of this story that should be examined more thoroughly. I’m not suggesting that the core message isn’t valid, only that – like any story – it is a complex and multifaceted issue, and anyone that allows their understanding of it to be defined by a sound-bite or a tweet, probably has a minuscule understanding of it’s reality – somebody like me or you.

Please understand that looking critically at our practice of spreading such stories virally is not meant to take anything away from the validity of the importance of those social causes we’ve been pushing. (To those of you who feel a growing resistance to where I am going with this, please read that last sentence again.) We have got to be careful to investigate before sharing. I know how easy it is to hit the retweet button when something compelling comes across my screen. But it’s important to remain vigilant, to always be investigating, and to share carefully.

When we don’t take these precautions, we open ourselves up to being manipulated.

Back to when I first noticed the Kony meme – and I think it’s important for us to acknowledge that such trending topics *are* memes, even if they are more socially relevant ones – a few people asked me for my opinion. For some reason, I felt reticent. I stalled. And I was somehow gratified when a couple days later, another more critical-viewpoint began to emerge.

Maybe it’s because I’m living in the age of Kuwaiti incubator babies, Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, and Libyan viagra rape gangs. None of these things apparently ever existed, and yet, they were cited by people who wanted to justify the ensuing wars.

I don’t know the whole truth about the current situation with the now-infamous Joseph Kony and his LRA, but I do know there are things about the group Invisible Children, the ones pushing this film, that make me feel wary.

The time-frame: Apparently these atrocities have been going on for decades. In fact, Kony left Uganda six years ago, is thought to be hiding out in the Central African Republic, and is weakened and merely trying to survive. Col. Felix Kulayige, a Ugandan military spokesman, said of the viral video, “It is the right message, but it’s 15 years too late. If people cared 15 years ago, then thousands of lives would have been saved and thousands of children would have stayed at home and not been kidnapped.” For other Ugandans, the timing of Invisible Children’s campaign is suspicious. Nicholas Sengoba, a political analyst, said, “The issue has been around for ages. We have to ask ourselves why suddenly there is this uproar. I believe that these people have other motives that they are not putting out in the open.”

The Kony 2012 documentary seems to gloss over many these facts and viewpoints. Why all the hype now? Is there some other reason Uganda has become important at this particular time? In April 2012, the filmmakers are planning yet another big push to promote their video, so apparently the issue of the timeliness of these efforts is not of concern to them.

The financials: The salaries of these documentarians could be considered enviable to many of us, and especially to a lot of Africans. So too does the apparent quality of their lifestyles as they travel, as indicated by their financial records. A little over one third of the Invisible Children budget apparently goes into actually helping Ugandans, but when I see one of these “STOP KONY” posters, I’m reminded of the fact that the majority of the proceeds went into the filmmakers’ paychecks, as well as paying for their hotel room, dinner, and other operating expenses.

Which brings me to the subject of the merchandise: I know that Invisible Children uses the more politically correct term, “action kits,” but let’s get this straight. It’s schwag. And I’m not certain to what degree a socially conscious person walking through a U.S. shopping mall, wearing a rubber cause-wristband is going to contribute to the capture of a war criminal who’s hiding out in the deep jungles of another continent. I mean, can you imagine the Americans of the 1930s all decked out in their “STOP STALIN” garb? For some reason, I think there is something ineffectual about this kind of “slacktivism.”

In the fall of 2011, Hillary Clinton, in her remarks to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, declared that, “We are in an information war, and we are losing that war.”

If an interested party wanted to “win the information war” with regards to public opinion over some additional U.S. or U.N. intervention in Uganda, a super-viral piece like Kony 2012 would be a prime example of such a win. In fact, this is exactly how it should be done. I wonder what Hillary thinks.

If Joseph Kony is captured and brought to justice, in some part due to the influence of this viral video, I think we’ll all be celebrating. But if this meme is used to manipulate public opinion into supporting yet another military action abroad, then I’ll be wondering if we’ve all been played like so many resharing pawns.

I wish this kind of slick Internet marketing and viral response had been in play during our opposition to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) right here in the United States. Government power to secretly arrest, torture, and even murder American citizens, without any legal due process, is a social injustice that I cannot abide for my community or my family. For most of the people engaged in all this anti-Kony “clicktivism,” the NDAA and its repeal is a much greater and immediate cause for concern.

If somebody makes an equally viral video about opposition to this more domestic threat, I’ll wear that shirt. In my opinion, Americans have many issues much closer to home that we should be clicking about: