For seven years running, Joseph Kony has been the most wanted man in the world, according to the International Criminal Court — but he only garnered widespread international attention two days ago. Why is this?

The charitable organization Invisible Children, Inc., has spread a viral video campaign called “Kony 2012.” It is an attempt to make Joseph Kony, the leader of the rebel force called the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, famous.

The LRA is a militant movement that has abducted an estimated 66,000 children in the past two decades. Boys are captured and forced to work as child soldiers while the girls are subjected to sexual slavery.

Invisible Children, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was founded in 2005 soon after producing the documentary “Invisible Children: Rough Cut.” It appears to be a benevolent organization working to draw attention to Kony’s heinous practices and bring him to justice. Yet Invisible Children is ineffective in providing funds to the cause that they claim to advocate for. A paltry 32 percent of the $8,676,614 they have spent in their campaign has been used in direct services to the people of Uganda. The rest has been spent on these viral internet campaigns that conflate retweets and Facebook links with significant social activism. Such a false sense of empowerment may prevent a more effective intervention.

Raising awareness is a necessary step to promote change, but awareness cannot be divorced from action. And in light of Invisible Children’s questionable use of funds, we must question the actions this organization is advocating for. As part of its campaign to rid the world of the menace that is Joseph Kony, Invisible Children advocates for American military intervention in Uganda. President Obama ordered the deployment of 100 American troops in October, but sending more soldiers to become embroiled in a conflict between the lunatic war criminal Kony and Ugandan President Museveni — who has been in power since 1986 and has abolished presidential term limits since 2006 — will escalate a cancerous situation.

Sure, the LRA must be stopped, but justice is not about finding the lesser of two evils. We should remember military campaigns against terrorist organizations that lead to unreported massacres. Let history serve as a reminder of counterproductive actions of the past so that we don’t repeat them with a villain like Joseph Kony.