What's the difference between seeing, and understanding?

Sitting on the bus, riding to UBC, thinking about Invisible Children and Visible People. It dawned on me that there's a significant difference between seeing something, and understanding something.

In the case of Invisible Children's movies, I argue that the people of northern Uganda are made more visible. This can be a good thing as the youth of America open theirs eyes to a different country, a thriving community, and a deadly conflict.

But just because Invisible Children's movies make the people of northern Uganda more visible, this doesn't mean that their movies tell the full story of this conflict, and that audiences, after viewing their movies, leave with an in-depth understanding of northern Uganda's collective and individual histories.

On the other hand, is it too much to ask of an NGO and humanitarian organization like Invisible Children to get the youth of America to really know and understand using movies (or the other four pillars of media) alone? I wonder.

"No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding." - Plato