Posted on 06/06/2005 12:17:08 PM PDT by RightWingReader
Back in 1985, Bob Geldof organized the "Live Aid" concerts, which raised well over $100 million for the cause of African famine relief. The "Philanthropy of Celebrity" was in full bloom after a painful budding with George Harrison's 1971 "Concert for Bangladesh," which turned out to be a "Concert for the IRS" thanks to failing to set up a proper tax exemption. Now comes the Live Aid sequel, called "Live8" because the timing coincides with the G8 Summit in Scotland.
Despite the billions that have poured in from outside sources, Africa continues to be a mess. Take Zimbabwe as a bad economic example. Inflation hovers around 400 percent, 60 percent of the population is unemployed, and over half of the citizens live on less than $1 a day (Wal-Mart doesn't sound so bad now, does it?). Yes, it's worse than the Carter administration.
Years gone by have demonstrated that the answer to eradicating African famine clearly isn't Phil Collins singing "Su-su-suddio" at Wembley, but the root cause of the problem can't be admitted to by the Philanthropy of Celebrity, since it would mean agreeing to a solution in 180-degree opposition to historically discredited political philosophies: Free markets, free governments and freedom in general. Promoting, establishing and maintaining free societies is hard work, especially since it's so much easier just to finger-point.
Some would say it's not about finger-pointing, but simply raising money. If so, then why did Bob Geldof himself call for a million protesters to descend upon the G8 summit meeting? Certainly not just to say "hi."
If you're going to the G8, bring your diamond-tipped irony cutters, because groups of anarchists have vowed to show up to protest. That's right, anarchists are organizing. It gets better. Many of the anti-capitalists who have said they'll show up to disrupt the summit will get there because a capitalist, Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways, is providing them free train and air travel to Edinburgh the week of the summit.
Any political movement that supports itself solely on humorous dichotomy will have the effective life span of, not to mention be annoying as, a mosquito.
In the meantime, Bob Geldof's "Live8" concerts have been criticized for a lineup of acts that are "too white" for an event concerning Africa. It gets worse for these critics, because not only are the acts predominantly white, but for the occasion, GCAP, the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, is calling for people to wear white ribbons to show solidarity with the cause.
"Wear a white band to show the world you want action, not just words," according to the GCAP website. If you're sick and tired of empty words and promises, then symbolize that you want action. If that still doesn't work, two ribbons should do the trick.
Take a few steps back to look at all this controversy, bickering, finger-pointing and America bashing amongst people who seem to have a voracious appetite for eating their own, and you can't help but wonder: What happened to classic philanthropy? There are some still out there, but the style of Eli Lilly, Henry Ford, Cornelius Vander Starr, Robert Wood Johnson, J. Paul Getty, W.K. Kellogg, William Hewlett, Bill Gates and many others is on the way out.
These are people who have not only given fortunes to charities, but who were able to do so as a result of ventures that simultaneously provided thousands of jobs for workers, and products and services to consumers that improved quality and/or ease of life. They caught poverty in a triangulation of economic crossfire consisting of charity, service and employment. The combination of these three is what made them so effective.
Now we have the one-dimensional Philanthropy of Celebrity, who have a more than average tendency to view the creation of wealth outside the entertainment industry as "crooked and greedy" ventures (see above paragraph) that are to be aggressively opposed. Economic creation is the only thing that will help Africa in the long term, and that message needs to be sent. In America "The Big Three" are Ford, GM and Chrysler. In parts of Africa, "The Big Three" are Sting, Bono and McCartney. Which trio is more likely to boost an economy?
Imagine what it's like to be one of the hungry and poor in an African nation, and hearing the news: "Don't worry, help is on the way. Beyonce' is about to sing 'Crazy in Love'." There's an even more effective way to create positive change in Africa, but the Philanthropy of Celebrity will never bring themselves to admit what it is.
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Live8?
Geldoff should've called it I81-U81-2.
...OICU81-2...?
(he smirks...)
Old timers such as myself can remember when the ejection of European colonials was touted as the key to peace and prosperity on the dark continent. And so they left: the French, Belgians, Dutch, Portugese and British. So what went wrong and how is it now America's fault?
How can they say the Spice Girls are too fluffy for this yet Madonna, the original lip sync queen, is performing?? I mean, how can anybody be fluffier than Madonna?
Not a fan of the Spice Girls, could not even tell you the name of one of their songs. But the way his highness Geldingdorf excluded them, and his reasoning tells you one thing, this is a political event. Someone should question the tax deducitbility of this thing as the money will be used for political activism, not feeding hungry victims of the Thugs that rule many African nations.
"Wear a white band to show the world you want action, not just words," according to the GCAP website. If you're sick and tired of empty words and promises, then symbolize that you want action. If that still doesn't work, two ribbons should do the trick.
Well, if two white ribbons are better than one, then three or four must be even better. I don't know about the rest of you, but all this ribbon stuff is just ridiculous anynmore. There are cars around my town here that have 7 or 8 of these different ribbons on them. There are so many that people don't even pay attention to them. Kind of like calling wolf. Nobody believes you.
Because America is rich, and since money rains down from the heavens in equal proportions, America must have stolen it from Africa.
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