The more cynical side of Live 8
Discussion
There are few things in life that make my blood boil more than seeing some jumped up talentless "Artist" (ie singer) pontificating on the rights & wrongs of Poverty in the World, whilst wearing a £100,000 diamond encrusted gold watch & having £5000 worth of charlie up their left nostril.
If I can afford to give money Mr Geldof et al, I will (& indeed already do thanks to Mr Brown paying large amounts of my hard earned taxes), but please spare me the attempted emotional blackmail.
You "earn" your money & are attempted to spend it in a manner which befitts you (though how many £6 million houses & £250k Ferraris do you really need ?). I myself do likewise.
Reminds of the Peoples Princess visiting the starving in Africa whilst bedecked from head to toe in the finest that Versaci could provide her with (natch).
Rant over..........
If I can afford to give money Mr Geldof et al, I will (& indeed already do thanks to Mr Brown paying large amounts of my hard earned taxes), but please spare me the attempted emotional blackmail.
You "earn" your money & are attempted to spend it in a manner which befitts you (though how many £6 million houses & £250k Ferraris do you really need ?). I myself do likewise.
Reminds of the Peoples Princess visiting the starving in Africa whilst bedecked from head to toe in the finest that Versaci could provide her with (natch).
Rant over..........
MILF said:Is it any different from ANYONE (including you) talking about poverty in the world while laying claim to any kind of luxury, like the car you drive and the house you live in and the nice food you eat?
There are few things in life that make my blood boil more than seeing some jumped up talentless "Artist" (ie singer) pontificating on the rights & wrongs of Poverty in the World, whilst wearing a £100,000 diamond encrusted gold watch & having £5000 worth of charlie up their left nostril.
It's all a question of scale.
Maybe. But is all charity devalued when the giver isn't sacricicing his/her entire livelihood?
I hate the judgement that anyone seen as being wealthy is automatically precluded from being able to talk about world poverty and being branded as instant hypocrites. They serve themselves first and others second, which is only natural, but it's a darn good thing that they are even thinking about serving others.
I see nothing wrong with celebrities promoting a good cause even if they have increased album sales as a result.
I hate the judgement that anyone seen as being wealthy is automatically precluded from being able to talk about world poverty and being branded as instant hypocrites. They serve themselves first and others second, which is only natural, but it's a darn good thing that they are even thinking about serving others.
I see nothing wrong with celebrities promoting a good cause even if they have increased album sales as a result.
Case in point: One of my favourite artists is Sarah McLachlan. Now she's been involved in a lot of work in Africa and constantly leads fundraising drives. The single "World on Fire" from her latest album is a song about poverty in Africa and about how most of us want to help but are too selfish to do so (herself included).
The entire music video shows scenes of African poverty and hunger, and was filmed on a shoestring budget. During the course of the video she showed what the typical components of a music video would cost (e.g. lighting rig for $15k and make-up artist for $2k) and what they equated to in African terms (e.g. $15k = 1000000 bags of rice). Her budget from the production company for the video was enough to afford her a slick video with fancy effects, but she foregoed all of that and instead showed how much she saved by making a shoestring video, and then she donated the remainder of the cash to an African charity (the video is really cool and is available on her web site).
Good on her.
When Live 8 was announced she jumped on the bandwagon as she really wanted to be a part of the movement, and as a result she was given a three song set in the Philly gig.
Now no doubt her album sales would've increased as a result. Yes, she is a very wealthy woman (25 million albums sold) and yes, she does splurge on occasion.
Does this devalue her efforts and make her a hypocrite?
Absolutely not.
Do those of you who are so quick to label know these artists personally? Do you know what their motivations are? Huh?
The entire music video shows scenes of African poverty and hunger, and was filmed on a shoestring budget. During the course of the video she showed what the typical components of a music video would cost (e.g. lighting rig for $15k and make-up artist for $2k) and what they equated to in African terms (e.g. $15k = 1000000 bags of rice). Her budget from the production company for the video was enough to afford her a slick video with fancy effects, but she foregoed all of that and instead showed how much she saved by making a shoestring video, and then she donated the remainder of the cash to an African charity (the video is really cool and is available on her web site).
Good on her.
When Live 8 was announced she jumped on the bandwagon as she really wanted to be a part of the movement, and as a result she was given a three song set in the Philly gig.
Now no doubt her album sales would've increased as a result. Yes, she is a very wealthy woman (25 million albums sold) and yes, she does splurge on occasion.
Does this devalue her efforts and make her a hypocrite?
Absolutely not.
Do those of you who are so quick to label know these artists personally? Do you know what their motivations are? Huh?
The true cynicism of Live8 is not that we are being told by rich pop stars to donate more money to Africa, but that probably many of those celebrities care little for the cause they are promoting.
They take great care to be at the forefront of popular culture, currently this is the fashionable cause to back.
They take great care to be at the forefront of popular culture, currently this is the fashionable cause to back.
JagLover said:
The true cynicism of Live8 is not that we are being told by rich pop stars to donate more money to Africa, but that probably many of those celebrities care little for the cause they are promoting.
They take great care to be at the forefront of popular culture, currently this is the fashionable cause to back.
Do you know them all personally then??
If you do lucky you.
If not, how can you come out with such a crass generalisation with absolutely no evidence to support it.???
Your attitude mirrored by quite a few on this site seems to smack of petty jealousy.
Ironically its quite similar to the "politics of envy" displayed by socialists. And Im sure you arent one of them
If its not jealousy of money, the only other explanation has to be jealousy of status and power.
Perhaps they are frustrated that as a "mighty Pistonheaders", they cant really do anything significant in the world because ultimatey they are all no-ones, who cant really do much other than bitch on this forum.
Hope this item reduces your cynicism
Artists and record firms who have seen album sales soar after Live 8 should donate their profits to charity, Pink Floyd star Dave Gilmour has said.
"I will not profit from the concert," the guitarist said. "This is money that should be used to save lives."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4651309.stm
peterpeter said:
They take great care to be at the forefront of popular culture, currently this is the fashionable cause to back.
Do you know them all personally then? If you do lucky you.
Actually, I'd rather not. Vacuous idealists with no grasp of reality whose only skill is to bang out a few chords and shout 'giver us yer money' and the F-word? No thanks.
peterpeter said:
If not, how can you come out with such a crass generalisation with absolutely no evidence to support it.???
As you well know, only today the news said how record sales of the performers has jumped. More money for them
. Face it, peter2, it was a blatant bandwagon PR opportunity, and if I was a vacuous idealist with no grasp of reality whose only skill was to bang out a few chords and shout, I'd have done it too. peterpeter said:
Your attitude mirrored by quite a few on this site seems to smack of petty jealousy.
Jealousy? That's what socialism is all about isn't it? 'He's richer than me, so I want some, 'cos it's not fair'. That's why a wealthy socialist is a hypocrite of the first order.
Live8 was a great pop concert, but that's all. Anyone who thinks otherwise is as stupid as the performers. Taxing us at 100% and giving it all to Africa is going to make Jack Schitt difference. Furthermore, do not take lack of response on my part to be victory on your part. I have better things to do than waste time debating with fools.
>> Edited by simpo two on Tuesday 5th July 21:29
>> Edited by simpo two on Tuesday 5th July 21:31
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