Live 8 - corageous or crap?

[Roller]

Hmm while it might be a little late to start debating the topic... well there's nothing like a good old argument to get people thinking so here's a question - do you think that Live 8 is a great thing, and worth the publicity, or do you think it's a load of cow dug? I think that it is undoubtably a good thing to be helping them in any way we can, but well... it just makes me feel a little uneasy to see so many rich rockstars telling me I should be giving more money to charity... here's a few other things I don't like about it: It to me just seems like a way for a heap of people to buy a ticket, go to a concert to see stars that they would normally love to see, have a great time and then feel good that they've 'done their bit' and 'tried to make a differance' and then go home and get on with their lives. Why are there no African performers there? I recently saw a docco on African hip hop groups that are trying to educate their people about aids and help them out. Surely it would be great to get some up-and coming African performers up there on the stage, and give them some fame and success, because of two reasons: One, with money and fame, they will be able to help out the community around them, and Two... if anyone is qualified to talk about poverty and aids, it's these people who have grown up and made their living from the slums and shanty towns of africa. When Celine Dion talks about poverty and how bad it is for these people, I just can't take her seriously. Why aren't they using the publicity to pressure the governments more about their dealings in Africa? Yes, they're asking for debt relief, but they're not exactly pressuring anyone about it. Geldof claims that it is better to encourage governments nicely to cooperate... I'll beleive that when I see it. As it is America has promised mroe debt relief, yet this 'extra' money is only coming out of the budget already set aside for foriegn aid. I think maybe they should use the huge publicity that they've been talking up to really apply some pressure - they claim it will reach how many billion people? Look what Robert Mugabe is doing to his own people right in front of our eyes, yet the leading nations do little more than tell the already poor African nations to deal with it themselves. On the other hand, I can see the logic in getting a heap of well-known bands and celebrities to try and sway public opinion and hopefully influence the decisions at the next G8 summit. Maybe this is the only way to get the world's political leaders to do anything special... Well, those are a few of my thoughts on it... of course I don't disagree that raising awareness to relieve debt is a great thing, but I feel that they could, and should have done more. For the amount of publicity it has had, it has in fact failed in a lot of respects when you take into account the things that they could have done.

[Alex D]

Well, well, well, looks like somebody missed the point of the whole thing: It to me just seems like a way for a heap of people to buy a ticket, go to a concert to see stars that they would normally love to see, have a great time and then feel good that they've 'done their bit' and 'tried to make a differance' and then go home and get on with their lives. [/b] Okay, firstly, people didn't buy the tickets, that was't what this thing was about, the tickets werefree to those who texted in to get for them, the winners were then selected at random, this tme it isn't about buying Africa lunch, it's about chaging Africa's political landscape through preasure at the G8 summit in Scotland. Secondly, they're doing their bit by showing up and showing the G8 how people feel about the issue. Why are there no African performers there? I recently saw a docco on African hip hop groups that are trying to educate their people about aids and help them out. Surely it would be great to get some up-and coming African performers up there on the stage, and give them some fame and success, because of two reasons: One, with money and fame, they will be able to help out the community around them, and Two... if anyone is qualified to talk about poverty and aids, it's these people who have grown up and made their living from the slums and shanty towns of africa. When Celine Dion talks about poverty and how bad it is for these people, I just can't take her seriously. [/b] Ummm... there are African performers Dido did a duet with one in her set and there is a lot of them at the Cornwall gig and of course, the South Africa one. Why aren't they using the publicity to pressure the governments more about their dealings in Africa? *[/b] Err... because they are? Live8 and G8 being at the same time isn't just a nice coincidence you know... also notice the name change this time? Live Aid becoming Live8? Well thats because it's not about aid, it's about political preasure on the G8. Then next week we have the G8 protests in Scotland, with a 1 million stong turnut expected, to just really show the G8 how the public feel.

[Lucius]

I could say a lot more on this, but: I do think rockstars and other celebs generally are a lot more generous than most people think they are. They do lots of benefit concerts and give out large amounts of money. I mean, they give out a shitload of money on stuff that seems useless to us but they do give a lot of money to charity, and I do believe that a lot of them have a hart for people. And its not just for their publicity methinks. I really like the idea of it all, bring some attention to the problems there are in the world. But remember, celebs might have tons of money, they too are but a hand full of persons. If we really want to make a difference, we all have to do it together. And if we don't have the money we can start by simply starting to realise how lucky we are , and loving our fellow men. And do little things, give little amounts. Sure, there could be done more. But I'm glad that they are already doing so much. In theory, we could quickly solve most of the global problems related to poverty and such. if we really really wanted to. But thats not the way it works, so I'm glad we can get this far ^_^

[Rakkantekimusouka]

Live8 Tells Jacko To Fuck Off You Child Molesting Freak *shrug* I just remembered seeing this; it was relevant, sort of, so I thought I'd bring it up.

[Alex D]

Originally posted by Rakkantekimusouka Live8 Tells Jacko To Fuck Off You Child Molesting Freak *shrug* I just remembered seeing this; it was relevant, sort of, so I thought I'd bring it up. Umm... no they didn't? They wanted him, but he decided not to.

[Rakkantekimusouka]

Oh...well, whatever. I also saw this just now:

[Placebo]

This sounds way less like philosophy and more like 'the lounge'. Someone persuade me otherwise before my finger gets too itchy [EDIT: Rofl. trigger finger withheld after checking with everyone]

[irishcream]

hold that trigger finger...i've posted a topic on this in the lounge already!!

[Kaniaz]

Yeah and I'll be freaking damned if I'm typing my novel again... So I'll copy and paste it instead! I don't think we can really blame or expect the world leaders to change everything. They all do happen to lead the most powerful countries on the world, and they have alot of other things to worry about - such as, well, their own countries. Africa is in a really sorry state, and I would love as much as anyone else to see something done about it - now would be nice - but I'm not sure if just throwing money at it is going to fix that. They tried that before, I believe, and that didn't work. This time, the plan is basically not "raise money" but "indirectly raise money by convincing the world leaders to do it". You've got "Make Poverty History", bands and all these other little things going on to try and raise awareness, and while they look like a great plan on the outside, and sure in theory they're pretty good, the praticality is - yes, the world leaders already know about poverty. It's not like they haven't tried before to fix something. They're not stupid. But, rather, Africa isn't going to change overnight, over a year, or over the course of ten, twenty years. Money has gone to Africa and there are a couple pockets of healthy areas, but the problem is, the place is just so barren, the money is being spread out and making no use. A good analogy would be a bowl. One droplet of water could be, say, a million pounds. So drop it in. Seems pretty big, eh? Now spread it around the entire bowl and you've got nothing. You're going to need alot more money than that, I'm afraid. OK, so what? A million is peanuts for the world goverments, right? Well, no, actually, it isn't. That million could also of been spent on global warming, on AIDS, or any other crapload of extremely important tasks the world also has to be getting on with. We could all be boiling alive in thirty years. Half of England could be flooded. Russia might start a nuclear war. The world leaders would love as much as anybody else for everything to just be fixed, but no amount of awareness, band wearing or letters is going to just make things go "poof". It's very romantic and a nice dream that Africa could be changed by us, the public, telling the G8 summit guys to do something about it. But really, I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think any of us will be around to see Africa get much better than it really is. The gigantic mistakes that have been made there with money loaning, wars, droughts, and god knows what else, only multipled by our own faults, the birth rate of Africa and all these other complicating factors... Well, there's only so much you can do in the awareness department before you've just got to spend time on these things. Things will, eventually, get better, but it's going to be a long, long time before it does. ==Addition over my old post== I'm now going to take a bold step into some controveisal territory here. I don't think that all the general public know exactly what it is that Live8 is all about. I don't even think half of them actually seriously care as much as they may be making out now that Make Poverty History, Live8 and all that are actually cool. This is obviously a whole lot more true for the kids than it is for the adults. But let me take an example. My school. So people are there doing nothing. Then WHAM, here comes Live8. All of a sudden, kids are so magically forming opinons about poverty, wearing bands and making "statements" about what they think should be done. So that's good and dandy. They're aware of poverty, right? Well, yes, but like I said. I don't think half (I'm being conservative here) of them really care. The bands, Make Poverty History and Live8 are just popular right now. Why do I think this? Many reasons. But mostly when we watched, in our Geography lesson, an old BBC broadcast of poverty. It was a 10 minute odd film in which you see babies in distress, woman screaming and crying in foreign languages and whatnot. Now, this is the sad part. The kids in my school were smirking at the foreign languages, laughing at those people. Because they were "packies". Because they were not the same colour as us. Because they are foreign. That is their reasoning. It's sick. So somehow, I don't think it's going to work as well as is expected. Not with the children involved, who are on the outside screaming the slogans, saying "Hell yeah, make it history!". But their real opinons? The second they've got a chance to look cool, they drop the slogans and start laughing at the people in poverty instead. Ultimately they don't really care. That's why I don't think this is going to work. Half these people are just, well, to be quite frank, stupid, and so I don't think that this movement will go on longer than a few more months. The G8 summit will finish, promises will be made, victory declared, the kids will all go back, the bands will mysteriously disappear over the course of a few weeks... And ultimately, there will be no difference. In a few months, nobody's going to even remember the promises that got made. It's sad to think that's the conclusion, but I think it rings very, very true.

[Roller]

Well don't I feel embarrassed... lol trust me to get the wrong end of the stick in a fit of angry thinking. About turn: I didn't know what they weren't collecting any money at all... fair enough. I knew they were trying to influence the G8 meeting, but kinda didn't see how they were doing it. It seems they're applying the squeeze on the moral obligation of the world leaders. Good on em, and now I see the point of rich celebrities trying to send the message. Aren't I the dufus? Oh well... I am still worried about the whole Zimbabwe deal. It's basically the same deal as Iraq... violent dictator that is killing people in front of our eyes, except now all the world leaders are telling them to sort it out themselves. What does everyone think the G8 reaction will be?

[Alric]

I don't think its really going to change anything.