About Live8 and stuff like that.

If there’s anything I hate more than celebrities and musicians commenting on the world and politics like they somehow deserve a large voice because they can pretend to be a chair or play a guitar, you need to tell me about it so that I can get mad at that thing instead of this thing.

Take Live8. Ignore the rank hypocricy for a moment, and look at what they actually intended to do with the series of concerts. Was it to raise money for a cause or something noble like that? Nope. They did it raise awareness, mostly. But what the heck? Does anyone out there really not know about this place called “Africa” and how it has quite a few poor people and a crapload of people with aids? Is there still a person who isn’t aware? Nope. Pretty much not.

What Live8 should have been doing is not trying to raise Africa’s profile and foster awareness. Oh, we’re aware, my generation is. We just don’t care that much. You want to try fostering something? Try making us care, somehow. Just try it. I dare you.

We do care about music, however. Mostly because it’s an easy thing to care about and we’re terminally lazy, especially culturally and spiritually.

The organizer of Live8 was quoted saying something about how “rock music is the language of this generation” - and I hope to God he’s wrong, but he’s probably right. Look at all the good rock has done. It’s just a style of music, sure. But the culture surounding it is in desparate need of redemption (and not CCM-style redemption, not copy-catting and catch-phrasing and t-shirting) but actual redemption. In that sense, it’s pretty useless to help people with a bunch of concerts. And all the grandiose talk about Live8 is just that: talk. Gibberish, actually.

It’s like a guy was trying to build a skyscraper and decided the best way to do that was wearing a shirt with a picture of a brick on it.

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Posted July 7th, 2005 in main.

8 comments:

  1. Laurs:

    Ahhh bricks… so useful :)

    July 7th, 2005 at 10:06 pm
  2. Roger:

    I just pooped a brick.

    July 8th, 2005 at 1:32 am
  3. The woman of the hour, and the day, and the year, ya pretty much THE WOMAN:

    This has nothing to do with anything…

    Becca to Jamie: I want to get married in a castle…

    Jamie to Becca: Why in heck would you EVER want to get married in a casket?!?!

    Now why did I think that was funny again?

    July 8th, 2005 at 9:45 am
  4. daniel:

    Becca: “Me and Kristin are planning a 3-month vacation to Europe!”

    Me: “3 months?!? You have a job!”

    Becca: “And?”

    Me: “You have to work. At. Your. Job.”

    Becca: “It’s only three months… it’s not unthinkable, right?”

    Me: (now ragingly insanely frustrated) “Nobody takes off three months unless they’re having a BABY! Are you having a baby?”

    Becca: “No…”

    Me: “Well, welcome to the real world. Get back to work.”

    (LOL…)

    July 8th, 2005 at 9:48 am
  5. daniel:

    Becca: (after reading these comments) “That’s like… blackmail!”

    Me: (long pause) “…except I’m not demanding anything.”

    July 8th, 2005 at 9:59 am
  6. Roger:

    Back to the topic: I wouldn’t expect rock music to be able to make you care about anything. That’s not what they get paid to do. They are paid to entertain. Making you actually care about stuff is not entertaining. If you are looking for something to make you care I would think the primary thing would be God. The church and Christian music should only be secondary helpers.

    ” But if you’re hoping all your tears will dry/With words that I dispense, well/There’re just some things that can’t be bought with my/Two cents”
    –Shaun Groves “Two Cents”

    July 8th, 2005 at 1:32 pm
  7. daniel:

    I don’t expect musicians to do anything but entertain (also inspire and guide, but that’s another topic for another time)… but the fact that they’re trying to “save Africa” with a bunch of concerts is pitiful.

    July 8th, 2005 at 1:36 pm
  8. Jesse:

    Not really all that pathetic, really. They have a voice, and a loud one. And they’ve definitely brought this issue to the forefront of the public’s consciousness, which is more what “raising awareness” does rather than simply notifying everyone that a problem exists.

    And if world leaders act in response, why should we say that the rockers should stay out of politics?

    July 9th, 2005 at 5:00 am

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