Live 8 Concert
I was pretty pissed when some guy basically said I was being silly, worrying about the intentions of all those concert-goers for the live8 concert.
"Does it matter? Sure it'd be nice if all the good done in the world was entirely altruistic but saving kids from hunger is saving kids from hunger. A meal provided by someone who thought the Live 8 would be a cool concert is just the same as a meal provided by someone who wanted to stop hunger. It just seems silly to me to be worrying about the intentions of the crowd when so much good is being done," he wrote in my Livejournal.
I thought he was either incredibly naive or incredibly stupid.
Does he really think that a huge, international concert is going to save kids from hunger?
Sure, maybe it'll provoke discussion among the G8 leaders about whether they ought to cancel Third World debt, but ultimately, it's their decision that will lead to the eventual eradication of death by hunger.
And what happens if they decide not to eliminate debt and make trade laws fairer?
How long has extreme poverty been killing Africans? Are you telling me that it's only beginning to sink in now that a child dies of poverty every three seconds?
The intentions of the crowd matters in the end --- whether they're in it to see a cool, free concert that'll go down in music history as one of the greatest concerts ever staged or if they're all really in it to make a difference and to put an end to poverty as the concerts were intended to do.
Yes. It does matter what the intention of the crowd is...because after this concert's over and done with, the intentions of all these millions of people who've managed to get into a Live 8 concert will have a direct impact on what happens next.
What happens if our world leaders decide, "Nah. We'd still like our money back?" What happens, then?
What I'm wondering about is if the intention of the concert --- which is to mobilize millions of people to demand their governments cancel Third World debt --- will amount to anything.
Because, in the end, it's about 8 people deciding to do this...and what if they don't? Will all of these millions of people who've gone to the concert actually mobilize to do something about it? Because, in the end, if their intentions are to just see a great concert, then this will have amounted to nothing. Just millions of lucky bastards who got to see well-intentioned musicians perform for free.
It's not enough for us to get a cheap thrill from watching our favourite singers perform on stage. This will do nothing --- on it's own, anyways --- to put food on a kid's table.
Ultimately, the intention of this crowd does matter, because if our governments don't do anything, what happens next? Most of us will forget about this issue the way we've already forgotten about the victims of the tsunami. It's the same thing highlighted in that movie, "Hotel Rwanda" where Don Cheadle's character gets hopeful after he sees jaded TV reporter, Joaquin Phoenix, shooting footage of the war. Cheadle's character thinks that seeing all these horrible images will mobilze people to bring help to his war-striken nation.
Phoneix sets him straight and says, ''If people see this footage, they'll say, 'Oh my God, that's terrible,' and they'll go on eating their dinners.''
So.
In the end, if 8 world leaders in Scotland decide not to make trade laws more fair and not to cancel world debt, then the intentions of all those concert-goers becomes very important.
It comes down to this: what are we going to do about it?
Has the message been hammered into our heads? Are we going to stand up as a group and say no to these 8 world leaders and demand that they listen to us as a united front --- united by music, brought together to speak as one voice to demand that we work towards ending poverty?
Because, if we're not willing to do that, then all of this was just a waste of time and effort of idealistic people like Bono and Bob Geldorf, who actually believed that the sea of people they were looking out at from a stage were there because they were united by their belief that no child should die of hunger.
Tell me that all those concert-goers were united because of that reason and not because they got to see U2 and Coldplay perform for free.
Tell me that I don't need to worry about their intentions because this will lead to something great.
It's what I hope for --- to be proven that yes, the world can be united to make a huge difference.
"Does it matter? Sure it'd be nice if all the good done in the world was entirely altruistic but saving kids from hunger is saving kids from hunger. A meal provided by someone who thought the Live 8 would be a cool concert is just the same as a meal provided by someone who wanted to stop hunger. It just seems silly to me to be worrying about the intentions of the crowd when so much good is being done," he wrote in my Livejournal.
I thought he was either incredibly naive or incredibly stupid.
Does he really think that a huge, international concert is going to save kids from hunger?
Sure, maybe it'll provoke discussion among the G8 leaders about whether they ought to cancel Third World debt, but ultimately, it's their decision that will lead to the eventual eradication of death by hunger.
And what happens if they decide not to eliminate debt and make trade laws fairer?
How long has extreme poverty been killing Africans? Are you telling me that it's only beginning to sink in now that a child dies of poverty every three seconds?
The intentions of the crowd matters in the end --- whether they're in it to see a cool, free concert that'll go down in music history as one of the greatest concerts ever staged or if they're all really in it to make a difference and to put an end to poverty as the concerts were intended to do.
Yes. It does matter what the intention of the crowd is...because after this concert's over and done with, the intentions of all these millions of people who've managed to get into a Live 8 concert will have a direct impact on what happens next.
What happens if our world leaders decide, "Nah. We'd still like our money back?" What happens, then?
What I'm wondering about is if the intention of the concert --- which is to mobilize millions of people to demand their governments cancel Third World debt --- will amount to anything.
Because, in the end, it's about 8 people deciding to do this...and what if they don't? Will all of these millions of people who've gone to the concert actually mobilize to do something about it? Because, in the end, if their intentions are to just see a great concert, then this will have amounted to nothing. Just millions of lucky bastards who got to see well-intentioned musicians perform for free.
It's not enough for us to get a cheap thrill from watching our favourite singers perform on stage. This will do nothing --- on it's own, anyways --- to put food on a kid's table.
Ultimately, the intention of this crowd does matter, because if our governments don't do anything, what happens next? Most of us will forget about this issue the way we've already forgotten about the victims of the tsunami. It's the same thing highlighted in that movie, "Hotel Rwanda" where Don Cheadle's character gets hopeful after he sees jaded TV reporter, Joaquin Phoenix, shooting footage of the war. Cheadle's character thinks that seeing all these horrible images will mobilze people to bring help to his war-striken nation.
Phoneix sets him straight and says, ''If people see this footage, they'll say, 'Oh my God, that's terrible,' and they'll go on eating their dinners.''
So.
In the end, if 8 world leaders in Scotland decide not to make trade laws more fair and not to cancel world debt, then the intentions of all those concert-goers becomes very important.
It comes down to this: what are we going to do about it?
Has the message been hammered into our heads? Are we going to stand up as a group and say no to these 8 world leaders and demand that they listen to us as a united front --- united by music, brought together to speak as one voice to demand that we work towards ending poverty?
Because, if we're not willing to do that, then all of this was just a waste of time and effort of idealistic people like Bono and Bob Geldorf, who actually believed that the sea of people they were looking out at from a stage were there because they were united by their belief that no child should die of hunger.
Tell me that all those concert-goers were united because of that reason and not because they got to see U2 and Coldplay perform for free.
Tell me that I don't need to worry about their intentions because this will lead to something great.
It's what I hope for --- to be proven that yes, the world can be united to make a huge difference.
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