Live 8

[Sam_The_Man]

To all the people putting down the idea of the concert. I completely see where you are coming from. But I really can't see what else could be done other than getting more people to know about it and support them. Traxis, Sam_the_Man, what would you do to stop the problems in Africa?

What Deepershade said. And definitely not increase aid (writing off debts is another thing). The thing about aid is that although it can put in place the infrastructure necessary for economic development, there's no question that it props up despotic regimes. By allowing governments to depend on aid from abroad rather than tax from home, it eliminates any incentive for there to actually be development in the first place. When your citizens raise themselves above subsistence level they have to be taxed, and when you start taxing your citizens they start asking questions about how you spend it. Given the choice between aid and tax, a government will choose aid any time.

Most aid is political rather than economic - look at the way a lot of aid money has to be spent on capital from the donor country. Or at the focus on the AIDS issue - yes, AIDS is a terrible blight in Africa, but malaria is an equally big problem if not bigger, and unlike AIDS malaria can easily and cheaply be reduced or even eliminated with modern medicine, mosquito nets, etc. So why the focus on AIDS? I'd be interested if anyone can come up with a better reason than 'because Westerners don't get malaria'.

It's a protest. It's global. It's a start, and quite frankly the cynics are just being pricks on this one.

It's a pop concert, and quite frankly I'm tired of being called a prick because I think that white has-beens aren't going to lift people out of poverty. Whenever people try to explain how Live 8 will change anything they get as far as the word 'awareness' before their brain shuts down under the influence of mind-numbling piano-driven housewife rock.

*edit*

Currently watching the concert with the back of my head. Just now a man in a silly hat told the crowd "If we make lots of noise... we can make them listen!" I was wondering who 'they' were, and what 'they' were supposed to listen to, but meh, I'm just a cynical prick.

 

[rattyocaster]

I wonder how many complaints'll be sent for the language used? LOL

 

[JonAzz]

aol is offering live feed of the concerts for free. Quality is quite good, but it's in Windows Media.
http://music.aol.com/live_8_concert/live_now

it won't work :S it just says playing but nothing comes up...

I want to see pink floyd

 

[TossMonkey]

I wonder how many complaints'll be sent for the language used? LOL

And tonight on watchdog....

 

[The_Head]

Any Idea at what time Pink Floyd are playing at?

 

[mokeh]

they are meant to be on at 21:50 but its about an hour behind schedule at the moment i think

 

[thewalkingman]

Any Idea at what time Pink Floyd are playing at?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4641889.stm


1906 currently performingThe Killers: All These Things That I've Done

1926 Joss Stone: Super Duper Love, I Had A Dream, Some Kind of Wonderful

1946 Scissor Sisters: Laura, Take Your Mama, Everybody Wants The Same Thing

2006 Velvet Revolver: Do It For The Kids

2026 Sting: Every Breath You Take, Message in a Bottle, Desert Rose

2046 Mariah Carey: Vision of Love, Make It Happen, We Belong Together

2106 Robbie Williams: Let Me Entertain You, Feel, Angels

2126 The Who (introduced by Peter Kay): Who Are You?, Won't Get Fooled Again, Baba O'Riley, Behind Blue Eyes

2149 Pink Floyd: TBC (Expected to play four songs including Money, Comfortably Numb, Wish You Were Here)

2211 Sir Paul McCartney: TBC (Expected to play five songs including The Long and Winding Road)

Finale: Sir Paul McCartney joined on stage by George Michael and Sir Mick Jagger

 

[thewalkingman]

It is all for the children!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Goodie bags for hunger?

Gonna watch the big Live 8 concerts this weekend?

Indeed, the lineups look interesting and I wish I could be there to take ‘em in. Still, this story out of Australia made me pause.

According to the story, “Live 8 performers are playing for free, but local organisers plan to shower the celebrities with a Hugo Boss duffel bag loaded with high-fashion trinkets valued at about $4,000.

“They'll also be able to add to their goodie bags with big-ticket items including Hugo Boss suits, valued at $1,000 to $1,310 each; XM satellite radios and subscriptions, $655; Gibson guitars, $2,600; Bertolucci watches, valued between $2,000 and $7,900; and other items.

“In all, a celebrity could walk away with a bag of gifts worth as much as $15,700.”

Wow, that’s just amazing. And, wrong.

The article includes comments from an ethicist, who points out that it’s “peculiar that the rich gifts are being offered at a concert whose aim is bringing attention to poverty in Africa.”


http://www.crainscleveland.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050701/FREE/50701006/1002&Profile=1002

 

[L_S]

The article includes comments from an ethicist

lmao! An "ethicist" eh? Where can one find such a job and how much does it pay?

 

[Sam_The_Man]

The article includes comments from an ethicist, who points out that it’s “peculiar that the rich gifts are being offered at a concert whose aim is bringing attention to poverty in Africa.”

This article raises many questions, but I think the most important one is how you gain the qualifications to become an ethicist. Apparently an 'ethicist' is someone newspapers use to drop opinions in supposedly neutral articles on the basis that it's a third-party quote and not editorial comment. I could do that, easy.

*edit* OMG teleposted.

 

[DeeperShade]

It's a protest. It's global. It's a start, and quite frankly the cynics are just being pricks on this one.

You're right, it's a start. Now it was in the right direction it would be a better start, but hey, I hope it works out I really do.

I just don't hold out much hope.

Let's be honest. Make poverty history? It's never going to happen. There will always be poverty somewhere in the world.

 

[L_S]

Not if we kill all the poor people!!!! :tup:

 

[Hunter]

/me shoots L_S

There we go, one down

It's a nice way to start. showing that the whole world knows whats going on

 

[thewalkingman]

Not if we kill all the poor people!!!! :tup:

Nah just build health facilitators and heath food supplement factories in Africa.

 

[L_S]

Actually in all seriousness I do have a pretty sound solution but I know this one is going to get me into trouble...

We send over TWD and his army of missionaries. We give each of them a U-haul truck filled with condoms and coat hangars. They hand out the condoms to the men and the coat hangars to the women and give a short class on how to use each. Once all the condoms and coat hangars are handed out they start loading the impoverished onto the U-hauls and drive them to let's say somewhere like NOT THE DESERT!!!*





* this post is endorsed by the North American Board of Ethicists

 

[^DaRk^AgentOrange|PuF]

watched for velvet revolver who were awesome even if scott's singing voice was quite off. gonna stay tuned for pink floyd.

 

[Sam_The_Man]

Not if we kill all the poor people!!!! :tup:

That's just sick. It's quite obvious that eating the surplus population is the answer.

Anyways, I'm not at all surprised how natural Geldof and Blair are in each others company: apart from the fact that Geldof feels that his natural calling is as a politician and Blair feels that his natural calling is as a rock star, Geldof's solution to poverty is pretty much identical to New Labour's solution to the NHS: pick a number, double it, fling that amount of cash at it and call it investment, and in the meantime make a lot of noise while saying absolutely nothing.

And Geldofites would rather slit their wrists than admit it, but this new fashion for calling anyone who calls into question the effectiveness of the Make Poverty History campaign 'cynics' is identical in principle to the Bush administration's penchant for calling its critics 'unpatriotic'. It stops any argument about the issue in question, and forces the critic to persuade the audience that he isn't cynical or unpatriotic: an impossible task because both labels are completely abstract, so in effect he automatically loses the argument. Geldoffing is the Godwinning for a new generation.

 

[DeeperShade]

Can anyone actually tell me any song other than the Live Aid song that geldof has written and been successful with? Not wanting to bash him, but I can't think of one myself.

 

[The_Head]

When you say the Liva Aid one. Is that as in the Band Aid song, feed the world. Or the one he played tonight and back in 1985.
Other then them can't name a single thing. ONly knoew he was in a band until more recently.

 

[DeeperShade]

When you say the Liva Aid one. Is that as in the Band Aid song, feed the world. Or the one he played tonight and back in 1985.
Other then them can't name a single thing. ONly knoew he was in a band until more recently.

Do they know it's Christmas is the official title I believe, but yeah, that one.



oh and:

Not if we kill all the poor people!!!! :tup:

Even if we did, there'd still be poverty. If everyone had over 100k, then some of those people would still be in poverty compared to those who have millions. I'm probably being pedantic by taking poverty at it's literal meaning, but still. You can't kill poverty without killing money and even then, some people would have more material goods, friends, food, etc etc than others, making those others poorer. Sad, but true.