Live8 cartoon

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6 Responses to “Live8 cartoon”

1. Darren says:
   

   Have you been reading this blog too?

   July 5th, 2005 at 2:50 pm
2. Dave says:
   

   No I haven’t actually. Just a couple of Christian sites which are rather more cynical.

   July 5th, 2005 at 4:06 pm
3. si smith says:
   

   nice cartoon!
   but surely we have to be allowed to be critical of live 8 if there are things there that deserve criticism?
   there’s been a tendancy these past few days to slap the ‘cynical’ label on anyone who’s expressed even the slightest reservation about any aspect of the concerts.
   for what it’s worth i’m totally behind MPH, but live8 struck me as a bit of an unecessary diversion, and the lack of african artists on the bill was a real mistake.
   [of course, it didn't help that there were only a couple of acts on thebill that i was interested in seeing...!]

   July 5th, 2005 at 6:50 pm
4. Dave says:
   

   Si – ok, you’re allowed to be slightly critical as long as it’s kept to sensible levels.

   My view is that Make Poverty History would have had a much much smaller profile in the news and in terms of general awareness if it hadn’t been for Live8. For instance, a teacher I know has told me that since the weekend it has been possible to talk to kids about the issues in a way that it wouldn’t have been before.

   July 6th, 2005 at 9:07 am
5. Darren says:
   

   I think we need to remember the distinction between ‘critical’ and ‘cynical’ as I think has been posted above.
   I find it very difficult not to be cynical and that is becasue I have been so disappointed in the past with things that promised so much but delivered so little. (My fav definition of a cynic is ‘an intelligent person who is afraid of being disappointed again’) Still if there is one thing that ‘celebs’ can be used for then this is as good a cause as any
   As for the bill, I am always upset when the Cardiacs aren’t playing

   July 6th, 2005 at 10:24 am
6. si smith says:
   

   hi dave – of course, you’re right – i think maybe MPH would have passed some folk by without live8. i looked at the bill and was decidedly uninpsired by it [snow patrol and the killers aside], but then i’ve been onboard with MPH for a while anyway, so my consciousness didn’t need raising – so maybe the event wasn’t aimed at me anyway…

   but it still felt like me to be a bit of a missed opportunity – too much of an old-school showbiz event, and the decision not to invite african artists onto the bill just seemed to run counter to the aims of MPH [in terms of opening up markets and trade and levelling the playing field with africa]

   i read something on a website the other day which was basically saying that until we’re willing to make our excessive wealth history, we won’t succeed in making poverty history – and i guess that i belive that to be true. it’s something that maggi dawn touched on in her blog on the subject. and i look at the likes of beckham [who takes sponsorship money from a company that has been exposed as a user of indonesian sweatshop labour] and bill gates and all the big pop names and my own materialist consumerism and i wonder if we’re not deluding ourselves somewhere along the line…

   and then there is this thing that accompanies all the live aid/band aid/live8 stuff whereby no criticism is allowed or tolerated – even when it’s valid [and admittedly, not all of it is] it just gets shouted down and dismissed as heartless cynicism…

   [sorry for the long post - just musing out loud. and the cartoon still made me laugh!]

   July 6th, 2005 at 10:28 am