Went out cruising with Mike last night. It was a lot of fun, but took way longer than either of us thought it would. We rode out towards okotoks on a back road that ended up veering us a long way west before going south. What was supposed to be a half hour ride took over an hour. It was dark so it got pretty cold. Having said that it was a load of fun. The scenery was awesome, and it was good practice for me doing quick steers because I'm not used to having to dodge things like potholes. Next time I gotta get it together earlier though.
Now onto something more relevant. Live 8 and Make Poverty History. First off I'm pissed off at Bob Geldof and Ebay. People who won the tickets in England were selling them on ebay. I'm just fine with that for three reasons. First of all, it's legal in England to sell tickets that were won, which is how live 8 tickets were distributed. Second it's not against any ebay seller's policy. Thirdly because when Eucharistic Hosts consecrated by the pope that were stolen at an open air mass were sold on ebay they summarily ignored all protest from an orgainized group and refused to answer our protests, and to me that's way less ethical than concert tickets that are being legally sold. But, Bob Geldof is a celebrity, and so he threw a public hissy fit and ebay pulled them. I find it ironic that someone who claims to be working for those with no voice abuses his celebrity such.
Don't get me wrong, I support the level of organization that MPH and Live 8 are striving for. What bothers me is that it's seems a lot like a celebrity band wagon. When it was Bono and Angelina Jolie working passionately and somewhat behind the scenes to make a real difference that was cool. But now you see Brad Pitt on TV, Bob Geldof organizing concerts, stuff like that. But at the end of the day they own enough to make a strong difference and don't seem to sacrifice any of that. It feels condescending to have people who are rich and famous tell us what we should do. It's good they are using their celebrity for good, but unless they are tireless, and generous workers like Bono and Jolie, it's gonna cheapen the whole movement and it'll become the next thing people are sick of.
Anyway, rant off... support MPH, cuz even if some of the celebrities pushing it are lame, the cause isn't.
3 comments:
Hey, I agree with you.It is quite lame sometimes.
I love Bono though.
Bob Geldof isn't exactly "Jumping on the bandwagon". He was organising Live Aid before Bono was Bono!! And the only way he seems to be able to get notice these days is when he causes a fuss, so he needs to! Because he has been trying to do it quietly for years but when billions are raised and sent out when the tsunami hit, he is left there speechless because these "physical tsunamis" are happening every day to millions of people of Africa, and the response is pretty miserable.
And Bono isn't exactly media-shy!
I guess so, but then the vast majority of the money and food from live aid went to waste, and a lot ended up in corrupt hands. I'm just mad a the little hissy fit he threw over the tickets, and the fact ebay caved cuz he's famous. He's also called for some famously stupid things this time around. Like telling everyone in England with a boat to cross the cahnnel and grab someone from france for the protest (hey, it's only one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, what could go wrong), and trying to get 1,000,000 protestors to Edinburgh, when the place can't support anywhere near that many people. Stuff like that annoys me.
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