As I sit her at my computer I wonder why the organizers of Live8 did not include Los Angeles as one of the venues. There are only 3.8 million of us in the city and if you include LA county it about triples the size.
The other thing to mention is that in an interview that Time Mag. conducted with Bono, Bob Geldof and Richard Curtiss.
“GELDOF America doesn’t have a lack of empathy; they just don’t know the issues as well. Actually, today I had to defend the Bush Administration in France again. They refuse to accept, because of their political ideology, that he has actually done more than any American President for Africa. But it’s empirically so.”
The sad thing in that statement is that I hear people reacting based upon emotion and not upon fact and I think that this is one of the fundamental problems we face with fixing the world. Emotion, passion are good things to use to try and energize and motivate action, but you need fact and rational analysis as well.
Without them you cannot create a coherent plan to fix the problems. And along those lines one of the things that I wonder about is what the planners of Live8 intend to do about some of the fundamental problems in Africa.
It is all fine and good to forgive debt, but that doesn’t address the areas or issues that created some of these problems. If you have a leaky boat, it will not matter if you bail out the water within because unless you repair the leaks the water will return and you will find yourself in the same situation again.
Hi Misanthrope and Cindra,
I find this all to be very frustrating. I appreciate the efforts and the gesture, but I am a cynic and I wonder how long it will last.
What is happening with the Tsunami aid. We hear almost nothing about that now.
One of the problems I have with these celebrity functions, as well meaning as they try to be, is most celebrities have no idea what is going on in the real world. Most think that by performing, they have done their thing. They pick up their expensive gift package and get a bunch of good PR and walk away thinking they have contributed. Most don’t put their money, of which they have a lot, to work.
I agree with your leaking boat analogy. Most of the African nations are so corrupt it is hard to fix the problem. That doesn’t mean we don’t try, it just isn’t an easy fix. Money isn’t always the answer.
I do admire Bono and Geldof for all their hard work, because they have put time and effort into trying to change the status quo.
Cindra
I agree with you. I can only think that the reason LA was not a locale was because of the time difference; it’s just a guess.