Live 8: will it make a difference?
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Sitting here with the TV on and not much available to channel surf through. After all, it's the summer months, and even with a TiVo on hand, the choices for what to watch continue to be slim during the days of summer. There's my beloved baseball, with my still hot Washington Nationals doing better than expected. They've been a great joy to have in the D.C. area, and it's been especially surprising to see how competitive the team has been. There's much to be said for a team having great support from it's home town fans. But those comments are not what I was here to say today.
Getting back on track, the TV event of the summer, and some may say and hope "for the year" is the Live8 concerts. Broadcasting live from London, Philly, etc. Airing on MTV (younger generation) and VH1 (slightly older, more mellow viewers normally), 8 plus hours. Brought to us by the same people that were the force behind Live Aid, the "mega" concert from 1985 which was put on to raise money for helping to feed the people in Africa. In 1985, we were in the middle of a huge famine in Ethopia, and millions were dieing from malnutrition. Millions of dollars were raised by the Band Aid trust, and to this day people are still reportedly recieving benefits from that trust.
With the release of the DVDs of the original Live Aid concerts (which include most, but not all of the original concert materials, but I digress again) even more money is being raised for the cause from those DVD sales.
Now, so many years later, Geldolf, who even recently had been saying that such an event would never happen again, has decided to try to do it all again, though this time not so much to raise money as to raise awareness of the problems that continue to affect Africa. Termed LIve8 because the event was primarily supposed to put some political pressure on the "Group of 8" or G-8 leaders of the world. This of course includes the U.S., the U.K., and other world leadership. (For more info see: wikipedia definition of G8). Curiously enough though, Geldolf reportedly has told acts that would appear at the Live8 concerts that they are not to be political and preachy in their performances. Rather than allowing the acts to put their own messages before the message of the event, Geldolf has reportedly exercised some censorship, or at least restraint of the performers.
But what effect will the event itself have? Will it make a difference at all, or will it simply end up being a huge entertainment event for the concert goers and viewers?
Why do I ask this question? Circle back to the Kerry campaign in the 2004 Presidential election. Rockers and other artists came out in droves to help inspire young people to vote and participate, hoping to drive them to the polls to vote for Kerry. Yet what were the results? In the end, reportedly the level of voter apathy among the young crowd was not much different than historical levels. Meaning that for all of the hype, the people that were going to the concerts and hearing the artists were not actively listening. They were listening to the music, and may have been cheering the artists, but they still weren't motivated enough to actually "do" anything.
Will the same thing happen with Live8? Will the viewers and concert-goer's just do the minimum, perhaps send off a few text messages, sign a virtual petition, but then almost immediately after the show ends go back to worrying more about the latest fad and fashions? It remains to be seen, but at least from my cynical seat, I expect that other than being a big publicity event, Live8 may go down as a big footnote without much real substance.
Getting back on track, the TV event of the summer, and some may say and hope "for the year" is the Live8 concerts. Broadcasting live from London, Philly, etc. Airing on MTV (younger generation) and VH1 (slightly older, more mellow viewers normally), 8 plus hours. Brought to us by the same people that were the force behind Live Aid, the "mega" concert from 1985 which was put on to raise money for helping to feed the people in Africa. In 1985, we were in the middle of a huge famine in Ethopia, and millions were dieing from malnutrition. Millions of dollars were raised by the Band Aid trust, and to this day people are still reportedly recieving benefits from that trust.
With the release of the DVDs of the original Live Aid concerts (which include most, but not all of the original concert materials, but I digress again) even more money is being raised for the cause from those DVD sales.
Now, so many years later, Geldolf, who even recently had been saying that such an event would never happen again, has decided to try to do it all again, though this time not so much to raise money as to raise awareness of the problems that continue to affect Africa. Termed LIve8 because the event was primarily supposed to put some political pressure on the "Group of 8" or G-8 leaders of the world. This of course includes the U.S., the U.K., and other world leadership. (For more info see: wikipedia definition of G8). Curiously enough though, Geldolf reportedly has told acts that would appear at the Live8 concerts that they are not to be political and preachy in their performances. Rather than allowing the acts to put their own messages before the message of the event, Geldolf has reportedly exercised some censorship, or at least restraint of the performers.
But what effect will the event itself have? Will it make a difference at all, or will it simply end up being a huge entertainment event for the concert goers and viewers?
Why do I ask this question? Circle back to the Kerry campaign in the 2004 Presidential election. Rockers and other artists came out in droves to help inspire young people to vote and participate, hoping to drive them to the polls to vote for Kerry. Yet what were the results? In the end, reportedly the level of voter apathy among the young crowd was not much different than historical levels. Meaning that for all of the hype, the people that were going to the concerts and hearing the artists were not actively listening. They were listening to the music, and may have been cheering the artists, but they still weren't motivated enough to actually "do" anything.
Will the same thing happen with Live8? Will the viewers and concert-goer's just do the minimum, perhaps send off a few text messages, sign a virtual petition, but then almost immediately after the show ends go back to worrying more about the latest fad and fashions? It remains to be seen, but at least from my cynical seat, I expect that other than being a big publicity event, Live8 may go down as a big footnote without much real substance.
