Posted by
Tzimisce on Thursday, July 05, 2007 1:38:10 PM
I have a problem in that I think taxes are too high. So I got a brilliant idea - I'll throw a party.
Anyone else find the above statement absurd? I fail to see how getting drunk at a party is going to solve my tax burdens. So how is it going to solve a problem like "global warming"?
Al Gore's big idea is to have concerts on all of the continents at the same time: Sydney, Australia; London, England; Kyoto, Japan; Johannesburg, South Africa; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Washington DC in the US. Oh and there will be a concert in Antarctica for the first time ever. It's winter in Antarctica - but I'm sure these activists won't mind the cold (which they tell me isn't as cold as it used to be thanks to global warming.)
The point here is: how is a stupid concert going to do *anything* to help fix global warming, pollution or anything else? These rock stars are going to fly to these locations in private jets, drive around in limos, burn up tons of energy for their lights, their instruments, their amps, pollute the air with all the smoke from their pyrotechnics and so on. And the people going to these shows are trample the grass and toss their trash everywhere. The people at the concerts will pollute the air smoking cigarettes (and other various substances).
So how does this stupid concert help anyway? (It's raising awareness.) Yeah you're right, most people in populated centers like London, Kyoto and Washington DC have NEVER heard of global warming. We have never seen it in movies, television, radio, schools, politicians, newspapers, internet and so on. I suppose I'd be prone to believe that there are people living in the backwoods of Africa, South America and India that have never been presented with the theory of global warming - but I notice none of the concert locations are in these ill informed places.
So since these concerts are wasteful and won't do anything to fix the problem it claims to address one has to wonder: what is the real meat of these concerts (insult to the vegans intended)? Answer: to make rich elitist snobs feel like they're doing something. It gives them a chance to justify their decadent lifestyles and make them feel better about themselves. Now I'm not just getting drunk, I'm getting drunk for the Earth (where do I toss the beer cans?) I'm not just getting stoned, I'm getting stoned for the Earth. I'm not just having sex, I'm having sex for the Earth.
The fact that these concerts don't do anything to actually solve a problem is secondary.
Question: Aren't the poor the ones who are going to be most hurt by environmental destruction? So why aren't you inviting some of these people to your concerts? Why aren't any of these concerts being held in areas that are destitute? Why is it that I feel the only poor people who will get in to this concert will be sweeping the trash up after the last band leaves the stage?
Are they sending the money to charity? The real question is *how much* are they sending to charity? What about concessions sales? Tee shirt sales? How much are these bands making on this concert? I've never met a lib that did anything for free - so obviously they're getting something for their efforts.
Even if they do send the money to charity or whatever is really going to help the problem? I get the feeling that less than a week after these concerts we'll continue to be told that global warming is happening faster, its effects will be more devastating than we originally thought and there is nothing we can do to stop it. Hell, they're telling us this right now and we haven't even had "Live Earth" yet, so what good will this do?
Morale of the story is that "Live Earth" is a pile of crap. It won't help anything and won't change anything. It won't even make any of the people participating feel better about anything.
So why even go through the motions?