Concert of Guilt

Hey, I love a good concert as much as anybody. Which is why I tuned in briefly here and there to watch some of the Live8 concerts this weekend. I can get down with the music.

I can't however, get down with the large doses of liberal guilt driving the event. Once again, we have mega rich celebrities lecturing all of us how about how cheap we are in neglecting poverty in Africa. Hey, can you turn the music down for a minute and remind me how many Range Rovers and Hummers and Rolls Royce's it took to get your posse to the stadium? I've forgotten, since the last time I watched MTV's "Cribs" how many rides with 21" rims you have parked outside of your mansion. Okay, you can resume lecturing me about poverty. Idiots.

Here's an excellent article putting it all in perspective for you. It's called "Aid to Africa Redux", by Herb London. It asks the excellent question of what happened to the $2 billion raised the last time in the Live Aid concerts, and to the $25 billion that Western countries have poured into Africa in the last decade.

It's a simple answer. Warlords stole it and used it as weapons against their enemy tribes or stashed it in Swiss bank accounts. Until you can fix the problem of corrupt warlords in Africa, more aid won't help. It was said best this way in the article:

As Peter Baur, the father of development economics once noted, "foreign aid is little more than poor people in rich countries giving money to rich people in poor countries."

But you won't hear that on MTV, or on any of the mainstream news coverage of the event - where liberal guilt will trump facts.

But, hey, music is music and I can enjoy a good concert.