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MySpace Organizes Sudan Fundraiser
tanman writes to tell us CNN is reporting that MySpace is sponsoring a series of 20 concerts as an effort to raise awareness about the humanitarian relief efforts in Sudan. From the article: "The concerts will take place October 21. Artists include TV on the Radio in Philadelphia, Alice in Chains in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Ziggy Marley in Medford, Oregon, Citizen Cope in Seattle, Gov't Mule in Spokane, Washington, and Insane Clown Posse in St. Petersburg, Florida."
I only hope that the concerts will not be broadcast from the profiles of 400 million users simultaneously.
Couldn't Fox (MySpace's owner) raise a lot more awareness with their news network than they could with concerts?
Unfortunately, Sudan exists in that giant blind spot the developed world seems to have south of Europe and west of the Middle East. Sure, we have these benefits which do some good, but meanwhile the governments of the most powerful and wealthy nations in the world are willing to do nothing more than prop up dictatorial regimes by lending them money their countrymen will never be able to repay, while trying to decide what is the least amount of aid they can get away with while still looking like they care.
The way the west has dealt with Africa since pretty much the beginning of time is shameful, and it doesn't look like it's going to improve any time soon.
It wants its music back. But keep that Insane Clown Posse CD. 1994 said you could just keep that.
So now I can hear from every teenager out there about how important things are in Sudan. And how much it means to them personally. "Hey, put this in your profile if you care about the Sudan cause! But don't forget to comment up. Because it means so much to me." Puke.
It's always confirmation bias!
...MySpace did a series of benefit concerts for children lured by sexual predators over the Internet, given that they seem to facilitate it more than anyone these days?
Help us build a better map!
How much money will actually make it to the Sudan?
I don't see how having a concert or two is in any way related to solving real world problems. What? You going to party your way to a better environment?
This is a perfect way to sell tickets and raise profits. It will be like Live8.
The way *Africans* have dealt with Africa is shameful. Sure, we can blame colonialism for many of Africa's problems, but we're more than 40 years on from the last of Europe's colonial possessions. At some point the Africans themselves have to reject corruption, violence and tribalism and begin to work cooperatively for a better life for themselves. No amount of charity on the part of the west can help them with this.
(And yes, I know Africa is a continent and that not all African countries are in this predicament. Still, why have Europe's former Asian colonies done so much better?)
Sure, but that assumes that the point is to actually do something in Sudan, and not improve the tarnished image of the online service that they forked out a bunch of dough for, and are currently burdened with. It's a little bit of a Hail Mary, but hey, when you've got a web site that most people only know of because they've seen it on the news in the same sentence with "pedophile," you can't really go wrong.
Why would News Corp give a damn about people in Sudan? Here's a hint: they don't.
The only reason they're raising money for people in Sudan is that it's the least-offensive cause some focus group could come up with. Right now, MySpace needs the most heart-warming, family-friendly but not totally-unhip image resuscitation that money can buy.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
I too, concur that this is a tragedy of epic proportions, but, I think, is being ignored by both sides of the aisle for political reasons.
The Right, unfortunately, knows that our military cannot support serious actions to halt the genocide that is happening. As typically strong supporters of our military, they don't want to see the military face losses on top of what they are incurring in Iraq. Such an act could quickly become a political lightening rod.
In order for the Left to support such an action, they would have to support invading a sovereign nation whose official ties to terrorism are only hints and whispers, and without official UN approval, which is exactly their protest against the Iraq Invasion. Even with knowledge that the Iraqi government was killing their own citizens, The Left opposed invasion. To suddenly support a Darfur excursion would end up making them look like extreme hypocrites.
Also, the lesson we learned from Vietnam is that in order to win the war, we would have to wage war on the "tail" side of the agressors, drawing their front-line troops away to defend their home turf. That turns in a CQB (Close-Quarter Battle), which inflicts heavy losses on an invading force. Or we carpet bomb the mostly muslim north, allowing for the (pardon me for saying this) anti-US Muslim propaganda machine to run at full tilt again.
Remember, these conquering forces have many 10-year-old boys with AK-47s. All you have to do is take away the gun, and suddenly, "THE UNITED STATES MILITARY IS KILLING MUSLIM CHILDREN" shows up on CNN.
Then there will be protests at a University, but that's ok.
If I might suggest a situation for history to repeat itself, I propose Kent State.
I support evacuation. The issue I see is that any provisions sent to the region would just as likely end up feeding conquering Janjaweed forces as hungry Christians.
After evacuation, our forces could carpet bomb at will, knowing that any movement in the area was hostile invaders.
In my opinion, the Sudanese Government is attempting genocide. The ironic part is that it is mostly African (Read: Black) population that is bearing the brunt of this, and the Arab population is causing it. I think this is a problem of politically correct crisis. You can't support one side without appearing biased against the other. No politician will touch it, so no action will happen.
Which is truly unfortunate.
Of course, there is a solution to all of this, and I think it should be widely deployed after evacuation:
But, I wonder how the people who were opposed to the Iraqi Invasion are going to react. Are they going to admit that invading Iraq for the reasons stated were acceptable after all, or simply wait for the UN to draft up a strongly worded letter to the Sudanese government?
Joe
Well yeah -- I mean, if they really wanted to send money to Sudan, you'd think that one of the brain surgeons there at News Corp would realize that it's a little ridiculous for a giant multinational corporation with $25 billion in revenue to sponsor a fucking fund raiser, in order to get regular folks to send in a couple of bucks here and there, as if they were the Pigs Knuckle, Arkansas Rotary Club ... if the goal of the whole process was "let's send money to Sudan," Rupert Murdoch could probably just cut a check out of his petty cash fund and be done with it.
As they are not doing that and are conducting a fund raiser, however ironic, I think it's safe to assume that the ultimate goal of the process is not, in fact, sending money to Sudan.
As to what the real motive might be, I'll leave that up to you to consider.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Explaining why this "fund raiser" is being conducted almost exclusively in the U.S. (It would be exclusive, except for a show in Toronto.)
From TFA:
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."