New at Reason
Greg Beato explains how the hip kids buying whatever Bono tells them to buy are really saving the world. Yes, really.
Comments to "New at Reason":
John C. Randolph | February 5, 2008, 7:09am | #
"gazing indigenously at the camera"That phrase made me laugh out loud.
-jcr
BakedPenguin | February 5, 2008, 8:28am | #
joe, you almost sound like a conservitarian on one of the organic food threads. What exactly do you disagree with?Cracker's Boy | February 5, 2008, 8:35am | #
I agree with whatever joe says on this thread. Of course, I've agreed with Dondero before too, so...CB
edna | February 5, 2008, 8:46am | #
i love the idea of bono asking "governments" to bail out third world shit-holes. that means that his self-righteousness gets funded by involuntarily collected tax money.if a celebrity said, "there's no reason that anyone could ever need more than (say) $1 million per year, so i'm donating everything i make above and beyond that to (insert favorite charity), and suggest that everyone else in my position do the same," i'd have a little more respect.
Yinter | February 5, 2008, 8:55am | #
Davos would seem to be a fun place to go to, although you'd probably have a lot of people running into you due to their not being able to see what with their heads so far up their own arses.Jennifer | February 5, 2008, 8:55am | #
i love the idea of bono asking "governments" to bail out third world shit-holes.As I understand it, he specifically told the Irish government to shell out more money, though Bono himself left Ireland to escape their high tax rates. Few things annoy me more than a multi-mega-millionaire holding onto his money whilst simultaneously insisting that some guy trying to raise a family on $40K a year needs to pay higher taxes to financially support the charities that mega-millionaire supports only via lip service.
Bullet the Blue Sky is a cool song, though.
Yinter | February 5, 2008, 8:57am | #
On the subject of Anne Hathaway, does going back to the scene with her breasteses to do some spanking negate that I cried at the end of Brokeback Mountain, or am I still gay?Episiarch | February 5, 2008, 9:21am | #
Yinter, you're a fag.Wouldn't this post do better with a photo, say, of the aforementioned Anne Hathaway? You guys are slacking on the job. Except for Radley with his Sharapova post.
LarryA | February 5, 2008, 9:29am | #
This is certainly a new way to look at celeb endorsements. Maybe they aren't so bad after all.Now if we could just limit the irony factor, as when a massively armed action hero calls for gun control.
P Brooks | February 5, 2008, 9:31am | #
It's the thought that counts.It doesn't really matter if the money the celebs raise goes to feeding the NGO parasite classes, or padding the Swiss bank accounts of people like Robert Mugabe, as long as they can be invited to a nice dinner party, and go home feeling good about themselves.
BakedPenguin | February 5, 2008, 9:37am | #
As I understand it, he specifically told the Irish government to shell out more money, though Bono himself left Ireland to escape their high tax rates.Kind of like Al Gore in his massive mansion only starting to get off-grid energy a year or two ago.
Orders to save the planet only apply to peasants, apparently...
Bingo | February 5, 2008, 9:46am | #
I'm buying whatever the Snorg tees chick is selling, damn.D.A. Ridgely | February 5, 2008, 10:02am | #
Wall Street Journal columnist Robert Frank frets that “too much of today’s charity is about gratifying the giver, rather than helping the needy.”When, exactly, were things different?
de stijl | February 5, 2008, 10:11am | #
Yinter,As long as you're not doing it to The Princess Diaries the law doesn't care. Although society may shun you.
Disclaimer / confession: I bawled like a little baby at Brokeback Mountain. Thankfully I watched it at home. The worst public movie crying thing for me was Schindler's List. The worst ever public crying thing for me was when I visited Auschwitz. I couldn't even stand up for about twenty minutes. I lost about ten pounds of snot.
Ethan | February 5, 2008, 10:11am | #
As I understand it, he specifically told the Irish government to shell out more money, though Bono himself left Ireland to escape their high tax rates.I think that all he did was move a particular business enterprise (or part of one) out of Ireland to avoid the particularly high tax on that particular business. Particular.
I for one don't see a contradiction between "I wish taxes were lower" and "I wish the government would spend more on X."
Rhywun | February 5, 2008, 10:33am | #
If I were a multi-zillionaire bent on giving out truckloads of money, I would also prefer lower taxes so I could give more money to private charities rather than watching the government piss it away on military toilet seats and wealthy seniors.J sub D | February 5, 2008, 10:35am | #
When, exactly, were things different?That would be, never. When I'm in my cynical mood - People donate for the same reason they copulate. It feels good.
Ken Shultz | February 5, 2008, 10:36am | #
Fashion and entertainment seem to be based on nothing else but selling some ephemeral feeling or other. It's just specialization and exchange.The free market is better at making more high quality product available to more people than any other system. ...even if the product in question is that warm, fuzzy feeling.
Shakira's hips may not save us from global warming, but they can create demand. ...and maybe they can inch us closer.
I guess you'd have to give a damn about celebrities before you could give a damn about their philanthropy habits. Honestly, why are we criticizing people for giving their money to charity?
de stijl and yinter, if you want a real tear fest, red Close Range which is the collection that Brokeback Mtn. came out of. Anne Proulx can write some miserable stuff. I will never live in Wyoming, just because of her.
kohlrabi | February 5, 2008, 11:12am | #
Lamar,Because they generally do it in a sanctimonious, moralizing way. Some people find that annoying. It's similar to people resenting the preacher man eating off of gold plates while telling the congregation to help the poor.
Lamar | February 5, 2008, 11:20am | #
kohlrabi:Fair enough. I guess I'm just criticizing the criticizers. If you (not you personally) buy into all that Hollywood hullabaloo, then get angry that they are sanctimonious moralizers, I have about 3 seconds of sympathy for you.
R C Dean | February 5, 2008, 11:45am | #
I for one don't see a contradiction between "I wish taxes were lower" and "I wish the government would spend more on X."True, but there is a tad bit of inconsistency in saying "I won't pay a single nickel of taxes to government X", not saying "government X should lower its taxes" and going on to say "I wish government X would spend a lot more of (other peoples) taxes on my pet projects."
prolefeed | February 5, 2008, 12:55pm | #
Wall Street Journal columnist Robert Frank frets that “too much of today’s charity is about gratifying the giver, rather than helping the needy.”From an Objectivist standpoint, such self-gratifying giving is a good thing, while altruistically sacrificing one's own interests and desires for the benefit of others is thoroughly evil.
Counterintuitive, yes, but the experience of altruistic impulses under socialism seems to bear out the truthfulness of this statement.
prolefeed | February 5, 2008, 12:59pm | #
True, but there is a tad bit of inconsistency in saying "I won't pay a single nickel of taxes to government X", not saying "government X should lower its taxes" and going on to say "I wish government X would spend a lot more of (other peoples) taxes on my pet projects."Nothing at all inconsistent about believing all of the above. Immoral and evil, yes, but selfishly wanting to hang onto all of ones' own money, while wishing to loot others so you can hand the loot to undeserving others, thereby making yourself feel good, is a thoroughly consistent, albeit dastardly, philosophy.
Not entirely off the subject: I am fed up with celebs weighing in on their political leanings. I mean, c'moon...is there a human being alive on the planet who really gives a wet slap who Debra Messing is going to vote for...?
Dan Clore | February 7, 2008, 4:00am | #
They Aren't The Worldby Culturcide
There comes a time when rock stars beg for cash
and that's how the world's supposed to come together as one
There are people dying
whooaah and they just noticed
and they think they're the greatest gift of all
We can't go on, pretending day by day
that record companies and media gods will soon make a change
We all play a part
in a world which starves us all
and our cooperation is all they need
( CHORUS )
They're not the world, they're not the children
they're just bosses and burocrats and rock'n'roll has-beens
There's a choice we're never given to run our own lives
without it your better day is just a better lie
Well buy the record, so they can pretend they care
and their careers will be stronger and guilt free
well as Michael and Lionel has shown us, the world is just TV
if children are starving let'um drink Pepsi
( REPEAT CHORUS )
They're not the world, They're not the children
if you want to change anything start from the beginning
There's choices we're never given to run our own lives
without it your better day is just a better lie
when your rich and famous there seems no contradiction at all
If you can just have a number one hit we'll solve it all
Wow, wow, wow let us realize that change can never come
if CBS decides what's the problem
( CHORUS - REPEAT AND FADE )
They're not the world, they're not the children
their just bosses and burocrats and rock'n'roll has-beens
There's a choice we're never given to run our own lives
without it your better day is just a better lie
(additional ad-lib vox by Culturcide)
Kdog | February 12, 2008, 5:05pm | #
Oh the horror.Problems with this article:
1. Charity is viewed within it as a good thing. The money expended on charity would be better invested in, well, investments. The third world has not done much with the "development aid" and billions in charitable contributions - but transnational corporations have lifted several countries into much higher income conditions.
2. Celebrity charities are as much, if not more, domestic political activism groups as they are dedicated to change internationally. Though I am not a libertarian, if I were I would be doubly concerned about the direction this influences the country to go in.
3. The hypocrisies of celebrities make them poor role models even if what they are advocating were a good thing.