Posted in: Pop by pseudonym on December 22nd, 2007 | 0 Comments
What is the worst fault of the Band Aid single? Here is my view.
I hate “Do They Know It’s Christmas Time?”. I feel you should too. Why? For a moment, let us ignore the fact that this song comes over as sanctimonious. Let’s also put aside the fallacy in the idea that a small, seasonal handout will indeed feed the world. Instead let’s focus on the assumption in the song that Africa is all one generic nation with no cultural or geographical variation.
Obviously these people forgot the Victoria Falls. Even in the dry season, 10,597 cubic feet of water pour over these falls every second. And they are indeed in Africa.
This would very much depend. For example, in Angola many people are Christian and are probably very aware it’s Christmas. On the other hand, in Botswana many people practice their own regional form of religion. If they do know it’s Christmas they may well find the idea alien or even offensive.
In South Africa people will, on average, spend 12% more on Christmas presents than they did last year.
Yes, there is poverty in many African nations, but the assumption that the whole continent is the same is both ridiculous and insulting. There is a great deal of difference between, say, Egypt and Ethiopia and Equatorial Guinea. Let’s stop showing our ignorance by generalizing in such a lazy way.
