Hi everyone, this will be the last post for this year. I’ll be back on January 6th.
My older son, Viet, loves holiday music, and often asks for it to be played when I drive the kids to various places. The kids would ask me various questions about the songs, and I try my best to answer: “Yes, The Little Drummer Boy, too, is an indictment of capitalism and US hegemony.”
The other day, a song came on I hadn’t heard in a while. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by a group called Band Aid, which was an effort by several super stars—George Michael, Boy George, Sting, Bono, and the like—to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia and other African countries. Here are some of the lyrics:
But say a prayer
Pray for the other ones
At Christmastime
It’s hard, but when you’re having fun
There’s a world outside your window
And it’s a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing
Is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there
Are the clanging chimes of doom
Well, tonight, thank God it’s them
Instead of you
And there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmastime
The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life (Oh)
Where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow
Do they know it’s Christmastime at all? (Oh)
Here’s to you, raise a glass for everyone
Here’s to them underneath that burning sun
Do they know it’s Christmastime at all?
Yikes. The fact that they still play this song today on the radio is embarrassing, considering the blatant poverty porn combined with the white saviorism of the whole thing. (Also, the line “the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears” contradicts Toto’s “Africa,” which expressly mentions the “rains down in Africa.”)
“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” was released in 1984, so 41 years ago. Poverty porn, othering, and white saviorism continue to plague our sector. Just a couple of years ago I was arguing with a colleague over whether it was ok to depict sad, starving children in annual appeals. “If it works to raise money,” she said, “then why not?”
However, these things are not always so obvious. Over the past several decades they have changed in how they manifest. As our culture and technology evolve, we need to be on the lookout. For instance:
Influencers are doing charitable work to generate likes and subscriptions and brainwashing a whole new generation of kids. I had to have a discussion with my 9-year-old on the complexity around his favorite Youtuber giving money to help poor people with critical surgeries and racking up views. He thought it was great and didn’t consider the systemic inequities around our healthcare system.
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Read full article here.
