[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

Band Aid as a whole is just a patronising platform for Bob Geldof to get attention and to slate anyone who has the audacity to not want to stroke his ego. I'd rather donate directly to the charities and cut out the self obsessed middleman.

Yet isn't that the point of these campaigns? To draw people's attention to these causes that wouldn't receive as many donations unless this "middleman" helped publicise them?

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

Band Aid as a whole is just a patronising platform for Bob Geldof to get attention and to slate anyone who has the audacity to not want to stroke his ego. I'd rather donate directly to the charities and cut out the self obsessed middleman.

I completely agree. I literally cannot stand Geldof, and he's only getting worse over time. Also, this is what he had to say of Adele for not playing along with his little celeb circle-wank:

“Adele is doing nothing,” said Geldof at the weekend. “She’s not answering the phone… she’s not writing. She’s not recording. She doesn’t want to be bothered by anyone. She won’t pick up the phone to her manager. She’s bringing up a family, you know.”

... Yes Bob. She's raising a family. Awful, isn't it? Who does she think she is?? Maybe she should spend a little less time raising her family and a little more time inflating her own ego to the point of overblown messiah complex, until said family ends up so miserable that they end up killing themselves with a massive heroin overdose. Like a PROPER celebrity family, goshdarnit!!

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Yet isn't that the point of these campaigns? To draw people's attention to these causes that wouldn't receive as many donations unless this "middleman" helped publicise them?

Don't you find it a little patronising to have some pop stars remind people that there's a world outside your window? Before they bugger off back to their sprawling Hampstead pad or their penthouse, their limo swooping past elderly people eeking out a living, hospitals that are busy shaking tin cups for cash and homeless people living on the street, of course... but they're not quite so headline-grabbing right now. It's less Band Aid and more Band Waggon if you as me.

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I completely agree. I literally cannot stand Geldof, and he's only getting worse over time. Also, this is what he had to say of Adele for not playing along with his little celeb circle-wank:



... Yes Bob. She's raising a family. Awful, isn't it? Who does she think she is?? Maybe she should spend a little less time raising her family and a little more time inflating her own ego to the point of overblown messiah complex, until said family ends up so miserable that they end up killing themselves with a massive heroin overdose. Like a PROPER celebrity family, goshdarnit!!

Lovin' your work, TS.

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

Yes, I guess especially the 20,000 old aged UK pensioners who will die this year from being cold as they cant afford to heat their homes.

This is one of the richest countries in the world, and while the particular problem you highlight is immensely regrettable, the sad fact is, that it's the effect of many, many, causes - of which, the unequal distribution of wealth, insufficient Government action, the unfettered greed of the utility companies, and the lack of forward planning by certain of the old people in question, are just some of them.

As already pointed out by other FM's, however, some preventative, remedial, and compensatory, policies are in place to alleviate - though sadly not eradicate - the problem of OAP's struggling to stay warm in this country each Winter, and I cannot fathom how this problem has any bearing on whether people in a democracy should elect to donate to a given charity or not?

I personally respect Bob Geldorf and what he has done for charity over the years. I do not see any cynical motives in either the man's reason for continuing to capitalise on his - still valid - celebrity status to benefit good causes, nor in the re-written lyrics of the Band Aid single, and I think it's both pedantic and petty for people to find fault with either.

Spoiled, immature, selfish brat 'pop stars' receive less flak for punching press photographers and fans, wrecking hotel rooms in drug-fueled frenzies, and inciting illegal rebellion in impressionable kids, than this quiet, polite, and thoroughly decent man receives because he tries to make this sick, saddo, fecked up world, a little bit of a better place to live in.

I'm baffled.

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Livia

Don't you find it a little patronising to have some pop stars remind people that there's a world outside your window? Before they bugger off back to their sprawling Hampstead pad or their penthouse, their limo swooping past elderly people eeking out a living, hospitals that are busy shaking tin cups for cash and homeless people living on the street, of course... but they're not quite so headline-grabbing right now. It's less Band Aid and more Band Waggon if you as me.

Of course it is to some degree.

But then it's all about perspective. Me doing things to raise money for one cause and then slinking back to my comfortable life in my house with heating, food, drink, clothes, luxuries etc whilst thousands of people are sleeping on the streets is also unfair. But that's life.

I don't see it as the pop stars preaching to us, but about "us" as in everyone. I'm sure many, if not all, of these participants do their own bit for charity.

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

... Yes Bob. She's raising a family. Awful, isn't it? Who does she think she is?? Maybe she should spend a little less time raising her family and a little more time inflating her own ego to the point of overblown messiah complex, until said family ends up so miserable that they end up killing themselves with a massive heroin overdose. Like a PROPER celebrity family, goshdarnit!!

Comments taken out of context. In his TV interview he did for the news he spoke about how she wasn't even contacted by him.

It was the media twisting his words to sound like something else.

But you trying to demonise the man for his good causes whilst simultaneously coming out with that line in bold is amusing.

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by Nedusa

I feel sorry for all the poor African people who now have Ebola to contend with.

Thanks to Sir Bob as we all know his efforts in putting together the original Band Aid and then Live Aid pretty much eradicated ALL hunger and poverty in Africa.

But now with nasty Ebola on the rise there I guess he will raise enough money through this amazing single to eradicate Ebola from Africa.

Thank God for Sir Bob doing the jobs ALL Govt's simply cannot get done.

I think Sir Bob should get another Knighthood for his efforts and we can start calling him Sir Sir Bob or Sir squared Bob....maybe even offer to cut his distinguished locks.

Whatta Guy....................

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Of course it is to some degree.

But then it's all about perspective. Me doing things to raise money for one cause and then slinking back to my comfortable life in my house with heating, food, drink, clothes, luxuries etc whilst thousands of people are sleeping on the streets is also unfair. But that's life.

I don't see it as the pop stars preaching to us, but about "us" as in everyone. I'm sure many, if not all, of these participants do their own bit for charity.

Well said Marsh - all poverty and hardship is relative, unfair, but a very real fact of life.

As to the emboldened bit - when I was younger, I cynically questioned why multi-millionaire 'stars' didn't just bung in a million each from their own pockets, but as I've read more things about just this subject over the years, I know that they do give a hell of a lot to good causes - most of it in private.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I completely agree. I literally cannot stand Geldof, and he's only getting worse over time. Also, this is what he had to say of Adele for not playing along with his little celeb circle-wank:







... Yes Bob. She's raising a family. Awful, isn't it? Who does she think she is?? Maybe she should spend a little less time raising her family and a little more time inflating her own ego to the point of overblown messiah complex, until said family ends up so miserable that they end up killing themselves with a massive heroin overdose. Like a PROPER celebrity family, goshdarnit!!

Jeez what a rotten thing to say

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Of course it is to some degree.

But then it's all about perspective. Me doing things to raise money for one cause and then slinking back to my comfortable life in my house with heating, food, drink, clothes, luxuries etc whilst thousands of people are sleeping on the streets is also unfair. But that's life.

I don't see it as the pop stars preaching to us, but about "us" as in everyone. I'm sure many, if not all, of these participants do their own bit for charity.

I support several charities regularly, and I certainly don't "slink back" to my comfortable house. I'm proud of the charities I support, and if I didn't work hard I wouldn't be able to support them - most of them in the UK but not exclusively. And the UK gives billions in foreign aid. Look at what we've done for the ebola crisis already! bundles of cash in foreign aid, charitable donations, a Royal Navy ship, loads of medics, doctors and nurses... and yet every time I see Geldof he's insinuating - and sometimes just coming out and saying - that we're not doing enough. I guess it's not so much the song that gets on my pecs, it's the unrelenting self-righteousness of Saint Bob. Well, he's preaching to the converted in many cases. Make your record Bob, sell it and shut up.

[Jake.]

At the end of the day, it's raising a bit of money for a good cause. If you agree with it, buy the single.. And if you don't, donate elsewhere if you wish

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Livia

I support several charities regularly, and I certainly don't "slink back" to my comfortable house. I'm proud of the charities I support, and if I didn't work hard I wouldn't be able to support them - most of them in the UK but not exclusively. And the UK gives billions in foreign aid. Look at what we've done for the ebola crisis already! bundles of cash in foreign aid, charitable donations, a Royal Navy ship, loads of medics, doctors and nurses... and yet every time I see Geldof he's insinuating - and sometimes just coming out and saying - that we're not doing enough. I guess it's not so much the song that gets on my pecs, it's the unrelenting self-righteousness of Saint Bob. Well, he's preaching to the converted in many cases. Make your record Bob, sell it and shut up.

I do see where you're coming from. I don't see it as him insinuating that we're not doing enough, simply that more is needed. Which is something that will always be the case. No matter how much is given to charity, more will always be needed. There's always somebody/something in need.

I just think some of the reactions in this thread about a man doing his charity projects are OTT. As Jake says, you can either donate to it, or ignore it. Overall, what he's doing is more good than bad.

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

... Yes Bob. She's raising a family. Awful, isn't it? Who does she think she is?? Maybe she should spend a little less time raising her family and a little more time inflating her own ego to the point of overblown messiah complex, until said family ends up so miserable that they end up killing themselves with a massive heroin overdose. Like a PROPER celebrity family, goshdarnit!!

Come on T.S. - we can be the best parents in the world but we cannot 'police' our kids for the rest of our lives, to ensure that they only make 'good' choices once they have grown up.

Geldorf blaming himself for his daughter's drug overdose is the natural reaction of any grief-stricken parent who loses a child - 'I could have done more' 'I have failed as a parent' etc. In truth, his daughter was 25 and living her own life away from Bob, and on top of the fact that 'celebrity' lifestyles are often far-removed from those of 'ordinary' people, and crazy and decadent by comparison, is the very real fact, that to some degree, Peaches' fate was preordained because of her genetic inheritance from her mother Paula - herself a neurosis riddled, psychologically fragile, emotionally disturbed tragic character.

By all accounts Bob was not responsible for his daughter's heroin addiction, any more than he was for Paula's drug abuse, or promiscuity, and he did his utmost to try to get both to come off drugs.

I really don't think this poor guy deserves to be slated because two members of his family died so tragically, because both were linked, and both were not of his doing.

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Comments taken out of context. In his TV interview he did for the news he spoke about how she wasn't even contacted by him.

It was the media twisting his words to sound like something else.

But you trying to demonise the man for his good causes whilst simultaneously coming out with that line in bold is amusing.

I want to vomit every time I see something like that written down, slurs about what happened to his daughter brought into a debate about raising funds to fight ebola... urgh.

Nobody want's ebola to spread but are not forward thinking enough to see this as a practical solution, as said nobody is twisting anyones arm to get them to buy it are they?

[Shaun]

#TeamAdele

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Yet isn't that the point of these campaigns? To draw people's attention to these causes that wouldn't receive as many donations unless this "middleman" helped publicise them?

I don't think the Ebola epidemic needs any help when it comes to gaining attention or raising awareness, Bob's just using it as an excuse to lord it over everyone again.

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

I don't think the Ebola epidemic needs any help when it comes to gaining attention or raising awareness, Bob's just using it as an excuse to lord it over everyone again.

So every decade he feels compelled to fight for a cause to inflate his ego?

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

So every decade he feels compelled to fight for a cause to inflate his ego?

Pretty much.

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

Pretty much.

Doesn't sound that logical really does it?

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

Doesn't sound that logical really does it?

It's very logical, he's an egomaniac that's gained massive amounts of exposure through Band Aid. It's no wonder he keeps doing it.

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

It's very logical, he's an egomaniac that's gained massive amounts of exposure through Band Aid. It's no wonder he keeps doing it.

If he truly was an egomaniac there would be 1001 easier ways of gaining exposure though.

[Marsh.]

He does it for the exposure?

Proof?

If he was a fame-***** there are more immediate ways of gaining that as evidenced by the hundreds of tabloid/TV fodder the last few years.

But hey, how dare the guy try to use celebrity to raise money for positive things. Why doesn't he bugger off and spend his time partying or holidaying around the globe.

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

If he truly was an egomaniac there would be 1001 easier ways of gaining exposure though.

Millions probably but he's found his niche and he's sticking to it.

[Jake.]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Why doesn't he bugger off and spend his time partying or holidaying around the globe.

me when I'm famous