Rather than subject myself to the bi-annual hypocrisy-fest that is Red Nose Day evening TV, I thought I would post this instead.(For non-UK readers, Red Nose Day is basically a day of charity fund-raising for Comic Relief. Lots of local events take place the length and breadth of the country in workplaces, clubs, shops and so on via sponsorship and donations in order to raise money.
The BBC devote an evening to broadcasting a whole plethora of celebrities, far wealthier than you or I, who come on begging, pleading and cajoling you into donating money interspersed with heart-breaking stories of where the money is, or could be, used.)
The entire event is like a collective boil lancing procedure whereby we allow ourselves to indulge these over-paid, under-talented phonies who guilt-trip us into sticking our hands into our wallets. They get their faces associated with a good cause, we get to alleviate ourselves of some of the responsibility we should feel for our fellow humanity (we have donated to charity after all) and on Monday we can all go back to our day jobs. You know, the ones where we work for somebody else's profit.
Here are some fun figures for comparison:
Red Nose Day 2007 raised £63m
Cristiano Ronaldo's annual salary £5.76m
Simon Cowell worth £112m
Bill Gates worth £28bn
UK Defense Budget £35bn
Bernie Madoff's Ponzi Scheme £35.7bn
UK bank bail out package £964bn
What do you think is the most worthy cause on that list?
The Sisters Of Mercy - Walk Away (EP) (Merciful Release MR033T 1984)
- Walk Away
- Poison Door
- On The Wire
Walk Away - pwd: c4ctusm0uth
5 comments:
what you want? Cristiano is Portuguese
So the world is completely unbalanced - nothing new. Red Nose Day and similar events remind us that there are people who need our help. Maybe you give money (or not) to salve your conscience, but many give because they feel compassion. If anything is going to help us in this world it's compassion. Being over-cynical isn't going to help anyone unless you are also out there helping.
@ Luispink - I am a big fan of the Portugese wing wizard's, fleet-footed trickery Luis as I have supported Manchester United since I was a boy. I only included his salary for comparison (although I don't think £120k a week is justified for any footballer).
@ Anonymous - Being cynical is going to make no more, nor less, quantitative difference than Red Nose Day itself. It has been taking place for 21 years after all and the need for it grows with each passing year.
Charities will continue to exist for as long as we allow ourselves to live in a world which values wealth over humanity, profit over people, consumption over the environment and power over brotherhood.
Your comment confirms my point. People are "reminded" that they have a duty to help others so they do so for one day in the year... and then they carry on with perpetuating the system that necessitates events like Red Nose Day in the first place.
But if we can capture the compassion and use it to replace the corruption then just maybe...
Thanks to you both.
I didn't realise you were a Utd fan as well Highlander. As you were so kind eariler,I'll resist the temptation to say the words "f**r" and "o*e"
That League is yours for sure but as for the wages of Ronaldo (and all the Chelsea squad for that matter) its shocking and is only helping price out the working man from the game.
Hi Highlander, i'm only ironic about Cristiano.
It's a crime against humanity the salary of Ronaldo and also Durão Barroso for all Portuguese people
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