[squinchy]

Is it just me, or is the whole celebrity charity thing an absolute farce? I'm watching sport relief right now and there are celebrities harping on about the troubles in Africa, kids dying and everything else that goes with it. They preach about how terrible, horrific and sad the whole situation is. There are even slo-mo camera shots of the celebrity in a hospital where there are very sick kids. In the shots the celebrity sheds a tear, wipes their eyes and walks away - as if to get away from the camera. What a load of horse****!

I feel extremely sympathetic towards the whole poverty/sickness/etc. situation in many parts of Africa (and around the world for that matter) and I in no way like seeing kids suffer. If I had a magic wand, I would love to make everything perfect in one fowl swoop.

However, I am a realist by nature and despite the fact that it is a terrible thing, at the end of the day, their has to be poverty and death in the world. If there wasn't and every poverty stricken sick/dying person in Africa were suddenly 100% healthy, the population of the earth would increase massively, putting an unimaginable strain on the earth's resources (food, water, etc)..as a result, economies would crash and the globe would plummet into catastrophe. [It's a similar situation if someone discovered a cure for aids...do you honestly think they would release it so the earth's population could dramatically increase?...I don't think so]

But anyway, as I was saying, these celebrities harp on and on and on about how it only takes a little to save a life and they preach to the ordinary working-class people to dip into their pockets (having already been ripped already by increasing taxes/costs and everything else that goes with it in this recession) and donate. But I wonder...the hosts of the shows: Davina McCall, Dermot O'Leary, John Bishop, the performers: snow patrol, etc...do they perform on the show for nothing? After all its for a good cause. Like **** they do. Their not giving up their time for nothing.

There are, of course, many many high-rollers out there with money that donate to charity...even the 'Gates'' have their own charity foundation. So, I do of course recognise this and commend them for it.

It begs the question though...Why doesn't every celebrity (or person on an extremely "high-life" income) donate just a snippet of their money to charity every once in a while? Surely this would make the general public's 5,6,7,8 or whatever million pound raised look like pennies.

The answer is simple, if that was to happen, there would be no red-nose day charity event or any other for that matter. So revenue would be lost. Celebrities could not promote themselves as decent caring human beings by preaching about the unneccessary suffering in the world. As mentioned, the population of the earth grows, resources drops, economies collapse...etc etc.

I would love to see some stats on this that show the number of celebrity donations and the amount donated. If you have such stats or know where to find them, please do forward me the link to it or if you have any thoughts on this, please let your voice be heard.

Cheers

Squinchy

[BrianJD]

The "celebs" give their time for nothing. This was confirmed by Gary Lineker on twitter today and there would be uproar otherwise.

I'm sure that the people involved have all given but I do think what they do by highlighting and getting everybody donating is worth much more. Would you or I watch this tonight and see what some children are living through.

[walshb]

Was watching some of that sport relief last night looking for ten sterling for a text message to save the world. Gary Lineker begging for money form British people. The guy is worth in excess of 50 million sterling. If he really cares, why not get on his blackberry and Iphone and text and text and text and text till his hearts content.

What is with celebs and the west trying to force their way of living, and their views on how folks should live on countries thousands of miles away? So, there were children working in dumps. So what? What has that got to do with these celebs? Those children have been doing that for generations, and will do in generations, so why are they interfering?

Would I like my child to be rummaging in a dump on a daily basis? No. But I live in Ireland, not Bangladesh. Different country, culture, economy, views, beliefs etc etc. Did any of these clebes even ask the people if they didn't want to do, or like doing what they were doing?

[Guy:Incognito]

Originally Posted by walshb

Was watching some of that sport relief last night looking for ten sterling for a text message to save the world. Gary Lineker begging for money form British people. The guy is worth in excess of 50 million sterling. If he really cares, why not get on his blackberry and Iphone and text and text and text and text till his hearts content.

What is with celebs and the west trying to force their way of living, and their views on how folks should live on countries thousands of miles away? So, there were children working in dumps. So what? What has that got to do with these celebs? Those children have been doing that for generations, and will do in generations, so why are they interfering?

Would I like my child to be rummaging in a dump on a daily basis? No. But I live in Ireland, not Bangladesh. Different country, culture, economy, views, beliefs etc etc. Did any of these clebes even ask the people if they didn't want to do, or like doing what they were doing?

Lineker is worth £21m according to the most recent rich list.

Do you really think he doesnt give money to charity? Pretty much all footballers do something. You just dont hear about it with all of them. Plenty prefer to give privately.

[walshb]

Originally Posted by Guy:Incognito

Lineker is worth £21m according to the most recent rich list.

Do you really think he doesnt give money to charity? Pretty much all footballers do something. You just dont hear about it with all of them. Plenty prefer to give privately.

Privately? Nice way to hide alright. Well, unless they come out and say it, verify it, then I won't be ready to belivee it. Begging off ordinary joes soaps may go down a little better if these pampered rich stars lead by example.

As for his worth. I did read a while back that he was worth 50 million. Anyway, he's very wealthy. Maybe he does give money, but how much? With 20 plus million in the bank, giving may be a little easier than if you have 20 sterling in the bank. It's all relative.

If these wealthy celebs came out and said "I gave 20 percent or 30 percent of my earnings," then I could maybe start to believe that they are genuine.

[BuffyBot]

The phrase "...that money can't buy" springs to mind.