Refuge

I saw something very disturbing on the television today. No, it wasn't the return of 'Strictly Come Dancing', or indeed the Eastenders omnibus. It was the televised broadcast of two of the 'Live Earth' concerts.

The two crimes against music I happened to chance upon were the recidivist producers of noise (the scientific definition of which is 'unwanted sound'), the Black Eyed Peas, and the frankly abominable Snoop Dogg. Simply put, what I find so troubling about them "answering the call" is that the meagre murmuring of their words is drowned out by the deafening reality of their actions. How Snoop Dogg represents an iconic figure in the fight against climate change is beyond me, and the Black Eyed Peas' songs are, aside from 'Where Is The Love' which said nothing we don't know already, very trivial. These so-called artists' pretense that they are environmentally aware represents a blatant commercialization of an issue of colossal importance, since the artists in question will be able to flaunt their 'global awareness' as part of their brand identity. To me, this thoroughly loathsome.

I do not pretend to be perfect when it comes to climate change. However, the last thing we need now is for people chasing money to jump on a bandwagon for which there is already a surplus of empty words. Then again, if the situation is so bad that the world's politicians are resorting to Snoop Dogg to warn the rest of us of our impending doom, then we might as well give up now and let the end come, since that kind of world probably isn't worth saving.