TroglocratsRdumb
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Band Aid’s Festive Anthem Slammed For Its Lyrics Of “Racist And Patronising African Stereotypes”
Nearly 40 years after it topped the UK Christmas pop chart and made millions of pounds for charity, Band Aid’s charity anthem has come under fresh fire for its lyrics, which critics say perpetuate …
deadline.com
Nearly 40 years after it topped the UK Christmas pop chart and made millions of pounds for charity, Band Aid’s charity anthem has come under fresh fire for its lyrics, which critics say perpetuate racist and patronizing stereotypes of African people.
The song, Do They Know It’s Christmas? was written and recorded by dozens of the UK’s most popular pop artists in response to a devastating famine occurring in Ethiopia at the time. It sold millions, and within a year had raised £8million ($10.1million) for humanitarian relief.
But Band Aid’s lyrics have not aged well, with critics now lining up to slam what writer Indrajit Samarajiva calls “a terrible, racist song.”
He writes: “It’s not just that these lyrics haven’t aged well. They were never good at all.
“They take an ignorant and colonial attitude, more about making white people feel good than helping anyone.”
And he adds that that the song makes sweeping references to Africa, with no specific reference to the suffering in Ethiopia:
“For instance, the lyrics: ‘There won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas time. The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life.
‘Where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow. Do they know it’s Christmastime at all?”
“I mean, this is all wrong. It does snow in Africa, although not a lot.”
Meanwhile, Nigerian Igbo British writer Ije Teunissen-Oligboh has shared her discomfort of growing up in the UK at the time of the song’s release:
“The intention is a great one and should be lauded rather than criticised, but the execution was appalling and helped to perpetuate stereotypes and misinformation.
“The discomfort I felt as a child watching the single’s music video alongside my predominantly white friends in school assemblies was unnecessary and avoidable … I struggled to articulate to peers that the images they were seeing in the video weren’t an accurate representation of an entire continent.”
Do They Know It’s Christmas? Feed the World
Comment:
What can you say?
The Radical Racist Left will never be happy.
They crave victimhood.
