Charity as a Trend: Sucks

Man, those trendies sure know how to hijack just about everything in our pop culture and society, don’t they? Stars have been interested in charitable efforts for a long time. Remember Live Aid? But now that we have all these glossy rags for stars to show us about their dumb, culturally-empty lives even more, it seems like there has been growth in the trend of being charitable, to the point where it’s become a social issue. Piously, self-satisfyingly charitable. These stars with their photo-ops with African babies, bringing mosquito netting and their day-glo smiles. Barforama. We’ve seen pictures of Jessica Simpson posed with starving kids. Paris Hilton holding hands with people who own exactly one T-shirt. To me, as soon as a charitable effort becomes a photo-op, it ceases to be charitable. It just becomes so much more cultural noise that veils what’s really going on: that these people really are starving and falling victim to diseases that we take for granted as archaic and 100% curable. Oprah’s school in South America. Ok, great. That’s awesome. Those girls begged for a school, and it’s absolutely awesome that they get to go to one. But why did Oprah have to make a 2-hour TV special out of it? Whom did that help, exactly? Could it have been, oh – I don’t know, Oprah’s own ego? No! That’s blasphemy right there, right? I’ve gotten a lot of flack for this particular countercultural attitude of mine, because a lot of people feel like charity work is still charitable no matter what. But I just can’t seem to feel good about Jessica Simpson saying she’s trying to help the world. Not while she goes to Africa while simultaneously launching her line of hair extensions. Sorry. It just doesn’t add up to me. Sometimes charity is done for the recipient, and sometimes it’s done for the one being charitable. And to me, there is a world of difference. I do believe in karma and the yin and yang of life, and photo-op charity just feels like it throws all that out of whack. Just my two cents o’ social issue commentary on my little web talk show here. Please donate yours here. You could just save another commenter’s life. They might even send you a picture!