Can we now finally get rid of 'Do they know it's Christmas'?

[Tokenminority]

This song drives me absolutely up the wall. It's patronising, reductive, and it completely harms efforts towards equality.

I understand the focus on equal opportunities and stopping police brutality, but other narratives, such as the pictures painted in the 'Do they know it's Christmas' song, can be just as harmful.

'Africa' is not a country. You did not go on holiday to 'Africa', similarly to how you wouldn't have sent that you went on holiday to 'Europe' when you in fact went to France.

Of course there are major problems surrounding poverty on the African continent, just as there are in other places, but African countries are not only filled with begging, malnourished children who have never seen a Christmas present.

The picture attached is a photograph of Lagos. If I went on the street and asked random people on which continent that photo was taken, would anyone even consider the possibility that it may have been Africa?

How on earth does it 'harm efforts towards equality'?

One of the more absurd things I have read.

@missyB1

If we are going to “get rid” of every song that ever offended anyone there will be very little music left in the world! And I certainly wouldn’t be starting with this particular song anyway! I wonder if those who are whining about it have ever raised the amount of money that this song has for charity?

This x a million.

Born in the USA,
Ebony and Ivory
Smack my b!tch up
I wanna dance with somebody
Like a Virgin

Shall I go on......

The song was in response to the famine in Ethiopia in the 80s, but it has dated badly, I agree. (It’s been updated a couple of times, as a side note, but newer versions are still cringey).

I agree with you on the images of the continent of Africa that we receive in Europe being all about famine, war and Boko bloody Haram. Never any depiction of big modern cities like Lagos or Abuja or Accra, or nuanced news stories about...well...anything of interest in that huge, diverse continent.

When I was a kid in the late 70s/early 80s, my Irish granny used to say ‘eat up your dinner, there are children starving in Africa who’d appreciate that food!’...and that attitude of ‘all the poor black babies’ in ‘Africa’ (no mention of which country) seems to still be with us in the West. Simplistic, patronising and a bit thick, really.

my daughter loves this song - but like most young people she doesn't really associate it with charity, just Christmas

What's wrong with "I wanna dance with somebody"

The song was to raise money for a famine-struck area of Africa and we had all seen the Michael Buerk reports on TV of starving children scrabbling about in the dust. Nobody ever suggested it was a song about Africa in general. You really think that when Ure and Geldof wrote “where nothing ever grows, no rain or river flows” that they had forgotten about cocoa, coffee, the Zambezi, the S African vineyards, the rainforests? They were referring to that specific part of Africa that was experiencing a famine, at that particular time.

As for “Do they know it’s Christmas?” and “tonight thank God it’s them instead of you”, people are misunderstanding the tone of these lyrics. The lyricists and singers did not think that the famine-struck Ethiopians would be fascinated to know it was holly and tinsel time in the U.K.- the point was that a huge part of the world was celebrating, spending money, eating huge meals while another part of it was starving. It was to highlight the fact that the prosperity and security we experienced was not shared by these people living in life-threatening situations, to drive home the differences in their lives from ours. Their experience was so far removed from ours that the joy and fun of Christmas was not remotely on their radar. They were not suggesting that the Morecombe and Wise Christmas special and some cracker jokes might cheer them up, and certainly not suggesting that Christianity would make it all better.

And “tonight thank God it’s them instead of you”- it’s sarcastic, can you not hear that in Bono’s voice? He is putting words into the mouths of selfish Westerners who turn a blind eye to the suffering and don’t put their hands in their pockets because they are not affected- the “I’m alright Joe, phew, glad that’s not us, brigade”

@Serin

Well tonight, thank God its them, instead of you.

I know! I love Bono, but come on, what kind of self centred jerk gets on their knees and prays "Oh Lord, it's terrible about the famine in Ethiopia but at least I'm alright Jack!"

I Wanna Dance with Somebody is offensive? What?

This has reminded me that I was had a conversation/arguement with a work colleague because he thought Africa was split into South Africa and North Africa. 🤦

I was just about to ask what is offensive about It want to dance with somebody’?!

Trouble is, "and there won;t be snow in Ethiopia this Christmas" just doesn't scan...!

Well, no, we don't say we are going to Europe when we go to France because the UK technically is an island off Europe- we are a European nation!

I guess 'wanna' is offensive to grammarians...

Sadly with global warming there’s a lot less snow on Kili - the glacier’s shrinking. But yeah that’s not what the song is about. And asking if the Ethiopian church knows it’s Christmas is pretty fucking tone-deaf too.

@Orchidflower1 Born in the USA is not a patriotic song it is an ironic song about all that is wrong with America.

There are a lot of people here who clearly didn’t pay much attention in English lit at school.

Doublehalo, nobody said that. Not even close.

And that is EXACTLY WHAT BONO WAS SAYING @imstillbreathingbarely.

Not the best quality. But this is the news report that inspired the song.

Yeah, that song grates on me, it is so patronising. What's more, what if these people they are singing about are not Christians and are not interested in celebrating Christmas/Christmas day? It never occurred to the song writers/singers, did it? It's symbolises to me, Christian, first world superiority. As if every country/continent is missing out by not celebrating a religious Christian observance.

Sadly with global warming there’s a lot less snow on Kili - the glacier’s shrinking.

I left that bit out for simplicity but you obviously know my husband 😂

@ChristmasCarcass

Sadly with global warming there’s a lot less snow on Kili - the glacier’s shrinking. But yeah that’s not what the song is about. And asking if the Ethiopian church knows it’s Christmas is pretty fucking tone-deaf too.

I doubt very much that Bob Geldof was I aware of the Ethiopian Coptic Christian church. Christmas is a metaphor in this song and was used to represent the joy/goodwill/prosperity of the U.K. compared to the struggles of the region in Ethiopia suffering the famine.

• Unaware

I need to know what's wrong with I wanna dance with somebody

Agreed. It’s an absolutely ridiculous, air-headed song.

As if anyone in Africa at Christmas wishes they were in the fucking UK. AS IF.

@Timekeeper1

Yeah, that song grates on me, it is so patronising. What's more, what if these people they are singing about are not Christians and are not interested in celebrating Christmas/Christmas day? It never occurred to the song writers/singers, did it? It's symbolises to me, Christian, first world superiority. As if every country/continent is missing out by not celebrating a religious Christian observance.

Please do yourself a favour and try not to take everything you read or hear so literally.

@Al1Langdownthecleghole still think that is one of the most powerful pieces of news reporting I've ever seen.