Band-Aid: Christmas and the Hypocrisy of Hollywood

Remember when at least the hypocrites of Hollywood still at least encouraged prayer? Yes, hard to imagine, I know. They actually really did.
No, I don’t think they even believed what they were saying…even then…and if they did, they did, their logic was SO flawed, well, it’s terrifying that these people.could be of cultural influence.
I remember as a young, innocent, optimist how cool I thought Band-Aid was. I remember how inspired I felt every time I listened to Do They Know it’s Christmas?
Those, of course, were the days of Apartheid. Apartwho? Exactly. The *fight against Apartheid* was little more than a convenient political feel-good project aimed at indoctrinating the youth of the 80s for future political purposes. The *famine* in Ethiopia continues. And by definition, it was not a *famine*.
Now, in my older, wiser years, as the rosy glasses have come off, I can see just how stupid, insulting, and self-serving that little jingle really is.

(just to note: none of the *featured artists* for this little ditty were of African decent…nor were they black Americans…just another little note on hypocrisy by today’s standards…)

Let’s take a look at the grammatically, logically, and historically challenged lyrics of this who’s who collaboration of the 1980s:

Do They Know it’s Christmas? (Feed the World)- 1984:

Paul Young: It’s Christmas time, there’s no need to be afraid. At christmastime,
Big “C”, little “c”…take your pick…then decide if it is one word or two.

we let in light and we banish shade.
Wrong, enviornmentalists encourage minimal use of electricity…oh, wait! That’s not literal? My bad. It’s still wrong. In this society, we banish everything and everything that could be meaningful to one person for the sake that it might not *offend* another.

Boy George: And in our world of plenty, we can spread a smile of joy!
Okay, I agree with that

Throw your arms around the world at christmas time.
Huh? Christians barely have the ability to celebrate Christmas without persecution…and just about anyone or any business who dares to say “Merry Christmas” is sued. This assumption is rejected as status quo dictates we keep to ourselves.

(Phil Collins on the drums)

George Micheal: But say a prayer-
WHAT!!??!?!?!?

pray for the other ones.
ZOMG! He says it twice! Again, WHAT!!??!?!?!?!?

At christmas time,

Simon Le Bon: it’s hard,
“It’s hard? What’s hard? It’s hard to pray? Actually, it’s not…unless you dare utter a sound while doing so…then yes, it is heard to pray with people screaming in your ear about how your prayer offends their spiritual immaturity.

but when you’re having fun,
Fun is not allowed…just sayin!

there’s a world outside your window
Not just in Africa, and it does include the United States of America too…we also have the poor, the starving, the unemployed here that need help here too!

Sting and Simon Le Bon: And it’s a world of dreaded fear,
Yep, the whole world experiences that.

where the only water flowing is a bitter sting of tears
I think this would have been better written as “stream”…that being said, I am willing to concede that this was pertinent to the time it was written and not inclusive of the millions of wells that have been built around the world by Christian organizations and churches since this song was authored.

and the christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom:
Wrong again. Anything of fear is not of God.

Bono: Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.
*Sigh*, this is getting old…forgive me, I guess I just have to resolve myself to the fact that this is an athiest writing a “cHRiSt-?-mAS” song…or is it a “Christian” with no clue about who God is or how He really works? NEVER rejoice in the struggles of others, but lift them up in prayer.

And there won’t be snow in Africa this christmas time.
Ironic…this was in the day and age of *Global Cooling*. Yes, “Global Cooling”!!!

The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life,
Okay, hold it right here for a second. This was the statement that initially caught my attention: LIFE is the greatest gift any of us will ever get…and minute of any hour of any day of any week of any year. Life is the greatest gift we will ever get! We were never promised tomorrow. I’ll go one further: The entire point of the Christian celebration of Christmas is not about trees, or material items, or feasts, or bells, or stockings, it snow…it’s not about the date of December 25… It is about celebrating the Gift God gave to those of us who do believe in Him. That gift was God-incarnate, Jesus. And the celebration of Christmas is the celebration of the Gift of the birth of Jesus.
Interestingly, the “Christmas” acceptable here in America seems to be the secular celebration of a big fat man (who obviously doesn’t do yoga and cares nothing of his health) who magically flies around the sky via reindeer (okay, let’s teach our kids that lying is okay, if it is for a *good enough* reason, lavishing undeserved gifts on punk-nosed snots (admit it, you know who I am talking about), and spending money you can not afford to prove your love…which, by the way makes it impossible to achieve the one thing God and Band-Aid have in common here: charity. Of course, according to Band-Aid, charity is solely limited to Africa, and not your fellow brother or sister who us in need.

Okay, let’s finish this up…

Where nothing ever grows,
Assumption rejected. Plenty grows in Africa.

no rain or rivers flow
Again, assumption rejected. There are rivers in Africa, and it does rain there too…

Do they know it’s christmas time at all?
Possibly not. Has the Bible been shared with them? Gave they been introduced to Christianity?…you know, hence Christmas?
I mean, honestly, if the answer is “No”, then what is the point of this song, really? How could they possibly understand the motive behind and offering they know nothing about?
More importantly, why in the world would you do something under such false pretended, if you reject Christ?
Do people really not see the fallacy in this? It’s totally ignorant, really.

Here’s to you, raise your glass for everyone.
Ah, here we get into the Hollywood mindset…Everything is a celebration! Let us pat ourselves on the back for a job well done! *Insert occasion for celebration here* And actually,.if you watch the video today, you will not only see that, yes, these people did at one time have a full head of hair, but they really DO enjoy patting each other on the back for a job well done, than they enjoyed the actual making of this.

Here’s to them,
Snide and self-serving.

underneath that burning sun.
Again, Global Cooling. Had they no hope?

Do they know it’s christmas time at all?
See above.

Feed the world
Feed the world
Feed the world
A statistical impossibility.

Let them know it’s christmas time and
Feed the world.
And it just becomes redudndant from here…

Let them know it’s christmas time
and
Feed the world Let them know it’s christmas time
and
Feed the world Let them know it’s christmas time
and
Feed the world Let them know it’s christmas time
and
Feed the world
Let them know it’s christmas time
Drumroll for the most logical illogical lyrics of the entire song:
I hope you like this song even though it’s not Christmas.
Yep.