it's late and i'm still up

I hope I can get up for my morning student conferences....

curmudgeonly

Tonight's American Idol results show is also a benefit concert type thing. They keep saying essentially, "Please, sir, won't you please think of the poor orphans in Africa?" I roll my eyes. I suppose if the show reaches people who don't think of themselves as connected to poverty, as having any influence on the world around them, then great. But it's also a bit sad to see the kind of charity event this is, the trotting out of some minor celebrities and singers, and to see that their efforts are to contribute money to these tiny programs that will likely have some great benefits for only a very limited group of people. And while any help to people in need is great, it hardly seems like charity is going to solve these issues of poverty in Africa and in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast area. Can't people think bigger and do more to change the conditions of poverty?