@ANGIEXCX christmas is the bomb

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@radwxrld ME TOO OMG

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@wankshire HYFR

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@michaelsmeow i was literally just thinking the same thing the other day and thank you ilysm

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this is the best comment ily

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ily2 ok thanks for making this you are the best <3

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omg you're wonderful you rock

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we should be friends ok

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yes i agree

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@camleonacho same

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christmas songs are literally the best thing anytime

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Thank you very much!

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I'm apologize, I do not mean for any of the songs on here to offend anyone, I just threw in some Christmas songs that were either classic and traditional or new, I did not in any way mean to offend you or anyone for that matter, I do not have anything against Africa and me myself am not racist so I do sincerely apologize for the offense of this song. I hope you have an amazing Christmas xx

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Don't worry one bit, the song is not "racist". In reality, the news was reporting on the famine's that swept Ethiopia, so the writers wrote a song highlighting the issue, when the band was invited to speak about their upcoming album - they instead raised publicity for this song and their efforts to raise money for the famine. Record sales for both the original song, a future concert, and two additional renditions of the song went to raise funds for famine relief.

I absolutely love your playlist and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas :)

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This is very sweet, I genuinely am very grateful for that, you also have an amazing Christmas and excellent holiday season (:

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Have you heard the lyrics to this song?

Not only do they generalize Africa as a single place, not giving the idea that Sub-Saharan Africa is a large, and diverse place, they contend that

- "And it's a world of dreaded fear"
So there are a lot of things to be afraid of in parts of Africa and certain countries, diseases and parasites, or civil and political conflict, but to say the entire continent of Africa is a world of fear? That's so wrong, it's just the problem with Western conceptions of Africa that it's all "one place", the mentality of a country not a continent.

- "The only water flowing is a bitter sting of tears"

Which is incredibly offensive to say that every single person in Africa is crying, giving the illusion also that the whole continent is devoid of any water, effected by drought and famine, which is not true and part of the generalization and stereotyping of Africa problem.

- "The christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom"

I don't think this one even needs comment..

- "Where nothing ever grows"
Are they serious? Yes, many areas in Africa have food insecurity problems or deal with famine, but to say that nothing ever grows is derogatory to all of those working in agriculture on the continent

- "No rain or rivers flow"
Again, all of Africa, even the rainforest and rivers doesn't exist according to Band Aid..

- There is snow in parts of Africa, for the record, so it is wrong when they say there won't be snow. Yes in most of the continent, over 90%, there won't be snow, but it's part of stereotyping.

And then of course, "Do they know it's Christmas time at all?" How condescending and ignorant can the band be? About 40% of Africa's population is Christian. I know this was for a concern that was to raise money for famine in Ethiopia, but even in Ethiopia, over sixty percent of the population is Christian.

It was a nice playlist, but other than that song, as I previously said.

Not to go too in depth into your comment about raising money for Ethiopia through the concert, but the famine was primarily created by government policies. And while it can be argued that Live Aid helped the famine in Ethiopia, it can also be argued that is caused as much damage as it helped with.

For example, if you want to read this Guardian Article, you can see, as any real humanitarian worker know, that throwing money at a problem doesn't always fix it:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/jun/24/g8.debtrelief

"A strong case can be made for Live Aid's achievements. According to one Ethiopia expert, Alex de Waal, the relief effort may have cut the death toll by between a quarter and a half. The problem is that it may have contributed to as many deaths. The negative effects of the NGO presence on the government side became more pronounced as the crisis went on.

Moreover, the government in Addis Ababa became increasingly adept at manipulating these Live Aid-funded NGOs. Indeed, a good case can be made that the picture provided of the Ethiopian famine was to some degree manipulated by the Dergue from the beginning.

Until shortly before Buerk and his team were given permission to report from the north of the country, where, along with Tigray and Eritrea, the famine was at its worst, the Dergue had denied access to foreign reporters. Mengistu's explanation was that he did not want reports of the disaster to upstage the 10th anniversary of his revolution. Both the Tigreans and the Eritreans had called for a ceasefire to allow for food distribution, but Mengistu rejected any truce. It was at this point that Buerk was allowed in. Hard on the heels of the Buerk report, the Dergue determined that 600,000 people would have to be moved to southwestern Ethiopia, where the government was in full control. The justification? The terrible famine whose images were now ubiquitous in the western media.

This is not to say that the Ethiopian famine was not real. It was all too real. The question, rather, is one of balancing the positive accomplishments of aid programmes against the effects of that work being exploited by government or rebel authorities. Relief agencies routinely operate in places where governments or insurgents kill their own people. Yet it is one thing to accept that NGOs can never control the environment in which they operate and quite another to participate in a great crime like the resettlement, even if the purpose of that participation is to try to mitigate its effects. The truth is that the Dergue's resettlement policy - of moving 600,000 people from the north while enforcing the "villagisation" of three million others - was at least in part a military campaign, masquerading as a humanitarian effort. And it was assisted by western aid money."

Regardless or not of whether or not Live Aid was helpful or not for the famine, and I think it was despite some of the steps the Ethiopian government took in the country to make use of the funds donated to NGOs, the song Do They Know It's Christmas?, in my opinion is racist for the stereotyping and generalizing that it does. Even if it was used for a good cause, it capitalized on the stereotypes that Westerners have about Sub Saharan Africa, and I think perpetuating those stereotypes and perceptions is really bad.

I am overly sensitive to this issue, but I do think that the words we use to frame the world, even in the use of a song matter, and I think that proper humanitarian aid and development is really important in making lasting, positive change, as good intentions aren't enough.

That being said, everyone have a great holiday season, and I hope everyone stays healthy and happy.

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I didn't mean for this to become a whole thing, it was a great playlist, but I do take issue with that song and the events surrounding it.

So happy holidays in any case! Stay safe and have fun

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