I remember holing up in someone's Manhattan apartment 20 years ago to watch Live Aid (no cable TV into Brooklyn in those days). As a kid, it was great fun -- but even then I was a little skeptical about the humanitarian aspect: how much money would be left after expenses for actual charitable work, and then the question of whether anyone would know how to spend those funds to actually have a lasting impact.

My cynicism was vague back then; today, it is much crisper. I am tempted to criticize Live 8 as just another festival of celebrity self-love, but that would mean denouncing the vast bulk of populat culture (okay, I've done that). But there's a greater beef: we hear a lot about the need for more aid money and more debt relief for African nations. But I've not heard anything about lowering protectionist trade restrictions, or the need to depose any of the corrupt and brutal regimes that keep so many Africans in poverty and despair.

Yeah, we all love music. Boogie woogie, hey hey. Boogie woogie, hey hey. But in the simplistic rhetoric spewed between songs, who do you think will receive the most moral condenmation? George Bush or Robert Mugabe? Hey, maybe Bono will suprise me.

UPDATE: There does appear to be a nod toward something called "Trade Jutice" in the promo literature. The fine print reads more like a prescription for a command economy; the anti-globalization folks are more anti-reality than anything else.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More support for my position at Samizdata. And from Powerline.