Let me start this blog out by saying, I think people should, VERY much help out for causes they feel strongly for. I also think it is important to educate people of these different causes to raise awareness, money, and hopefully to stop whatever the cause is advocating change for. So PLEASE do VERY MUCH donate money to help fight AID's, child soldiers, clean water, etcetc!
I did not come here to critique "Buy Life" because of what it stands for in their cause.
I think a much stronger and more urgent critique can be found in how "Buy Life" functions, and what it means that such a campaign even exists. It has been said, that America is absolutely obsessed with the lives of celebrities. For one reason or another, people are drawn to finding out about their lives like mouthes to flames.
Just how bad is this obsession that we feel we need to know every second of the goings ons of our favorite celebrity? Well, according to "Buy Life", our obsession with these "digitally dead" celebrities is bad enough for people to donate $1,000,000 (A MILLION DOLLARS) just so they can continue on with reading their favorite famous persons Twitter post.
...So let me get this straight, these celebrities are taking away peoples opportunity to keep in digital touch with their lives, and think that people need these updates SO BADLY that they as a collective fan base, will donate ONE MILLION DOLLARS to get it back?
Yup.
From a personal stand point, I find it insulting as a human being, and completely pathetic that these famous people think that people need to hear what is going on in their (the famous peoples lives), that they will donate money to a cause that--REALLY--is not even CLOSE to being the central focus of this charity.
"AID's? Yeah I heard it's bad, but I miss Lady Gaga's tweets, so I'll donate ten bucks--OMG I just have to know what she's been up to!"
Maybe the most interesting part of all of this, is that these celebrities believe that people are soo fixated on their lives, that the motivation to donate money to hear about their lives again, will be enough to raise one million dollars for HIV/AID's. So, I suppose the question is begged then, ARE people that obsessed over these peoples lives that they will feel so compelled to donate to HIV/AID's--but MOST importantly--so that they can see their favorite famous person Tweet and/or update their Facebook again.
While the intentions appear to be good, raising money for Keep a Child Alive (that's the foundation supporting this), what has become of people that they need to hear a scripted and half-assed speech from a celebrity speaking from a webcam, saying that they are going to withhold their "digital life" from you until a million dollars is donated to bring them "back to life" (oh, and ps AID's is a awful and terrible thing too)?
Are people that completely fixated on these people that they are going to donate one million dollars so they can hear back from them again? And if they are, what does that say about our culture? Why can't people use their own minds and see that they already SHOULD be donating to charity's--WITHOUT these "prizes" and half-assed incentives that can't even begin to do the urgency of the cause justice?
I feel like the proper reaction to the "Digital Death" campaign should be the following: "Of COURSE I will donate some money to HIV/AID's instead of eating out tonight, instead of going to a movie tonight, instead of going to the bars tonight, but I REFUSE to do it through this campaign. I could careless about the goings on in these celebrities lives and I find it insulting that they think myself and the world I live in is so obsessed with them that I would actually give that egotistical insensitive the time of day."
I am sure that people think that by using celebrities, their cause will gain more credibility. Whenever I see a cause using a famous person though, I almost automatically lose interest in the cause because suddenly the cause is less about what they are trying to help, and more about the person trying to help it. When people like Brad Pitt go to Africa to help with what-have-you, People Magazine is not covering the good works they did, they are covering: "did they enjoyed their time there? did they sleep with anyone there? was Angelina with him?"
I believe that campaigns such as those and "Digital Death" are starting at the wrong point. I don't believe people will ever truly care about any of these causes if the only reason they are interested in it is because their famous person tells them they should donate money.
We need to somehow find a way to chip at America's growing apathy for problems that are not their own/problems they are disconnected with--and truly reignite a sense of compassion. And compassion is started within someone's soul by being truly moved by an almost religious experience--NOT being moved because Justin Timberlake wants you to donate money based off the scripted and half-assed speech he gave into a web cam.
If you want people to care, you need to spark compassion in them, not fuel the celebrity obsessed culture we have.
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