The problem with charities like that is that they fill coffers of some corrupt middleman instead of the intended recipients, and even when this doesn't happen - they disrupt functional businesses in Africa by random price-dumping so you cannot plan years ahead because westerners can just flood your market for a year with free stuff out of the blue.
All the countries that went from developing to developed - did this not because of charity, but because of globalisation and business. The only charity that seemed to help was reduction of debt and cheap money for investment.
The song isn't a problem compared to that.
And BTW most of the condescending meaning is infered by western listeners. I'd like to hear the opinion of people from Africa, because often this kind of outrage on behalf of someone is a self-fulfilling prophesy:
"I think Africa is backward, poor and unhappy and there's nothing you can do - therefore when you sing about that it's rude, because you are pointing out the thing that can't be helped, like pointing a finger at a person on a wheelchair".
But if the song was about some poor part of USA you wouldn't have that problem, because you would assume it's temporary thing that will get fixed. And even if not - all these people can just move to other state, right?
Well maybe the problem is with your assumptions? People don't usually think of themselves as a lost cause.
All the countries that went from developing to developed - did this not because of charity, but because of globalisation and business. The only charity that seemed to help was reduction of debt and cheap money for investment.
The song isn't a problem compared to that.
And BTW most of the condescending meaning is infered by western listeners. I'd like to hear the opinion of people from Africa, because often this kind of outrage on behalf of someone is a self-fulfilling prophesy:
"I think Africa is backward, poor and unhappy and there's nothing you can do - therefore when you sing about that it's rude, because you are pointing out the thing that can't be helped, like pointing a finger at a person on a wheelchair".
But if the song was about some poor part of USA you wouldn't have that problem, because you would assume it's temporary thing that will get fixed. And even if not - all these people can just move to other state, right?
Well maybe the problem is with your assumptions? People don't usually think of themselves as a lost cause.