Live 8... full of sound and fury, signifying nothing?

Mark Steyn weighs in with a blistering piece in the Telegraph.

Let's take it as read that Sir Bob and Sir Bono are exceptionally well informed and articulate on Africa's problems. Why then didn't they get the rest of the guys round for a meeting beforehand with graphs and pie charts and bullet points in bright magic markers, so that Sir Dave and Dame Madonna would understand that Africa's problem is not a lack of "aid". The tragedy of Live8 is that its message was as cobwebbed as its repertoire.

I did notice that none of the performers seemed to be onboard the "free trade and democracy for Africa!" train, but rather the "my liberal guilt is crushing me so let's give more money!" express. Capitalism good, people. Works for rock stars, why not Africa?

There's a lot of scorn to go around, too. Tim Blair has been pointing out the capitalist perks that go with being asked to perform at Live 8. I guess that Joey Ramone and Kid Rock aside, Che t-shirts and Kabbalah simply sell more albums. Where's the revolution-chic in free trade? Who's the romantic figurehead for supply side economics? Rock and roll sells the illusion of dangerous, socialist revolution to those already protected by democratic freedom. Talented performers can thrill us. But talented performers become super stars only when they wrap themselves in quasi-Marxist packaging. That's the business model now, and business is booming.