The New “We Are the World” song. Haiti Version.
Sequels are hard to pull off, especially when the original was such an overwhelming success. I write this with hesitation as I know how much work Lionel Richie must have put forth (not to mention how many gigantic egos to juggle) in order to produce the new video. Watching it, however, brings about a glaringly different perspective. Not sure if it’s a sad commentary on the music scene of today, or just the fact that I relate to a different generation musically speaking. I’d like to think I am somewhat objective to the matter as well.
The piece is called “Artists for Haiti” and that’s where the first incongruence starts. If you’re going to have a title that begins with “Artists,” then why are you throwing random bubble-gum puppets who can’t write a song, compose music, or play an instrument? To compound this, you have the inevitable issue that it will undoubtedly be compared to the original.
And yes, there is an original. It featured some of the greatest musicians who appealed to a cross-over of generations with careers spanning several decades. Basically, a group that was comprised of legends in Rock and Roll, R &B, Pop, and Country.
A list that featured , Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, and Bob Dylan from the Singer Songwriter Category. Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, and Lionel Richie from the R&B, Michael Jackson (the King of Pop back then), Kenny Rogers & Willie Nelson from Country. They even threw Steve Perry of Journey for his unique vocal talents. (The list goes on… )
Watching the new version brings about mixed emotions. On the one hand, you have your wallet out to help the people of Haiti. On the other hand, after watching the new video, you’re tempted to put your wallet back in your pocket.
It sort of reminds you of the NBA “Dream Team” in 1992. It was called the Dream Team because it would be a dream to see Magic, Bird, and Jordan play together. Then they decided to piggyback off of the original Dream-Team to use the marketing angle to sell future “Dream Teams.”
Future “Dream Teams” resembled more of a nightmare consisting of ball-hogging, vastly overpaid, self-absorbed players contributing to the debacle that was the U.S. Team that lost to Greece a few years ago. After losing to that Greek team without any recognizable players, they learned their lesson. Now, they just call it “US Men’s basketball.”
Same scenario here. Why not just write a NEW Song for Haiti? Something completely different and unique onto its own? It wouldn’t be compared to the original, and it’d present even more of the flavor of the people in the current video. At that point, you could try and suspend your disbelief to think that this current cast actually cares. You may even get over the Michael Jackson flashback that is solely put in there to appeal to your sense of nostalgia and create hysteria.
You have to ask the intriguing question: If Michael Jackson hadn’t died last year, would the current alive version of Michael Jackson have been asked to be in this? Well, something to ponder.
I suppose if you had never seen the original, or if you’re unfamiliar with Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, The Boss (Bruce), Billy Joel, and Paul Simon, then the new version will suit you fine. If you’re familiar, then that feeling you have in the pit of your stomach, it’s also known as nausea.
Misguided or not, it’s my belief that generally artists are compassionate and empathetic people. Therefore, I do believe that the original cast did care to make a difference. Some members of the new cast look like people who were told by their teams of advisors this’d be a good photo opportunity.
The new version contains some artists but it also contains a whole bunch of questionable people that shake up your bullshit detector harder than the earthquake which shook Haiti. Your reaction well may be: “Seriously? You’re kidding me, right? These are the pretentious people trying to convince me to donate money? The ones who’d ask their manager or a member of their entourage to throw a trench coat over a Haitian if they actually saw one?”
“Hey! He was looking at me in a creepy way…….” And really, who wants a homeless starving Haitian staring at you when you’re snorting fine grade cocaine? Total Buzz-kill.
Anyhow, if you’re musically inclined and can appreciate more than what’s just popular at the given moment, you can compare and contrast the two videos for yourself.
The Original Video Meant to Raise Awareness for Africa:
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Below is the New Version Designed to Raise awareness in case you just came out of a Coma. (Warning: May entice you to go back into your coma)
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I clearly realize the good intentions of wanting to help the people of Haiti. What baffles me is the timing and the context. In the 80s, music legends got together to raise awareness for the crisis in Africa.
Do we need more awareness about the Haiti crisis? Who doesn’t know about the Earthquake that hit Haiti recently? Is there anyone out there in United States or other Industrialized Nations who really doesn’t know about what happened?
As for me, I donated a small amount when the original Television fund-raising program aired over a month ago. Maybe I’m a sucker. Given that Haiti has one of the most corrupt governments in the galaxy, you wonder how much of the money donated by Americans actually reaches the people of Haiti? 10 cents out of a Dollar?
Wow dude. A lot of your previous article has a lot of value, either educational like the clubs article or entertainment value like the guru epidemic article.
This article is just plain absolutely useless mental masturbation. I saw better article on xxx.com forum on regular basis than this.
Brian,
OK, I gotta apologize. Apparently, somehow, I gave you the impression I care about your opinion.
You’re more than welcome to go and read other blogs and such. In fact, I’d prefer that too! Seriously.
LOL, funny conversation, Cameron that was a very socially adept response….. “Avaricious little trolls.” haha….
Wow, reading these 4 comments is pure gold!
Seriosly, Cameron, if you take a step back and breathe, you will see it.
Let me start and try to deconstruct it the way you would do this (in more easy English, it’s a foreign language for me):
Step 1: reader makes a provoking post
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That’s nothing new, he did it before. He is in the frame “I am your teacher, you are my child”. Message “your article is useless”. Its clear over the top and insulting. Every other reader will realise this. And hey, this is real life, not every one is friendly and fair, so this is not a big deal, right? And the insult is well delivered in 6 lines.
Step 2: Cameron answers
———————–
You delivered a great punch line: apologizing because “…somehow I gave the impression I care about your opinion…”. Great back-firing. Haha. I was laughing out loud. 4 lines of text. Short and sweet.
With a big smile on the face I wait for the reply, and – of course – our beloved reader deliveres:
Step 3: reader starts large-scale attack
—————————————-
Its absolutely clear for me that Brian is in this self-help stuff for long time and has read a lot about alpha, reframing, nlp and stuff. He is looking for a weak point in his opponent. He is not sure what it is, so he “fires broadside”. These are the things he is addressing in his attack:
– your personal development is weak
– you have ego problems
– nobody cares about you
– you are not worth that someone cares about you
– people ignore you
– you are not successful
– you need to work hard to remain somewhat successful
– you are not listening to feedback
That’s a great combination, he hopes something is clicking inside of you. Its not that smart to figure these reproaches (?) out, they are more or less genuine to every person doing what you are doing – like saying “you are addicted to attention” to an actor.
Step 4: Cameron losing his cool
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Now your reply is completly wrong if you ask me. The situation is absolutely clear: someone wants to insult you. But this is your blog, your party, your house, you have more value here than anyone who comments. You can post what you want. And, quoting Tyler: “who reacts more, has less value”
So there are only 2 reactions possible if you ask me:
1. say absolutely nothing
2. write 1 sentence and tell him you will never react again
Every other reaction only tells him and anyone who reads this that he touched some self doubts inside of you. Why in the world you feel the need to explain anything to him?
The reason this is touching me so strong is that I see here the general problem with this self-help stuff: I read stuff like “just approach “a perfect 10”, and if she gives you a dismissive look, don´t be affected at all.”
Of course I understand this, problem is: I am a human being. I have insecurities, a lot, as almost any other human being on this planet. I am affected by a reaction like this.
Look, you do this stuff for so long – and you react to a random idiot from the internet who post anonymus insults on your blog. How can I not react if I stand in real life in front of a women and she tells me to f**k off?
I hope you get what I want to say. It is not about you, it is about that we are only humans, and it is so difficult to really integrate all this stuff in our personality.
Maybe you consider to make a blog post about this. Again, don´t worry – you getting tons of sympathy here – “after all, Cameron is human”, is a great message ;)
Best,
Matt
Jerry, yeah, we had a sewer rat problem. (Or avaricious little troll problem.) Had to flush him out.
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Matt,
Your observations are spot on dude. There is one part of the story you’re unaware of: I’ve met the dude in real life. Sinn was in LA & we were at some bar. He came up to talk to Sinn who wanted nothing to do with him.
In real life, he is just your typical social misfit standing in the corner. On the Internet, of course, he knows everything about everything. Just kinda annoying.
You wrote:
This is an excellent point. I have a couple off blog posts on this issue as they relate to sending SMS texts to girls. Ultimately, people have different personalities, and how your conduct yourself has to be congruent with your personality. (extravert, introvert, more emotional/less emotional, etc…). It’s why so many fail with cocky/funny as well.
Good points again,
Cameron
Cameron,
after my post i was really thinking about this, and I made a breakthrough in my thought-process! Maybe this is interesting for you or someone else, too:
Key was the answer to this question I asked myself:
Why I think it is absolutely absurd that you react emotionally to an idiot on your blog the way you did, and why would you think it is absurd that I react negative to a female behaviour in an approach?
I guarantee you that I can not feel any kind of bad emotions if someone throws anything on a screen to me. It only can be positv, neutral or I forget it in less than a second.
To understand this you need to know that I own an internet company. We are running a Top100 website in our country. On our forums, we have around 15.000 posts *every day*. Around 1% of the post are from Brian´s brothers and sisters and have to be deleted manually. Of course I have employees doing that, but I have seen really everything.
When I hire staff, I tell them that they have to be 100% non-reactive to what they read on their screen. Just press delete. If you would take that job – hey we pay 8,5$/ hour and free coffee, hahaha – you would have to deal with 5 Brians *every hour*. I you would sit through the first days, the first 100 Brians would be a little annoying, and you would think about it or wanted to talk about it. But then, you would forget everything you deleted immediately.
So if it comes to women, it is the other way round: Like you reading only a couple of comments and meet an internet troll in your blog from time to time, I approach far to little, so I invest to much time thinking before and after. You made thousands of approaches, so of course it is easy to be non-reactive, it is like me seeing pixels on the screen.
Of course this is obvious and written everywhere. But now I really get it. I need the high numbers of approaches to change my mindset / behavior pattern.
So a big honest “thank you” to you, Brian!
;)
Best,
Matt
Hey Matt,
Good comparison. You’re talking about a desensitization that takes place from repeated exposure.
With the girl situation, I’d take it one step further. Not only approaching more women, but also spending more TIME with women will help. I wrote about this in an older article. (Can’t remember which one at the moment.)
Having a few female friends also helps men get accustomed to female company and establishes the comfort level that comes from having spent actual time with real women.
On a side note: It seems the Haiti situation or the pretentious “Artists” in the new video aren’t really that noteworthy to most folk. Tiger Woods’ fiasco of a press-conference seemed to have received more attention. LOL
I enjoy the song Canadian artists did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB7L1BIDELc
It also became the song for the World Cup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTJSt4wP2ME
found your site on bing and was just what i was looking for, keep it up :-)