Pass the heliograph, says Geldof
More dangerous nonsense from Sir Bob:
The Register: Saint Bob Geldof blows gasket at email
Saint Sir Bob Geldof has advised delegates at a London innovation conference to ignore emails after revealing that they “get in the way of serious consideration of what you want to do”.
Geldof said that emails “give a feeling of action, which is a mistake” and revealed his masterplan for business productivity: “Don’t do e-mail.”
It must have slipped his mind that the Make Poverty History campaign, the horse that his Live8 concerts rode in on, not to mention a thousand other laudable causes, largely consist of viral marketing spread by email. Needless to say, the Live8 website, asks people to email their leaders.
“E-mails get in the way of serious consideration of what you want to do,” said Geldof. Looking at what little the mass emailing of the G8 leaders achieved, that’s not something Tony, Jacques and the rest allowed to happen when they consulted their inboxes during the G8 summit.
What should I do the next time Oxfam send me an email asking me to sign a petition or email my representatives, Bob? Bob? Can you let Oxfam know that we “don’t do e-mail” any more please. By pneumatic network or whatever other liberating method of communication it is you use to improve your business productivity.
Posted on November 16th, 2005 at 9:38 pm
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That’s a pity. I was going to email Bob with the following:
Dear Bob,
When certain NGOs informed you, in 1984, that your LiveAid money was directly responsible for the deaths of 60,000 Ethiopians transferred south on cattle tracks to consolidate the Dergue government’s power, why did you say, “In this context, those figures don’t shock me”? 60,000 deaths, Bob; rather more than the IRA managed, eh? Bob? Bob? Hellooooo?
Yours sincerely, etc. etc…
I hate that scruffy twat; really, I can’t stand him. And his music sucks an’ all.
DK
its been said before but it really is time to make geldof history
Um, he doesn’t work for Oxfam, or even for Make Poverty History, so why would he have anything to do with their use of email? What part of their specific campaign policy do you think he has influence over?
He was talking about finding emails disruptive to his day and warning of the perils of a badly phrased email. Oh. My. God. The man is clearly evil. Curse him for ever trying to do the right thing!
You seem to have missed the point, Katherine.
Geldof says email is evil when causes he is closely associated with rely on email to spread their message.
We proles are exhorted to email our betters to appeal for a better world. Geldof says email is evil.
Maybe he was just trying to be clever and “controversial” (he does do mock outrage very well) to impress his corporate clients but if I was at Oxfam or MPH or wherever and planning the latest email campaign I’d be saying “For God’s sake Geldof, pipe down.”
Bob says email is “evil”? Really? I thought he just said that it was a pain in the arse and can get in the way of trying to be productive in a typical working day. What’s so controversial about that? Even sending this post is keeping me from doing my job right now - just ask my boss.
Evil? It’s called hyperbole, mate.
Let’s face it. I wanted to have a(nother) go at Geldof because I think he’s a fevered ego put on this planet to lower the standards (c/f Bill Hicks).
I know some people think he could give them a tan by bending over but I don’t and reserve my right to say so.
So he doesn’t do emails, but he does do laying his head adoringly on Tony Blair’s shoulder…
(no I’m not going to post a link for that pic, I can’t face the nauseating sight of it)
What Baz said.
Really, if you’re going to give some a personal kicking, talk about something relevant instead of some vaguely sensible thing he said at a conference. It’s not as if he was proposing a government policy, or doing it in a press conference.
I hadn’t realised I had given him a personal kicking. Rather I criticised the utterly facile (not to mention redundant) comments he made in the public domain for which he was no doubt admirably renumerated and garnered some more publicity.
It really is amazing. I can make all sorts of comments about Tony Blair with nary a squeak but if I take a semi-serious crack at Geldof or (memorably) Chris Martin people come riding to the rescue.
It’s really not that important and I really wish I hadn’t bothered.
Bob, Bob, Bob,
Back to the bog please. Perhaps you should take your fellow saint mate Sting with you.
I’m less anti-Bob than most of the people I know. And while I’ve no intention of trying to justify his hob-knobbing with the rich and powerful, nor even defending his comments about email, I do have to take issue with Devil’s Kitchen and his comment that “his music sucks an’ all”.
Bollocks does it. Deep In The Heart of Nowhere is possibly the single most under-rated album of the 1980’s, and one of the finest debuts ever recorded (his solo debut… it was obviously post-Rats). Also, the Boomtown Rats were a decent enough band who released one truly great album (Tonic For The Troops) and a couple of very good ones.
So nyah!
Bob and Bono both have both been used and abused by Blair and Bush for ’street’ credibilty and photo ops aimed at airheaded rockers who believe their choice of pop music effects the world situation. Their bloated egos, perfectly suited for their chosen profession, Rock Stardom, don’t serve them in their self appointed role as defenders of the downtrodden and dispossessed. As a matter of fact it makes them perfect marks for the right wing sharpies. Why anyone would take anything either of them says seriously is beyond me.