The Ultimate Ego Trip Or A Genuine Case Of Charity ?

I don't know about you, but when I hear that Obama is meeting with Bono, it really pisses me off. The U.K. Prime Minister can't get access to Barack but the lead singer of U2 can ? Similarly, last month the US Pres flew all the way to Copenhagen, with er Oprah Winfrey, to unsuccessfully pitch for the Olympic Games. I wonder if Chicago would have stood a better chance if these celebs had all stayed away ? And now we have Madonna all over the news because she's donating some money to found a school in Malawi. It seems that celebrities are no longer contented to just be famous for what they do, they now all seem to have 'Gandhi' complexes too.

Of course it's churlish to criticise them isn't it ? After all they're doing it for charity and therefore that makes them bulletproof. But of course along the way, media coverage is always immense and the positive publicity generated is huge. It seems to me that a celebrity will often 'do good' just so long as a camera is watching. Now I don't mean to argue that they shouldn't donate money to charity, on the contrary, with their incomes they should probably give more than they do. But what I object to is the way that so many of them make sure we all know about it. No anonymous, behind the scenes good works here, everything has to be on the 6 o' clock news.

What pisses me off is that tens of thousands of volunteers, all over the world, give their time and often their lives to help those less fortunate than themselves. And yet it seems that some celebs want to hijack the credit those people have accrued and take it for themselves. When some pampered star goes to a developing country for a day (presumably surrounded by bodyguards) we're all supposed to think they're wonderful. Well I don't, I just think that they're on a colossal ego trip and with an eye on that new album or film that's coming out soon. If these people really wanted to help, wouldn't they just quietly donate a few millions and let the experts spend it ? Of course no doubt there are celebrities that do do that. We don't know who they are of course, and that's rather the point. But am I being harsh, overly cynical ? Views please.