UPDATE: This article is satire…we weren’t sure at first, but its definitely a joke!!!

by Duke

This is the weirdest thing I’ve seen in a long time.

African leaders gathered to discuss solutions to a rising crisis. No, not the rampant spread of AIDS or the impending desertification of the entire continent. Something even worse.

What will happen to U2 without Africa’s help?

uh… What?

That’s right. Commission chair Nelson Mandela (back from the dead, if you believe anything GWB said) announced an action plan to save U2 from its own “low quality” music, which has “lost touch with its African roots.” This plan includes (but is presumably not limited to) the following key points:

1) Hire African consultants to analyze U2’s “poverty of music trap”

2) Prepare a Band-owned and Commission-approved Comprehensive U2 Reform Strategy Design (CURSD)

3) Undertake a rehabilitation tour of African capitals to field-test and ground-truth proposed reforms

4) Subject all songs to randomized experiments in which the effect on wellbeing of control and treatment groups is rigorously assessed.

I thought this was a joke. There’s still a chance that this is one of those “hoax” thingies, but author William Easterly is a respected Professor of Economics at New York University and Co-Director of NYU’s Development Research Institute. He’s also editor of Aid Watch blog, Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and Co-Editor of the Journal of Development Economics. The odds against this being a joke are enough to cause even the most reckless gambler to cringe in terror.

Africa definitely has bigger problems than saving Mandela’s favorite band from themselves. Surely the time and money could be put to better use. Seriously. The people of Africa would be better served with a free K’naan concert… As would anybody.

Read the article at Aidwatch

Technorati Tags: Africa, Mandela, U2

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