I am a Christian Cider Drinker - but not downloading!!!

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 29 March 2010 09:45:22

Ok, you might have a life and not have been exposed to the current methods of "campaigning" being used by Christians and Cider Drinkers to get their point across, and raise a few quid for good causes in the process.

First off the Christians. In an attempt to get some religion back into Easter some guy has come up with the "Invade the Airwaves" and is seeking to get Delirious' History Maker to the top of the charts. Apparently this was "inspired" by Rage Against the Machine getting the Christmas number one and it seems this is a dry run to see whether it's worth putting the resources into a Christmas campaign by Christians this year. Apparently this is also the creator of the campaigns attempt to give Delirious some kind of life time achievement award as they split up. On a positive note it is going to be raising money for Compassion Art.

Second contender in the, lets use Facebook and downloading to get our point across and raise a few quid for charity, Easter extravaganza is Cider Protest who are trying to get The Wurzels "I am a Cider Drinker" to number one in protest against the 10% VAT increase the chancellor announced in the budget. The site is raising money for Sports Relief and seeking to raise awareness of the farmers who will be hit by this. The site's front page says:

"This is the official campaign against the governments 10% tax increase on cider. This 'initiative' was allegedly intended to cut down on anti social drinking and the 'Binge Britain' phenomenon.

As any vaguely rational human being can work out this is in fact punishing not just the average working man but also the great British farmers, the people that produce the luuvely stuff. The treasury didn't choose to tax foreign imported lager, high strength spirits...no that'd be inconveniant Instead our illustrious leader chose fermented apples as the great alcoholic boogie man.

At a time when our nation is in the midst of a disasterous financal meltdown you'd expect the government to be supporting British agriculture - lending a much needed helping hand to the constantly downtrodden farmers and businesses that supply this national treasure. Instead the very people he should be backing are being hung out to dry
He may ask "how do I like those apples", we would answer by chugging another sup of scrumpy and booting him firmly in his bramleys."

Me I support both campaigns but won't be engaging in the downloading. The reason, I already own both songs and whilst I appreciate the motives of both there is something that sits uneasy with me about the whole thing. I don't know whether it's because on one hand we bemoan the manipulation of the charts by Simon Cowell et al and then find ourselves doing the the same thing or what, but as I say there is something that doesn't sit well with using downloading as a campaign tool. That said my ideal this Easter would be an improbable tie in the downloading charts with both at number one. I just wonder what could be achieved if we got people motivated via Facebook or whatever to do more than just download a tune onto their playlist?

Finally on the FB/ activism front and to update on the Strawberry Fair stuff the other day it appears that there is a public meeting that's going to be happening on 10th April to discuss.  "The time of the public meeting has been changed to 3 pm, because there is a protest against the cancellation earlier in the day. It will be at the Shop, 18 Jesus Lane. Come with ideas!This is a public meeting to get information, share ideas and and if there is a common vision -- get started."

Somehow this approach of using FB and stuff to get real people together to discuss ideas and find "common vision" seems much more what it should be about.