How our children don’t need comic relief
I don’t want to pitch the schools strike for climate action against Red Nose Day as they are not in competition but there is a huge contrast between the two events that took place yesterday. That one is uncontroversial and raised £63 million nationwide and the other pitted children against those in power tells its own story.
While there is an undercurrent of satirical rebelliousness in Comic Relief its not particularly radical, nor does it fundamentally challenge power. And though £63 million is a significant sum when made up of small individual donations its a drop in the ocean when it comes to tackling even a single one of the issues that the UK alone struggles with.
Comic Relief is certainly commendable in its projects that both educate and support communities around the world and at home. The efficacy of humour to highlight truths that are otherwise difficult to assimilate is undeniable but it has its own sell be date. There are also only so many times you can contrast truth with fallacy without one becoming a parody of the other. It can seem churlish to criticize something that has only good intentions and has good outcomes but nothing we do should be immune to critique and evaluation.
What troubles me is that the message being sent out, especially to children, is that the world is…
