Thank you, Bono, for researching the issues surrounding your cause and sounding intelligent when you talk about it.
Thank you, Bono, for being willing to do the dirty work of lobbying politicians of ALL ideological stripes (how many of you know he struck up an unlikely relationship with Jesse Helms concerning aid to Africa?).
Thank you for NOT being a typical celebrity activist (a fatuous, sanctimonious blowhard who must enlighten the grateful masses with their beneficence)
Thank you for NOT shitting on middle America (or America itself) and saying Africa’s plight is all our fault.
Thank you for actually giving a shit instead of pretending to give a shit to make yourself look better.
Thank you for framing your cause not only as a moral imperative (which I believe it is) but as necessary to improving our security.
Bono - this is a celebrity activist we can all respect.
Bozo isn’t even on my radar as a musician, U2’s “music” sucks ass! and the Fudge is my nominee for lamest guitar player ever (David Rhodes kicks the Fudge’s ass on “shaking the tree” and he does it with the only lick the Fudge knows). but do not despair, there are some great Irish musicians, listen to a Thin Lizzy record.
I’m with Muldoon. Sheesh. Let’s not talk about the post or anything.
Bono has my respect too. I’m not a huge U2 fan, but he’s really trying to do some good with the immense amount of wealth and good fortune he has. Good for him.
I rarely agree with Bono politically, but unlike may celebs who hop on the bandwagons of trendy causes, he’s always struck me as a genuinely decent guy who actually cares about the issues he deals with. And to his credit, he recognizes his own limitations. He doesn’t try to present himself as a saint or as an intellectual or an authority on all the world’s problems. He’s just recognizes that, given his celebrity, he has some small power to effect change, and he’s trying to do some good with it.
I like U2’s music, but I’m not a devoted fan that’s for sure. What I like about Bono as a person is that you can see the hope and care in his eyes that says he isn’t doing this to sell records. I think he hit a low point when he did the 9/11 tribute at a football game, with the blantent flag waving, and lack of anything worthwile to say. Other than that though he has always done things out of his heart and put his message out there.
He managed to sound relatively intelligent if not slightly patronizing about appealing to our sense of the noble. Didn’t he used to get railed for his activism in the past? Has he matured or did he just get a bad rap?
That’s absolutely amazing that the article didn’t mention DATA, the organization that Bono has attached himself to. He did a quick winter tour with Ashley Judd, Chris Rock, Ashley’s racecar husband, a DATA doctor, an African youth choir and an African mother with AIDS. It was one of the most memorable evenings I’ve ever had.
I’d highly recommend anyone interested by what Bono has said to click that link I posted. They send me e-mails every month or so - I just got one yesterday urging me to call the White House/Capital Hill to remind them an AIDS bill was coming up, and that the President had pledged his support behind it in the SOTUS, but is reneging on it.
I clicked on your link and it didn’t work; is it me or the link?
I’m a huge U2 fan so what I say is probably going to be slightly biased. I felt the Superbowl performance was pitch perfect, embracing grief, mourning, remembrance, and the joy of just being alive. My only gripe was that something was off with the music and the names scrolling down the screen.
Ever since at least The Joshua Tree and maybe The Unforgettable Fire (a reference to an exhibit of artwork produced by the hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima), U2’s included in their album notes addresses for Amnesty International and brief details on political prisoners and prisoners of conscience who they felt might benefit from a letter-writing campaign. Their lyrics–written largely by Bono–have always been politically charged and socially conscious. I didn’t know who “The Mothers of the Disappeared” were until I heard that song and did some reading on the desaparacido; “Pride” got me reading about Martin Luther King and race relations in America; and gosh, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” is one of the most powerful protest songs I’ve ever heard. I even joined Amnesty International when I was a young teenager based on my love for U2’s music and lyrics. Bono provides a fine example of how it’s possible for an artist to embrace politics and actually effect change in the world, to reach people through both music and activism.
I remember eons ago when Sinead O’Connor made such an ass of herself over the Grammy Awards some guy called into the rock station I listened to in an attempt to defend her. The dj answered “she’s a hypocrite. Ask Bono and he’ll tell you she’s nothing but a hypocrite.”
News to me. I think he is a pompus megalomanical blow-hard with an ego the only slightly larger than the known Universe. I am really sick of hearing about him and wish he would shut up.
Bono has pretty much been political from day one. I have been told by those more knowledgeable than myself that to grow up in Ireland, one can’t help but be political.
While I might not agree with a lot of what Bono says politically, being at the opposite end of the politaical spectrum, I do for the most part respect his opinion because he IS one of the few activists that sincerely believes what he believes; agree with him, or don’t , he’s NOT a poseur.
Having said all that, I DO take exception with something he said a few years back;he had said that the U.S. ought to forgive world debt. In other words, any country that owed the U.s. any money in terms of rebuilding, agriculture, etc. we ought to just say"Okay, y’know what? Don’t worry about it. Consider the debt paid." I find this to be incredibly naive(particularly given his aforementioned political astuteness). Also, the way he framed this particular compliant I found very misleading; he had the tone of “Why can’t the U.S. just see that it’s that simple?” which prompted a lot of “Yeah, what he said” from people who hadn’t(or would not) think it through.
Chris W
PS Musically, they lost me some time after the War album.
I’m sure the Pope does support it. BTW I must have missed the memo from the Vatican where he told the diocese worldwide to forget about contributions. He’s got enough gold, why shouldn’t he forgive parishioners debts.
Between what rock and rap stars make annually and what the churches have, they could absorb that debt themselves without taking a dime from me.
Oh, remember me? I’m the one who’s paying for foreign debt. I paid for it with my taxes. Y’know that 87 billion going to Iraq? The one that everybody’s having conniptions over? Is that not Foreign Debt? Well, I don’t have any problem with paying for it, I agree with the cause and I agree with the long term effects. But don’t just blithely say"That’s okay, they don’t have to pay it back." You see that’s MY money your forgiving. Yes, it’s everybody else’s money also, but if I have any say(and I foolishly believe that I do),I’d rather that money be used as intended.
Problem is, I don’t make six-figure salaries like other people.
I understand that foreign debt is a necessary evil in the world. It does exact a certain degree of loyalty from nations who might not otherwise side with us. On one level it might even be construed as extortion/blackmail. But it does exist, and it can’t just disappear into thin air just like that.
Guinastasia, I have done some research. I have been aware of this movement for some time and I simply disagree with it. That’s it. I’m not trying to slam anyone that supports it, Lord knows I support things that would probably have me drawn and quartered in certain sectors.
Chris W
PS Moderator, I apologize for taking this into Great Debate territory. I ask that it remain where it is, out of respect for the OP.
riserius, the issue isn’t as simple as ‘what to do with your money.’ The problem is more that most of these countries are hopelessly in debt and will be unable to repay. And that at the same time, the debt and management of their economies are crippling the countries.
