Did anyone here catch Bono on Bill O’Reilly’s show tonight. I was just running through the channels and happened upon it during the last minute or so of Bono’s appearance. It seems he really impressed O’Reilly, and at one point O’Reilly said to Bono that he hoped the U.S. could find a way to make a plan Bono spoke of work. Can anyone describe what it was that Bono (apparently) proposed?
I would check www.u2.com in a few days. They like to put up videos of Bono speaking on tv and stuff. There’s an E at the top right, your cursor will say “Exclusives”. Browse through the videos below.
I didn’t see the interview so I can’t comment on the specifics. Bono has, however, been crusading for the reduction or elimination of third-world debt. To date, I have yet to see anyone take him to task on some of the disadvantages of such a policy. Perhaps O’Reilly did but I don’t know, as I didn’t see it.
As an aside, I have met Bono on three separate occasions. I grew up in the same Dublin neighborhood as he did and his high school math teacher for 4 years lived across the street (literally) from me, and still does from my Mam & Dad.
The following is based solely on my experiences with Bono so your mileage may vary:
Bono is a born-again Christian and has a profoundly inflated sense of his own importance. He is not, in my opinion, a particularly bright man. Passionate and articulate for sure but without a shred of intellectual depth. It is almost as if he is so convinced of his point of view that logic and history simply don’t matter. In his mind, if there is injustice then it must be someone else’s fault and that the blame (and the solution) can be found in the Western world. He really does see the world in black and white and rejects any solution that doesn’t involve a wholesale western act of contrition. The responses to Bono are legion but that really isn’t my point here. I admire the man for his convictions but I don’t take him seriously at all.
Thanks, Cardinal. I never thought of their web site. I’ll check it out.
Lochdale, how very interesting! Thank you for your post. I think you may be on the money about the third world debt issue as Bono did make reference to the U.S. devoting something like .015 percent of its GNP on other countries and that we were number 22 of all the worlds nations in the amount we devoted to whatever it was he was proposing.
As far as his intelligence goes, I’m surprised to hear what you had to say. I’ve always thought of him as quite intelligent, probably based on the articulateness you spoke of combined with his ease in front of a seated audience and in front of a camera. He was certainly charming on O’Reilly’s show. And he has always seemed to me to be basically a good man who wanted to accomplish good things.
But you know him and his history, and the points you raise about his mentality are things I would never have thought of or had the opportunity to recognize, although I must admit I wasn’t all that surprised by your comment about his sense of self-importance. One would have to have a bit of an ego in order to project such confidence and self-assurance when appearing outside his area of expertise, i.e. onstage with his band.
Thanks again for your post.
Fox News has a transcript of the interview up. I also know of a fan website that’s hosting video of the interview, but I’m not sure of the legality of linking to that, so I won’t. I’ve just skimmed the transcript, but Bono does appear to have spent most of the interview talking about debt relief, which really isn’t surprising since it’s been his main cause for some years now.
Incidentally, for current U2/Bono news, www.atu2.com is far more useful and informative than the official site. If anything about the O’Reilly interview ever appears at u2.com, it won’t be until some time next week at the earliest, and there certainly won’t be video.
Thanks to you, too, Ms Macphisto. I just read the transcript. That answers my question.
SA, I think I know where you’re going with this one. You’re going to unmask Bono is an Irish Michael Moore, aren’t you?
Not at all, Roger, although I can see how you would think that’s what I’m up to. But I do regard Bono as an artist. (They’re easy to spot from up here in my garret, don’t you know?) 
Okay, let me phrase that again. You have a sneaky suspicion that when Bono moves from the medium in which he is some kind of exponent to another medium in which he possesses a little knowledge, this move is likely to be a dangerous thing.
I wonder if any rock star (or whatever they call themselves) would come out seriously and campaign for the need for countries that have borrowed loads of money from other countries to repay that money.
Too radical for most of them would be my guess. I knew I had missed my calling…
While I’m the first one to scoff at celebrities espousing fashionable causes they know little about, you have to give Mr. Bono (or is Bono a first name?) some credit here. This isn’t something he just flitted into; he’s campaigned for Third World debt relief and AIDS relief for a very long time. He may not be a genius but he has educated himself on the issue, and it’s my understanding that he HAS been careful to listen to both pro and con arguments, and has tried his best to depoliticize the issue and engage all sides.
He IS an arrogant bastard - in fact, he’s admitted it - but whatever else you can say about the man, he believes in doing the right thing and he’s working hard at it.
Oh, and their music rocks.
It’s a first name. His stage name was originally Bono Vox, which I suppose is Dog Latin for “Good Voice.”
Rolling Stone magazine claims that Bono’s name came from the name of a record store in the neighborhood where the early U2 hung out. It was called either Bono Vox (as Biffy the Elephant Shrew said,) or Vox Bono (as I think I remember it.)
See the interview here.
It’s actually from the name of a hearing aid store in Dublin called Bonavox, and from what I’ve read, while it does kind of mean “good voice” and is appropriate for a singer, it was not originally intended either seriously or as a compliment. Many of Bono’s friends around that time gave each other nicknames that have stuck - offhand, I can think of Gavin Friday and Guggi, not to mention The Edge. For those who are interested, there are actually two versions of how The Edge got his name. It either comes from the shape of his head or his tendancy to hang around the edge of a group and watch more than participate, and I’ve heard both stories with more or less equal frequency.
As for Bono’s causes, I agree with everything RickJay said. I very much admire Bono for his dedication to the causes he promotes and the fact that he does his best to be informed on the issues, and of course the music rocks. However, I have the feeling that if I ever actually met him, the ego would be way to much and I’d be ready to strangle him within minutes.
I thought Bono picked his name as an hommage to Sonny.
I’m aware of www.atu2.com, but I’ve not seen them host video. It’s possible that they might link to someone else.
As for www.u2.com, they do in fact like to put Bono’s tv appearances and speeches online. I’ve watched him on Irish tv and speaking at Harvard through that site.
As for Bono’s intelligence on his pet issues, I think he does much better than the bulk of concerned rock stars.
Bono has pointed out that helping Africa is not just a bleeding-heart issue. His attitude has been, “These are potential employees and customers for American and European industry. Dead people don’t contribute to economies.” Also, "Send AIDS drugs to Africa with “A gift from the USA printed all over it. Make the pills have the American flag right on them. This is your chance to show you can do direct good and service, including to Muslims.”
.wmv file of Bono with O’Reilly:
I saw the interview and it is my impression that AIDS is the main issue that Bono is interested in. Debt reduction is a secondary issue as it applies to solving the AIDS dilemma. His dedication to the cause impressed the hell out me and Bill.
Sometimes thread titles are a little TOO descriptive. :eek: