you are talking about the guy who sang Sunday Bloody Sunday then accepted an honourary title from the Queen. Also an arsehole who claims to be proud of his "Irishness" then fucks off to Holland to avoid paying taxes, or the fact that he keeps telling us to end world poverty when he's the one who makes enough money to wipe out the deficit of several African nations.
WANKER
Dubz
Exactly!!! Maybe if he is so concerened about world poverty he should give all his money. Hes nothing but a pompous bastard who obviously doesnt practice what he preaches.
O c'mon you angry people leave dear Bongo alone! What do you want him to do? live in poverty to prove that he cares about people of poor nations? He is trying to achieve things via politics, which is more than what most celebrities do and I argue that it is better than adopting a trophy-baby from a poor country just to feel good about oneself.
An as can be evidenced from the photos, he has some friends to distract him. So, it is good that he is still thinking about poor people;) Oh, maybe the girls are poor. See did you consider that?
O c'mon you angry people leave dear Bongo alone! What do you want him to do? live in poverty to prove that he cares about people of poor nations? He is trying to achieve things via politics, which is more than what most celebrities do and I argue that it is better than adopting a trophy-baby from a poor country just to feel good about oneself.
An as can be evidenced from the photos, he has some friends to distract him. So, it is good that he is still thinking about poor people;) Oh, maybe the girls are poor. See did you consider that?
Yeah cause like evry other person that actually knos about world economics/politics/social matters, he obviously has studied this stuff in some depth, perhaps he has a degree in something relevant, Oh no he's just a spoilt we "Jacob's" from South Dublin (doesn't even have the decency to be a proper Northside scummer).
I don't have a problem with him telling me to help out my fellow man (or woman) but at least practice what you preach, I'm not saying give all your money away but perhaps the odd gesture would be appropriate, instead of buying off Dublin City Councillors to make sure your studios and yer sh!t hotel get the planning permission that no one else would have a hope of getting, YA WANK !!!
Yeah cause like evry other person that actually knos about world economics/politics/social matters, he obviously has studied this stuff in some depth, perhaps he has a degree in something relevant, Oh no he's just a spoilt we "Jacob's" from South Dublin (doesn't even have the decency to be a proper Northside scummer).
I don't have a problem with him telling me to help out my fellow man (or woman) but at least practice what you preach, I'm not saying give all your money away but perhaps the odd gesture would be appropriate, instead of buying off Dublin City Councillors to make sure your studios and yer sh!t hotel get the planning permission that no one else would have a hope of getting, YA WANK !!!
Dubz
*edit* and McCartney can fuck off as well
I see your point ,although I think that statement about the degree is irrelevant.
I have to say it sounds like he is practicing what he preach, i.e. politics. I was trying to ask myself who do we compare him to? Someone from the celebrity world (this was my first reaction)? A religious figure? A politician? Or poor academician, who have the degrees and research but nobody with power to do stg listens to him/her :) To me it sounds like he is becoming a politician. They have influence over the city, state and world economics mostly to their own benefit, although it is NEVER presented that way. In that respect he is not a great politician yet, since he did not learn to cover his traces.
By the way, planning decisions are not made simply for the good of people either--ask those purchase-friendly city councillors:) So "guiding" the process does not mean that you are working against the people. Believe me there are many invisible hands that "guide" these processes. He happens to be a very visible figure. And that's right regular people do not get the permits they want. They are forced to operate within the system that is created by the people they elect, who are "guided" by the people who feed them. I feel like in a system that has many faults, making him a target is unnecessary--whether he is a wanker or not.
OK a degree may not be relevant however, he knows nothing about this stuff, he meets with Blair/Bush and they must be pissing themselves laughing when he leaves, He has no background, training or any education or experience in Polictics/World Economy. He's talking about something he knows fuck all about.
Unfortunately Communism or Socialism do not work in practice so if we were to wipe out world hunger tomorrow and make sure everyone had enough money/wealth, inflation would sky rocket and the money/wealth that you though you had would be worth Fuck All.
And that's before I start to questions his motives, is he doing this because he genuinely cares or is he doing it to make him popular and to seem like a "good guy", call me cynical but if it was the first one I'd be getting myself some training so at least I could hold my own at meetings/summits etc.
btw he is not the only one guilty... Geldof, Chris Martin, etc. but then the title of this thread is about Bongo.
As for the planning permission, it has fuck all to do with the "good" of the people, he is trying to rearrange a listed building by adding a monstrousity to the top of it (his Clarence Hotel) and rearrange the sky of Dublin with his tower in the Docklands. These are not tiny insignificant projects but massive undertakings. Sean Dunne the developer (a man with seriuos money and clout) is also trying to build a new complex in Ballsbridge he's already been told to fuck off as it will ruin the skyline. He's obviously not greasing the correct palms.
Oh and btw I do stand corrected, he grew up on the Northside of Dublin in Glasnevin (the posh part of Finglas) but he's still a fuckin' Jacob's.
Bono is at a U2 concert in Glasgow when he asks the audience for some quiet. Then in the silence, he starts to slowly clap his hands. Holding the audience in total silence, he says softly and seriously into the microphone …
“Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies……”
A voice from near the front pierces the silence: “Well, fucken’ stop doin’ it then!”
It has been hard to avoid Bono today.
First there is his branded benevolence - (RED) - that makes its third appearance as a special edition of the Independent. Appearing on products as diverse as mobile phones, i-pods, credit cards, designer sunglasses, fashionware and newspapers, the label seems to have less to do with philanthropy than an all-purpose image management solution for businesses known for some of the most unethical practices. (RED) is an ingeneous stratagem: in return for a few pennies to the charity, TNC’s responsible for the impoverishment of Africa buy Bono bestowed legitimacy for their continued plunder.
Second, there is U2 and Greenday’s cover of The Saints Are Coming by the Scottish punk band The Skids. I must confess that it is an improvement on U2’s vapid and pretentious output of the past 10 years. The song has a harder edge to it (courtesy of Green Day) : the Edge’s (what kind of a juvenile name is that for a man in his mid-40s?) superb guitar riffs, and Larry Mullen’s thundering drum rolls, especially in the interlude, make it one of the most uplifting songs of U2’s career.
The message in the video would be quite welcome were it not for the fact that it comes three-and-a-half years, 655,000 deaths, and over 2 trillion wasted dollars too late. Ever a believer in cost-free activism, Bono pointedly refused to risk record sales by making a statement on the war when it mattered (Take, for example, what happened to the Dixie Chicks when they chose to criticize the war). Instead, he cozied up with the architects of the murderous war against Iraq, and provided cover for the planned theft of Africa’s resources through the corporate bonanza, otherwise known as Live 8. G8 2005, Bush & Blair’s attempted diversion from the Iraq war, was was a charade aided by Bono & Geldoff’s circus. While Africa is worse off as a consequence of the decisions taken at the summit, Bono and his mate Geldof helped sustain the myth of generous concessions to the impoverished continent.
The video can hardly be considered an anti-War statement. The implied message is that the military, with all its resources, could have a better use - providing disaster relief in situations such as Katrina’s aftermath. It is a statement of relative merit, rather than a denunciation of the immoral and illegal war in Iraq. Despite the pointed swipe at Bush’s ‘Mission Accomplished’ stunt, there is no overt statement on the war itself. And then, of course, there is the troubling question of the video’s symbolism.
Despite its long history of aggression and interventions abroad, the United States has managed to retain an image of defective benevolence, atleast in popular imagination. One of the keys to this success has been its manipulation of significant symbols to create powerful subconsious assosciations between its instruments of oppression, and cherished values within its society. Foreign aggression is always given titles that include words that resonate with the public: Liberty, Freedom, Justice etc., and the military’s actions are always ascribed a humanitarian purpose. This image is merely reinforced in the U2 video. While the real atrocities committed by the US military in Iraq will soon depart public consciousness, the sheer power of repitition will ensure that the imaginary heroic role played by the military in this video survives as its enduring image.
Lest one think that this is merely an unintended consequence of an innocent idea it would be important to bear in mind that Bono’s lucrative venture capital enterprise, Elevation Partners, has been profiting from a computer game that promotes ‘a pathological culture of ill-will and military perversion and…a very pointed and insidious work of propaganda’.
Among others, the scenarios in the game include invading Venezuela and ‘profit[ting] from chaos’.
His top selling games have titles such as: Mercenaries™, Destroy All Humans™, Full Spectrum Warrior™, and Star Wars Battlefront™.
Fore nearly two decades now, Bono has been developing his image as a brand, where he has arrogated himself the role of the white man in the white-man’s-burden approach to philanthropy. His solution has no role for the African’s themselves; his proposals do not include empowering the Africans and releasing them from the clutches of the multilateral financial institutions which have plundered their resource rich continent. But that, of course, will eliminate the role of a white saviour who could dispense deliverance and earn the coveted Nobel Peace Prize in the process.
An Irish friend told me the following joke:
Queston: What is the difference between Bono and Jesus?
Answer: Jesus doesn’t think he’s Bono.
For now, I wish someone would give him that Nobel and stop him from doing further damage. After all, if Kissinger, Shimon Peres or Teddy Roosevelt could win it, why not Bono?
Here is a worthier cause people could sign up to: Make Bono History
You scare me:) And apparently when I am scared I start at smiling.
As you said Saints was not really about the War. It was the criticism of the American government in their disgraceful handling of Katrina, and it was sang in the first New Orleans Saints game @ Superdome--where most of the people were stuck during the hurricane. And it was timely in that respect it was a song for Katrina, with all the images people would have liked to see happening in New Orleans right after the hurricane. My husbands family were one of the lucky ones surviving Katrina in New Orleans with very little damage but their city, as they know it, has disappeared. It is only now, three years later, that the city is coming back to life. I like the song, I like the video and everything it represents--I think it is a bit personal.
P.S. Did you see Jon Stewart hosting Tony Blair in Daily show? It was hilarious. It is not that important but what I am trying to say is Blair/Bush might have laughed at Bono but they are not in better standing themselves when it comes to their policies. Especially Bush, C'mooonnn!!!
