Bono and His Critics

For every lover there's a hater – a figure as loud as Bono Vox is bound to rub some people up the wrong way. Here's what Bono's critics have to say:

"No doubt Bono gives some of his wealth to help the dispossessed of the world, but no doubt he retains a huge amount of it. How could he both believe that there is a huge inequity in the distribution of the world's resources, not himself dispose of the greater proportion of his wealth to assist the dispossessed, and apparently be quite untroubled by this contradiction? Bono is not the only rich egalitarian who is not even a little bit troubled by the contradiction between their professed beliefs and their personal behaviour. For starters, there is myself."

"I am certainly not in the same wealth bracket as Bono but I earn a multiple of the average industrial wage, I profess egalitarian beliefs and I give only a small fraction of it to redistributive causes because I have to pay income tax. There really is just one explanation for the tight-fistedness of us rich egalitarians and it is moral weakness: we are unable to live up to the moral standards we set for society... We are hypocrites, that's what. When we hear or talk of other hypocrites or people we regard as hypocrites - for instance, priests who have sexual relations with women, or politicians who ask the country to tighten its belt while letting it all hang out for themselves - we might pause to remember that we too are hypocrites."
Vincent Browne

"Look at a group like U2. Bono and his band are so egocentric. The more you jump around, the bigger your hat is, the more people listen to your music."
George Harrison

"Why are the taxes that we pay to the State a secret? What is the moral and political justification for this? Shouldn't the Revenue Commissioners as a matter of policy disclose both the declared incomes and the taxes paid for every resident of the State? That way we'd know how much Bono is actually paying to the Government which he endlessly lectures about increasing its aid to the Third World. To be sure, he should have his tax-deductible allowances, such as his hair-dye, which no reasonable person would deny him, though we might urge him to attend to his roots a little more often. But how much tax does he pay out of the millions he earns every year? And why is this is not a matter of public record?"
Kevin Myers

"I hate this guy's music, but I like the idea of absolving Third World debt, because otherwise these people are going to die. So if he's using all that rock star power, well, right on. Like he's Mr. Africa Third World Debt Guy, which is a huge issue, but now, he's Mr. AIDS Guy. Well, wait a minute, how did you go from Third World debt to AIDS? It starts to sound like he leaves a lot undone."
Henry Rollins

"To understand how Paul Hewson became Bono, we must familiarize ourselves with the monster that sustains and is sustained by him; a coterie he is both part of and head and shoulders above. The real Bono lives up to the hype, but others have to play dirty for this to happen. First the facts: Lipton Village is still the focal point for Bono's circle, but membership is no longer a sine qua non."

"Along the way some of the oldest friends have gradually been painted out of the picture (or jettisoned ruthlessly). Both the oldies who stayed the pace and the new faces added are tough, highly protective and jealous of their relationship with the great man. Watchfulness is their default behavior. In company, Bono is gregarious: he is almost self-conscious in his desire to mingle and reach out. He makes sure to speak to everyone, to make them feel at ease. In this he resembles Clinton, and it explains why they are drawn to each other. But unlike Bill, the person fortunate enough to be getting Bono’s attention will always be left in no doubt that they are being watched closely by the existing courtiers for any over-familiarity or attempt to join their exclusive club."

"Not all are this petty. Gavin Friday – probably because he knows in his heart of hearts that he is cooler than Bono – is less jealous of his friendship. The more recent courtiers tend to be less secure and more zealous in protecting the relationship. A certain long-legged man about town is particularly culpable in this regard. Bono himself is aware of this carry on but would never call a halt to it. Even if he wanted to he couldn't – it has developed a life of its own. More importantly, it suits him to sit back and watch as they vie for his attention. After all, when nearly everyone wants to know you it makes sense to surround yourself with people who have dedicated their lives to this cause."
Tom Fanning

"Bono's full-throated judgments on the church prompt this question: Just how would he know? He has, after all, avoided the church since breaking with Shalom, a Watchman Nee-inspired group in Ireland, in the early 1980s. This arm's-length experience of churches leaves Bono with a paper-thin ecclesiology that measures the church's mission (or its "relevance") almost exclusively in geopolitical terms. Bono seems unaware of the AIDS relief work that has been done in Africa for years, both by missionaries and by indigenous Christians. Never mind that many Christians were bringing relief to suffering Africans in the same decade that U2 poured millions into its bloated Zoo TV and PopMart tours (keeping the latter on the road cost $1.3 million a week). If Americans fail to persuade the Bush administration to increase foreign aid to the percentage of gross domestic product that Bono finds acceptable, then Bono finds the church guilty of standing by, like Germans watching Jews being hauled away to the death camps. But a Christian's pleading for social justice without worshiping God regularly within the community of the church is little more than activism for its own sake. Any person can stand outside the church and critique its obedience to the gospel. Part of God's call on a Christian's life is to walk inside and die to self by relating to other human beings, both in their fallenness and in their redeemed glory."
Editorial in Christianity Today

"The Labour leadership and the British press might have been a bit more sceptical about the value of a Bono endorsement had they been aware of his chequered history of interventions in politics on this side of the Irish sea. It’s rarely mentioned now that Bono concentrates on international emergencies but there was a time when he also believed he had the answer to Ireland’s domestic problems... But that answer has changed with comic frequency."
Liam Fay

"I truly believe that Bono is utterly sincere in his crusade to raise money to end world poverty…But why is it so important to politicians that two causes no intelligent person would disagree with – ending world debt and preventable death – are championed by a pop singer? Why give up valuable time…to someone who is saying what we all agree with anyway?”
Janet Street-Porter

"The 80s inspired politico warbler is the latest in a long line of performers who are trotted out on behalf of the power holders. Poor Bono, he doesn't get it…Bono is not unlike the wartime entertainers brought out for little more than their breasts and hips. Bono for his gold records and an image.”
Dave Bleakney

"Riverdance is driving them wild once again and I blame it all on Bono, or Eamon Dunphy or both. At this stage it’s difficult to work out who exactly created the current myth about the global supremacy of Irish popular culture. But initially it was probably Bono."
John Boland

"The spectacle of Bob Geldof and Bono bear-hugging G8 leaders in Genoa [on Saturday] was revolting. It was not just the manic presumption that they would have an iota of influence, or the phoniness and the crass attention-seeking of the exhibition that was stomach-churning. It was their giddy association with the rulers of the world and their eloquent dissociation from the tens of thousands who had gathered to protest against the unfairness and inequities of the new world order."
Vincent Browne

Later, Browne wrote of these comments:
"Instead of responding directly to the criticism, he gave an interview to Saturday's Irish Independent. This was followed by a letter from an offended Bono in a Zurich hotel which, because, I am told, it is off the record, I feel unable to quote from - although why it is off the record I don't know, since it repeats more or less the same sad fantasies revealed in the star-struck interview."

Published in the November 2004 edition of The Dubliner magazine

Comments

[sdc]

the late princess diana, was a angel she help people all around her had her charities in the uk and other places. so bono why are you not helping your country instead of a tax dodger cheated your people

[Krystian Brzezowski]

Well i don't know why all these writers are so against Bono. Do You have any other Irish guy who is doing such a thing? And so what that he is paying less taxes, everyone want's to do that, are everyone so jealouse that they can't do it? Or maybe they are not smart enough.

[murizzio gaetano]

HOPE HE'S GONNA HIDE ALL OF HIS MONEY..PAY TAX..FOR WHAT?WHAT ON EARTH THIS GOVERNMENT OFFER TO ANYONE...IS THERE ANYTHING AT ALL...COMMON PEOPLE..WAKE UP!YOUR GOVERNMENET AS ANY OTHER IN THE WORLD IS THERE TO SCREW YOU..NOT TO HELP YOU!MAKE YOUR OWN MONEY AND ENJOY IT..FUCK THE GOVERNMENT!

[darla]

any truth in the rumour that u2 didnt write 'achtung baby?i just wondered if it was new or old media news.i heard about it as far back as 1989 so perhaps there is something to it.

[tom]

I heard that Paul McCartney wrote the songs for "Achtung Baby," but then I remembered he was killed in a car accident in the late 60s and replaced by a lookalike.

[darla]

paul mccartney in any shape or form couldnt have written anything vaguely as interesting as 'achtung baby'. the beatles were lucky,simple as that.

[tom]

You didn't feel the breeze as that statement went over your head?

[darla]

what,did you think i missed the sarcasm? no indeed, im merely commenting on the highly over-rated scouser serial shaggers jaded reputation as a man with a lyric.

[berk]

"the beatles were lucky"

Darla, put carrots up your nostrils and climb in the washing machine if you're gonna be mental

[darla]

Isnt the freedom to express a personal opinion a wonderful thing?