Bono

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: BrokenVisage
It's amazing how well enough people on here know Bono that they can be so sure he's as pretentious and full of himself as they make him out to be. The man has great talent, is a world-renowned front man for one of the greatest bands ever (not on here obviously), and instead of kicking back and letting the money/groupies come pouring in he actually tries to do good in the world, or at least that's the facade he puts up that most of you would content. Do the things he does get him good publicity and shine a light that makes him look like a real humanitarian? Of course it does, but what's so wrong with that if it's not just some kind of farce or publicity stunt? Do you see him holding up a fucking starving African child like a trophy while smiling for a camera like a man obsessed with exposure? I don't see it, so maybe someone on here could provide some kind of non-opinionated proof that he's a no more then a self-obsessed, egotistical, glory hound who does all this good only to up his image and get his picture in the paper.

Its just pathetic how most of you justify your hate for Bono, compare him to the vocalists of many other popular bands and tell me he's not a better person then most if not all of them. I'm willing to bet the circle-jerk most of you had in that thread calling U2 a band that shouldn't be as big as they are were strongly motived by this jaded, misguided hate for Bono alone. Yeah you can hate whoever you want to for whatever reason, I'm surely guilty of hating some people under false pretenses, but never have I seen such unsubstantiated hate for a man who seems to have done nothing wrong while providing us with great music and a good outlook on life.

Touching on the music of U2 once more.. just look at how many over-rated songs he helped put out and how badly they did at the time...amazing

Let's break it down. Bono is just Ono with a B, proving he's overrated. I give him a C+ at most.

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: ThePresence
I don't hate him for his charity/humanitarian work, I think the world would be a better place if more celebs spent their money that way. I dislike him for his politics. Same reason I don't like Springsteen. They are musicans/singers, they were not elected to public office. Sing, you're good at it. If you want to play politics, run for office. People aren't cheering you for your fantastic political experience or originality of thought. You didn't get to where you are because you are this great political mind. You have a good band. Sing.

So people aren't allowed to try to positively influence the world unless they're a politician?

It's kewl to be a hater I guess.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I was at a concert with him on-stage. He asked the audience for complete silence. Then every few seconds he would clap his hands. He said that each time he clapped his hands a child in Africa dies.

Then someone near the front yells "Well then quit clapping your hands asshole!"

 

[adairusmc]

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones
I was at a concert with him on-stage. He asked the audience for complete silence. Then every few seconds he would clap his hands. He said that each time he clapped his hands a child in Africa dies.

Then someone near the front yells "Well then quit clapping your hands asshole!"

:laugh:

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy
I don't like Bono because he's a hypocritical primadonna. He jumps on all these causes and gives away money, which is cool... but then he flies his hat first class because God forbid he should spend more than two hours away from his headwear. He spent $1700.00 to fly his fucking hat out for a show. Do you know how far $1700.00 can go for a poor family?

He also refused to pay taxes in Ireland, and when the government pressed him, he moved the U2 offices out of Ireland to avoid payment.

He strikes me as being completely full of himself, and he gives off the air that he wants everyone else to bow down and lick his asshole because he has the decency to toss the commoners a bone once in a while. He's a pretentious douchebag.

And his music sucks.

Show me where Bono says he wants people to lick his asshole?

Bill Gates lives in a BILLION dollar home, but has given away truly huge sums of money towards solving serious problems in poverty, illness, hunger, etc. Should we shit on Gates because he lives in a really expensive place? He earned the $$$, we shouldn't bitch about shit like that.

Bono didn't hold a gun to anyone's head and tell them to buy albums, he just had fun and did the best he could, which turned out pretty well for him. Now, instead of just sitting on his cash and living it up, he travels and gives huge amounts of money away, while talking to politicians of all stripes (George Bush for one, whose credit is shared for getting significant funding for AIDS in Africa, as a result of their dialogue) .. tell me why this is a bad thing.

Calling someone a pretentious douchebag, who probably has accomplished/will accomplish more than you or I ever will, just screams of jealousy and general loserness of the highest degree. You project all this crap on him, when he hasn't done shit to anyone, only had fun as a rock star, and tries pretty damned hard to help people. Your cheap insults only fall flat back against yourself.

EDIT : Are you anticapitalist? Flying a ~1/2lb hat for $1700 means that the airline gets $1700, which actually helps that company, which pays taxes and employs people. Spending $$ is what makes the world go round, unless you live in NK. We live in a consumer culture after all. Spending $1700 on flying a hat ain't shit compared to getting billions of dollars raised for charity/aid/infrastructure/medicine. Bono can do what the fuck he wants with his megabucks, it's just a bonus that he tries to also help people.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: adairusmc

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones
I was at a concert with him on-stage. He asked the audience for complete silence. Then every few seconds he would clap his hands. He said that each time he clapped his hands a child in Africa dies.

Then someone near the front yells "Well then quit clapping your hands asshole!"

:laugh:

See, derogatory slamming of Bono is fucking epidemic.

http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/bono.asp

FALSE

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: adairusmc

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones
I was at a concert with him on-stage. He asked the audience for complete silence. Then every few seconds he would clap his hands. He said that each time he clapped his hands a child in Africa dies.

Then someone near the front yells "Well then quit clapping your hands asshole!"

:laugh:

See, derogatory slamming of Bono is fucking epidemic.

http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/bono.asp

FALSE

It's a joke...

How many courics do you weigh?

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: ThePresence
I don't hate him for his charity/humanitarian work, I think the world would be a better place if more celebs spent their money that way. I dislike him for his politics. Same reason I don't like Springsteen. They are musicans/singers, they were not elected to public office. Sing, you're good at it. If you want to play politics, run for office. People aren't cheering you for your fantastic political experience or originality of thought. You didn't get to where you are because you are this great political mind. You have a good band. Sing.

So people aren't allowed to try to positively influence the world unless they're a politician?

It's kewl to be a hater I guess.

I totally didn't say that or insinuate that at all. On the contrary.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: adairusmc

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones
I was at a concert with him on-stage. He asked the audience for complete silence. Then every few seconds he would clap his hands. He said that each time he clapped his hands a child in Africa dies.

Then someone near the front yells "Well then quit clapping your hands asshole!"

:laugh:

See, derogatory slamming of Bono is fucking epidemic.

http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/bono.asp

FALSE

It's a joke...

How many courics do you weigh?

*flies over my head*

Btw, I can totally understand not liking, or even fiercely disliking, Bono/U2's music. What I don't get is people who want to get into personal attacks on him for, basically being a rock star + charity/activist.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: sirjonk
The sunglasses make him look pretentious. I have nothing against him.

Ya, I hate when people wear sunglasses, especially for photos. They have their utility, but fashion accessory is not one of them.


I think many "hate" Bono due to the causes he supports, but he does kinda come off somewhat pretentious.

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: ThePresence
I don't hate him for his charity/humanitarian work, I think the world would be a better place if more celebs spent their money that way. I dislike him for his politics. Same reason I don't like Springsteen. They are musicans/singers, they were not elected to public office. Sing, you're good at it. If you want to play politics, run for office. People aren't cheering you for your fantastic political experience or originality of thought. You didn't get to where you are because you are this great political mind. You have a good band. Sing.

So people aren't allowed to try to positively influence the world unless they're a politician?

It's kewl to be a hater I guess.

I totally didn't say that or insinuate that at all. On the contrary.

Sorry, that's what I got from this statement.

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: ThePresence
I don't hate him for his charity/humanitarian work, I think the world would be a better place if more celebs spent their money that way. I dislike him for his politics. Same reason I don't like Springsteen. They are musicans/singers, they were not elected to public office. Sing, you're good at it. If you want to play politics, run for office. People aren't cheering you for your fantastic political experience or originality of thought. You didn't get to where you are because you are this great political mind. You have a good band. Sing.

So people aren't allowed to try to positively influence the world unless they're a politician?

It's kewl to be a hater I guess.

I totally didn't say that or insinuate that at all. On the contrary.

Sorry, that's what I got from this statement.

That means that I think he shouldn't try to be a positive influence on the world?
Read the sentence in context. I think he does a lot of positive int he world, and I said the world would be a better place if more celebs followed in his footsteps and spent their money the way he does. But yes, I can't stand when they try to play politics.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Was thinking about it, and it seems like it's 'cool' to dis on Bono for his charity/humanitarian work.

I really doubt anyone here on AT (myself included) has done half as much good in terms of philanthropy and public service as he has.

For that matter, many others seem to share in this silly public condemnation.

Bill Gates gets slammed all the time, but his foundation set new records in charity/relief.

Warren Buffett, George Soros, etc, etc.

Is it a psychological weakness that makes people want to strike out against people who are trying to make a positive difference in the world? I just can't figure it out.

I can totally understand not liking his music, or of parodying his undeniably large persona, but outright anger/hate towards him, or dissing the work that he does, seems petty and weak to me.

Bono - hypocrite

Gates - made money off monopoly

Buffett - too political, and his political views pretty much confirmed my theory that his success was largely due to being at the right place at the right time (vs. Peter Lynch of Fidelity Magellan)

Soros - communist, political asshole, made his money on the demise of countries (currency trading is ZERO sum, whenever he made money, some poor sucker lost it). Soros is on my list of the worst bloodsucking leech piece of shit persons in the world.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: sirjonk
The sunglasses make him look pretentious. I have nothing against him.

Ya, I hate when people wear sunglasses, especially for photos. They have their utility, but fashion accessory is not one of them.


I think many "hate" Bono due to the causes he supports, but he does kinda come off somewhat pretentious.

Heh, well maybe this will be illuminative, I think it's kinda funny :

ANDREW DENTON: As the biggest rock band in the world with extraordinary shows and have you ever asked yourselves, "Are we turning into wankers?"
BONO: I didn't have to ask the questions. At any given moment one of us is being a wanker, and it's usually probably me.

:laugh:

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones
I was at a concert with him on-stage. He asked the audience for complete silence. Then every few seconds he would clap his hands. He said that each time he clapped his hands a child in Africa dies.

Then someone near the front yells "Well then quit clapping your hands asshole!"

lol

If that were true, I wonder how many limbs that guy left behind.

While I love Bono for his music and what he does, I do think he overdoes it a bit. Still 'love' him though.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Show me where Bono says he wants people to lick his asshole?

Bill Gates lives in a BILLION dollar home, but has given away truly huge sums of money towards solving serious problems in poverty, illness, hunger, etc. Should we shit on Gates because he lives in a really expensive place? He earned the $$$, we shouldn't bitch about shit like that.

Bono didn't hold a gun to anyone's head and tell them to buy albums, he just had fun and did the best he could, which turned out pretty well for him. Now, instead of just sitting on his cash and living it up, he travels and gives huge amounts of money away, while talking to politicians of all stripes (George Bush for one, whose credit is shared for getting significant funding for AIDS in Africa, as a result of their dialogue) .. tell me why this is a bad thing.

Calling someone a pretentious douchebag, who probably has accomplished/will accomplish more than you or I ever will, just screams of jealousy and general loserness of the highest degree. You project all this crap on him, when he hasn't done shit to anyone, only had fun as a rock star, and tries pretty damned hard to help people. Your cheap insults only fall flat back against yourself.

EDIT : Are you anticapitalist? Flying a ~1/2lb hat for $1700 means that the airline gets $1700, which actually helps that company, which pays taxes and employs people. Spending $$ is what makes the world go round, unless you live in NK. We live in a consumer culture after all. Spending $1700 on flying a hat ain't shit compared to getting billions of dollars raised for charity/aid/infrastructure/medicine. Bono can do what the fuck he wants with his megabucks, it's just a bonus that he tries to also help people.

Wow, such vitriol; I'm touched. Let me address your points as you raise them.

Show me where Bono says he wants people to lick his asshole? Let's look at what I originally posted: "...he gives off the air that he wants everyone else to bow down and lick his asshole..." I said he gives off the air of someone that expects people to praise him via humorous analogy. I never claimed that he just went out on stage and screamed "lick my asshole!" Learn to speak English before you accuse me of libel.

Bill Gates lives in a BILLION dollar home, but has given away truly huge sums of money towards solving serious problems in poverty, illness, hunger, etc. Bill Gates is an amazing philanthropist, who has given away roughly, what, 2/3rds or more of his wealth to charitable organizations? Bill Gates also is not overly preachy about his philanthropic efforts. You don't see Bill Gates mentioning Darfur or Iraq or world hunger or poverty in every single public appearance he makes. Bono does. I'm not opposed to someone raising awareness, but at a certain point, you have to stop preaching or you're just going to start annoying people.

I had a friend in college who was dating a guy. This guy was a sweetheart. When Katrina hit, he quit his job and went to New Orleans for 6 months to aid in the reconstruction. He's currently over in Africa working in an orphanage. This guy could have been content to send money, but he was committed enough to wanting to help that he changed his whole life for it. He was the embodiment of Gandhi's famous quote "be the change you want to see in the world." And I mention him because through it all, he never once preached to anyone about what he was doing. He was about the most generous person you could ever hope to meet, but he didn't take that as an opportunity to get on a soapbox and preach and make other people feel bad for not doing as much as he did. Bono does, and it's obnoxious.

...George Bush for one, whose credit is shared for getting significant funding for AIDS in Africa, as a result of their dialogue... George Bush's abstinence-only education policy as a method for stopping the spread of AIDS in Africa is absolutely retarded, and should not be held up as an example of anything positive.

Calling someone a pretentious douchebag, who probably has accomplished/will accomplish more than you or I ever will, just screams of jealousy and general loserness of the highest degree. You project all this crap on him, when he hasn't done shit to anyone, only had fun as a rock star, and tries pretty damned hard to help people. Your cheap insults only fall flat back against yourself.

Bono has certainly accomplished a lot, and it certainly would be nice to be as wealthy as him. But, as I mentioned earlier, his attitude is incredibly off-putting. He is preachy about the causes he supports to the point that it feels like he is trying to make me feel bad about myself because I can't donate as much money as he can. This makes him seem arrogant and pretentious as well. He also comes off as a hypocrite, because with as much as he donates, he still likes to live a primadonna lifestyle. Let's see him trade places with a Sudanese refugee for one day. With as much as he talks about his charitable contributions, you'd think he was basically giving away every dime he makes and living in poverty because the strength of his convictions is so strong that he'd rather give all his money away than live comfortably while another human being is starving. Then he spends a three month food budget for a small family to fly a fucking hat to him? What a pretentious asshole. And no, I'm not anti-capitalist, I'm anti-hypocrite.

That's the biggest problem I have with Bono. He is too vocal about what he does. And to be sure, he does do a lot. But he acts like he is the greatest philanthropist who ever lived. People like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have given more money to charity. Thousands and thousands of people have given more time, have joined the Peace Corps or Mercy Corps or other organizations and lived in poverty to try to help others. Bono lives a blessed life, but because he gives money to charity, he acts like he is the greatest human who ever lived. I don't buy it.

 

[Arkaign]

Well, that's certainly more eloquent, thanks for the more coherent response.

I still don't get where he 'acts like he is the greatest', and I can find absolutely zero references to him bragging or even mentioning his own donations to charitable causes.

Of course there are many people who donate their entire lives towards the benefit and helping of others, and that is incredibly commendable and honorable, and should not be denigrated in any way.

The way I see it, put simply :

If we're going to judge someone fairly, let's weigh their positives and negatives in terms of global/societal impact. Aside from being arguably annoying, I don't see Bono causing any problems. He gives money/time/effort, when he doesn't have to. He doesn't ask to be adored/applauded, he asks for help on the causes that he thinks need support.

In the worldwide list of assholes, Bono doesn't even rank. In my mind, people who do shitty things to other people occupy the top realms. War, abuse, corruption, theft, rape, assault, our world has no shortage of super assholes, so why hate on someone who's trying to do good? It just doesn't make rational sense to me.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: sirjonk
The sunglasses make him look pretentious. I have nothing against him.

Ya, I hate when people wear sunglasses, especially for photos. They have their utility, but fashion accessory is not one of them.


I think many "hate" Bono due to the causes he supports, but he does kinda come off somewhat pretentious.

Heh, well maybe this will be illuminative, I think it's kinda funny :

ANDREW DENTON: As the biggest rock band in the world with extraordinary shows and have you ever asked yourselves, "Are we turning into wankers?"
BONO: I didn't have to ask the questions. At any given moment one of us is being a wanker, and it's usually probably me.

:laugh:

:laugh:

Well, at least he knows it

 

[pyonir]

I like warren buffet. Especially Margaritaville.

Oh wait...

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

His self-righteous attitude just annoys me. Like Alec Baldwin. I hate when actors/musicians try to affect political change without actually saying anything meaningful.

 

[LS21]

i hate bono because of his stupid sunglasses

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: LS21
i hate bono because of his stupid sunglasses

You're just jealous you don't have a pair

http://www.unitedshades.com/product.asp?idmodel=ea9285

 

[Chaotic42]

I can't stand Bono or U2. Just looking in his eyes... something seems wrong there. However, assuming that he has actually helped anyone who is impoverished, I have to tip my hat to him.

 

[Alistar7]

From the year Gates, his wife, and Bono were named persons of the year. A great accurate, informative account of their charitable efforts, cause philosophy, and Bono's contributions.

http://www.time.com/time/magaz...0,9171,1142278,00.html

JS80 - "Soros - communist, political asshole, made his money on the demise of countries (currency trading is ZERO sum, whenever he made money, some poor sucker lost it). Soros is on my list of the worst bloodsucking leech piece of shit persons in the world."

http://www.philanthropy.com/to...pdonor&donor=PGDON1533

Mr. Soros escaped from Hungary to London as a 16-year-old after the Soviet Union invaded and took over his homeland. In college, he studied business, but he also latched onto the writings of philosophers critical of totalitarian society.

Mr. Soros eventually returned to his other passion in 1979, making donations and starting nonprofit groups to support democracy and open governments throughout the world. His foundations donate $400-million annually to projects as diverse as halting the spread of tuberculosis and AIDS in Africa, installing water-filtration systems in war-torn countries, and wiring regional universities in Russia to the Internet.

For a much more in depth look at the man:

http://www.aim.org/special-rep...a-and-political-power/

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Alistar7
From the year Gates, his wife, and Bono were named persons of the year. A great accurate, informative account of their charitable efforts, cause philosophy, and Bono's contributions.

http://www.time.com/time/magaz...0,9171,1142278,00.html

JS80 - "Soros - communist, political asshole, made his money on the demise of countries (currency trading is ZERO sum, whenever he made money, some poor sucker lost it). Soros is on my list of the worst bloodsucking leech piece of shit persons in the world."

http://www.philanthropy.com/to...pdonor&donor=PGDON1533

Mr. Soros escaped from Hungary to London as a 16-year-old after the Soviet Union invaded and took over his homeland. In college, he studied business, but he also latched onto the writings of philosophers critical of totalitarian society.

Mr. Soros eventually returned to his other passion in 1979, making donations and starting nonprofit groups to support democracy and open governments throughout the world. His foundations donate $400-million annually to projects as diverse as halting the spread of tuberculosis and AIDS in Africa, installing water-filtration systems in war-torn countries, and wiring regional universities in Russia to the Internet.

For a much more in depth look at the man:

http://www.aim.org/special-rep...a-and-political-power/

Great post, thanks!