top of page
Writer's pictureJoe Andrews

Speaking of: Bono

It's easy to make fun of Bono for acting like he's the single most powerful instrument for peace on the planet. From recently playing a short concert in a Kyiv subway station to meeting with the Pope to discuss sexual abuse in Ireland to countless projects fighting poverty in developing African nations, it seems every place where there is human suffering, Bono somehow magically appears a few days later like a philanthropic rash. It's a full-fledged meme by this point. He just always arrives on the scene out of nowhere with a tone that slightly reeks of, "Everything will be okay because I am here now."

And lots of people give him crap for this, saying he seems like a headline chaser and arguing, "What does a rock singer know about hunger in Africa?"

But I can’t help but admire it. I don't really care how much he knows about hunger in Africa. I don't really even care if his only motivation in helping these underprivileged groups is to see his face on the cover of the Daily Mail. It doesn't matter to me. The truth of the matter is that while Bono certainly can't solve hunger in Africa, he's most certainly doing something to try and help. It might be completely toothless. It might be entirely for show. It might be nothing more than playing a song for those affected. But he did something, and isn't that more than the rest of us did?

Maybe this post isn't about Bono at all. Maybe I'm just tired of people who did nothing ridiculing people who did something because they could have done more.



Comments


bottom of page