OK...
Kenny's comments on yesterday's post got me thinking...
He's right...
Bono is actually one of the least bullying of liberal activists...and his comments in the article actually make that clear...so while he's not ideal...and noone is, really...not me...nooone...my ideas just point us in a direction...they don't give us a final destination...
Bono's big strength...ironically, I think...
Is that he's rich...
Meaning...unlike me...Bono doesn't get fucked over regularly...so he doesn't carry any of the bitterness about that I clearly still do, though I've tried to let go of it...it's just hard when it persistently happens with little hope of it abetting...
Poverty is not just about how little you can afford...it imposes costs of its own...if you can't pay something on deadline...then you pay additional costs...even if your failure to pay is based on inability to pay or not...meaning, you're doubly fucked, even though the original issue is not something within your control...but most people could give two shits about whether you can pay something or not...they've got house payments and car payments to make...and they get fucked by the bank or mortgage company or whatever if they don't...so it's just one big fuck fest, while we all cover our own asses...
Bono understands this, I think...and realizes it's unjust...but he's rich...and he has the means to stay rich and get richer...meaning, he doesn't get fucked by the bullshit that passes for how financial matters are handled currently nearly as much...
Which is actually a strength in this discussion, I think...
Because rich people know they're fucking people over...
They just feel like they have no choice...because they love their stuff...and if they have to choose between their stuff and someone else...they'll generally choose their stuff...
And Bono embraces the self-centeredness that this kind of thinking embodies...
Which is a good thing, I think...
I do, too, actually...even as I consistently get fucked by it...
Because I know...as Bono knows...
That I love people despite their greed...
My parents can be pretty greedy sometimes...and they wear it on their sleeves in some pretty insensitive ways, sometimes...especially my dad...who forgets that I lived with him through all the lean times...
It's just little things he says...
"There's not much in the world that you can't buy with money"...
Apparently oblivious to the fact that teaching doesn't pay very well...and that this comment totally takes for granted every teacher and everything that every teacher ever did for him...which, since he's not a big fan of school, I don't know if he really gives a shit, much of the time...
Or it may just be that there is this legacy of resentment...
Between the world of schools and universities...of education...
And the world of business...
Because business people make more money, generally...though teachers often do better and more work, if you've worked with the right school or university, that is...
But what I love about Bono...
Is that he embraces the money...and the greed...and all the rest...
He doesn't try to pretend that he doesn't love being a rock star...and rich...and living a life of luxury...
He embraces it...
And I guess that is the upside to the totally fucked up music/entertainment culture I see right now...
Embodied by the success of such pop hits as "Golddigger," by Kanye West, "Beverly Hills," by Weezer, and "If I Were a Rich Girl," by Gwen Stefani...
That even though they have very little substance at all, to them...
That...they just kind of embrace the greed...
Instead of fighting it...
Which is what liberal activists so fruitlessly and foolishly often do...
And the reason, likely, why Bono is one of the least bullying activists on this issue...
Is because he's rich...and he totally identifies with the desire of rich people...to just enjoy their wealth...and not feel guilty about it, all the time...
Which is what I want too...
Largely...
Because I know that the less guilty rich people feel about their wealth...
The less defensive they feel about their greed...
The more they embrace it...
And the more they want to share what they have...the more generous they become...
And the more we all benefit...
It's definitely true...
The market has some fucked up priorities...I totally acknowledge...and I think most people would, if they were really honest with themselves and others...
Is Arnold Swartzinegger the best actor in Hollywood, since he brings in the biggest revenue?...
Obviously not...have you seen "Terminator"?...a decent movie...but Oscar-worthy it is not...except maybe around technical direction...
And Arnold is definitely not a dramatic actor of any significance...
And unless you are totally self-deluded...there is no way you could argue that his money is made by being good...
His money is made by chasing money...
So many of my friends piss me off for exactly the opposite reasons why I love Bono and my parents...
Because my parents and Bono, generally, are just honest about it...
They like money...they don't try to pretend that they make money because what they're doing is good...they do what they do to make money...
Bono stopped making really great music back in 1988...he doesn't pretend, I don't think, that his new stuff is as good as his old stuff (and if he does, then he's wrong...no matter what the rationalizations of his more sell-out fans)...
He's a rich dude who likes making money...
No problem with that with me...
Same with my parents...
They aren't noble for making money...
They're rich...
And that's what they wanted...
They traded off the one for the other...
And they got rich...
It's not the same thing as noble...but it's not evil, either...
And like every other deadly sin...
Greed should be embraced...and openly...
Just as I parents do every time I see them now (secretly to rub it in that they've got it and I don't, I always suspect)...
But I don't want to resent this...
What I resent, most, really...
Is people pretending...
Rich is not noble...
Rich is rich...
So if that's the path you take...
That's the path you get...
Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates are taking the more noble route from rich...which is to share the wealth...
And what is great about Bono...
Is that he's not ashamed of being a rich rock star...
Which he shouldn't be...
He's not Martin Luther King...
But he's not Osama Bin Laden either...
I do wish Bono would produce a decent album, again, someday...something more along the lines of Rattle and Hum...or the Joshua Tree...U2's last decent albums...
But I don't want to begrudge him his money...
No matter how much I keep getting fucked by the greedy among us...
Which is everyone, at some level...plenty of poor people...in the developed world, at least...are plenty greedy, too...
So no need to point fingers at the rich...
They feel plenty guilty as it is...
They need to feel less guilty...
So they finally get over it...and themselves...
And...in the case of Bono...
Start making good music, again...rather than the shitty, guilt-ridden bullshit he's been making since '88...
And same with all my other friends looking to ride the gravy train...
They need to get over it...
So they can start doing good work, again...
Instead of the total shit they've been settling for ever since they decided to sell-out...
I'll keep thinking on this...
Because the truth is...I wouldn't want any of my friends to give anyone one red cent...if they'd just stop bullshitting me and everyone else...about how much their efforts suck...ever since they started selling out...
Same with Bono...
Bono...your last like 6 albums have sucked big nasty horse testicles...
Go do a bigger and better Rattle and Hum...or go fade away as a has-been, already...because I'm tired of hearing your shitty albums because though you could find it in your heart to help all the starving Africans, you just couldn't find it in your heart to do a decent album in almost 2 decades...
This one is clearly not finished in my heart...
Have a great week, everyone...
Love,
Ben
