BONO in 2008 //

Articles

Stars of a Different Stripe: Why Should We Take A Politician More Seriously Than A Rocker?
The Toronto Sun, June 9, 2002

Jim Slotek

There are times when coverage of staged news events is so predictable, I feel like I work in a giant hamster wheel instead of a vibrant nervous system collectively known as The Media.

Consider the events that led to U2’s Bono and U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill travelling Africa together like Hope and Crosby, but minus Iman or Sade as their Carmen Miranda.

The prevailing wisdom -- that is to say the Pavlovian barking -- emitting from most editorial pages amounts to, “Who does this degenerate rock star with the wraparound shades and jeans think he is, presuming to tell a cabinet secretary from the U! S! A! about geopolitics, famine and health issues?”

Well, consider this: You’ve got two eminent persons travelling through Uganda, Ghana, South Africa and Ethiopia, one of whom insists on wearing suits and ties in 100-degree heat, while the other wears shades and open-necked shirts. You tell me which one has the brains God gave a goose.

Second, one emissary’s big idea is forgiving Third World debt to give countries a chance to get back on their feet. The other’s is using those debts as leverage to get governments to cut social spending -- on a continent that faces every health problem known to man. You tell me who’s got the nuttier political agenda.

Finally, one’s a rich white guy who thinks he’s got all the answers. And the other is a rich white guy who thinks he’s got all the answers.

So why is it that Bono got all the bad press?

I know, I know. Pontificating celebrities can be very annoying. Trust me, I’ve been there. Martin Sheen can filibuster the paint off a wall. Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charlton Heston and Pamela Anderson (in full PETA mode) can make you long for the subtlety of direct-dial marketing.

But given their profile, money and free time, what else would you have them do? Connect those three dots and they’re de facto politicians anyway. Take a short hop from there and you’re a bona fide politico like Ronald Reagan and Fred (Gopher) Grandy.

Certainly their political activism -- even in defence of a cause you don’t necessarily agree with -- is preferable to them spending their free time and money in a hotel room washing down Vicodins with vodka.

And make no mistake -- if they opt for vodka and Vicodin, that’s every bit as big a political statement by a public figure as marching for peace. When someone loved by his or her fans has nothing inside worth nurturing, no principle worth defending, it has 10 times the social impact of Martin Sheen getting tossed into a holding cell in Rhode Island. Else why would Kurt Cobain continue to be such a durable icon of hopelessness and anomie?

Instead, we attach gravitas to the people we elect to represent us, even though the ignoble criteria for getting elected is money. Oh yes, there’s education too (most movie stars fail to even finish high school), but an MBA is a kind of robot education that doesn’t address life beyond material concerns.

This month, the G8 will get together in Kananaskis to talk about what to do with the Third World. Of course, any useful ideas would involve altering a lucrative status quo, so don’t count on that problem getting solved before last call at the resort bar. You dance with who brung ya, after all.

At this point in the twisted evolution of our values, I’ve pretty much given up on teachers, nurses, firemen and social workers ever getting the respect accorded to Tie Domi, let alone even a 50th of his salary.

We created celebrity culture, somehow generated the alchemy that turned high school dropouts into $25-million-a-picture movie stars. What comes out of their mouths is going to be taken seriously by somebody, somewhere, even if it’s anti-intellectual nonsense of the sort sold by Shirley MacLaine. Rather than telling them to shut up, we ought to reward the use of their soapbox for matters of conscience.

We should treat the views of celebrities on their merits as we would with politicians. Don’t dis Bono for wanting to make a difference with his time, money and energy. He’s fairly well read for a yob, and has spent a lot more time getting his hands dirty -- in Dublin pubs alone -- than the diplomatic "professionals" who get sent to trouble spots to smooth things over.

In the end, a measure of humanity is how peacefully a supremely fortunate person can sleep alongside others’ misery. Some people do this very well, politicians, businessmen and celebrities included.

That’s the scary part.