Posted by Trung
on 2/14/2012, 4:01 pm, in reply to "Re: I just don't see the "moral superiority""
110.175.228.247
So are you saying that Bono actually set an 'acceptable' donating percentage or amount from millionaires.
Or did he proposed some sort of super rich tax system where a certain percentage goes to foreign aid.
I probably need for specifics there.
As with the holy quote there
I think a bit of context about bono and U2's music. He is one of thsoe people who believes that when the music "touches " your soul, they interpret it as a religious experience. I met people who similarly felt that way.
He admits that he was inspired by The Who and Pete Townsend belief that music can transcend our lives (the whole message of lifehouse projects) and he believes songs like "Oh My Love" by John Lennon to be a "spiritual and religious hymn" even though he knows that Lennon is atheist.
His music philosophy is that he wants his music to replicate the whole music as a transcendental force.
Pretentious, yes but then again he is hardly the first artist who believes that.
Nevertheless, if there's one thing I won't argue with is that Bono is a bit arrogant and thinks highly of his own work
There are quotes where he believes that Boy is easily the top 10 debut album of all time. The quote that you shown clearly states that he believed that he succeeded with his goal.
Then again, isn't this just an artist who set out a goal and vision in their music and believes that they succeeded in fulfilling their own vision?
I won't deny that Bono seldomly even tries to disguise his self confidence with false modesty. Then again I find false modesty kind of annoying anyway. At least his honest about his own confidence but I don't see his arrogance to be any more than a lot of rock stars (eg. the likes of Oasis).
I also kind of agree with his assessment. Boy is a top 10 debut album of all time and some of U2 works does have a transcendental effect on me. He is arrogant but somewhat justified for me.
In any case, Bono can be self critical at time, he believes his lyric sin the 80's to be subpar (I agree) and he thinks Ra is embarrass by Rattle and hum due to it's pretentiousness (if Bono believes that album is too pretentious then it must be a contender for the most pretentious album ever)
--Previous Message--
: i'll break it down into as simple of terms as
: i possibly can: it's not that he's
: encouraging people to donate to charities,
: it's that he criticizes other rich people
: who DO donate, and tries to dictate how much
: of their money is "enough"
:
: there are plenty of other quotes (outside of
: his lyrics) that epitomize this point, not
: to mention other random quotes that
: epitomize his holier-than-thou, pious
: nature. in fact, i googled the quote i
: used, and it actually brought up a page off
: maddox's website that contained another gem
: of a quote of bono's:
:
: "I don't know why, but we always had
: this belief that there was something sacred
: about our music, that it was almost
: holy."
:
: *crickets*
:
: --Previous Message--
: He has stopped concert and encourages people
: to do more for charity and some people find
: that annoying but I never thought that it
: was a case of moral superiority
:
: I'll just say I never get the impression
: that Bono is saying he is morally superior
: to everyone else and end it like that .
:
: I'm just wondering about the relevant of
: that quote because it seems to be taken out
: of context as that was criticising churches
: for exploiting poor people for money and
: then using the money inappropriately and
: hence ripping off the public.
:
: --Previous Message--
: And then I'm done with this particular
: conversation, because it's clearly not going
: anywhere.
:
: "THE GOD I KNOW ISN'T SHORT ON CASH,
: MISTER!"
:
: When you, gently and respectfully, say that
: people should give to charity while you
: yourself are giving to charity, you're a
: good person.
:
: When you interrupt a rock concert to berate
: your paying audience for not giving as much
: to charity as they should, you're a
: pretentious dick, no matter how much you're
: giving to charity.
:
: It's not that Bono is charitable. It's that
: he thinks being charitable makes him morally
: superior to everybody else. Yes, I'm going
: to find him a pretentious blowhard when
: confronted with that kind of attitude.
: Nothing you say is going to change my mind,
: and I doubt anything I say will change
: yours, either.
:
: So, again, I'm done with this conversation.
:
: --Previous Message--
: So do you have a problem with charity when
: they make an ad showing the poverty in the
: third world and trying to make the point
: that people should give more because people
: in first world countries have a lot more.
: They are asking people to give more money to
: charity and I believe most charity do used
: guilt to try to persuade people to give them
: money.
:
: Are they hypocrites as well? They may not
: be millionaires but they aren't struggling
: as well. A lot of people running charities
: are paid for their efforts as well and
: aren't volunteers.
:
: Bono is saying the basic principle that
: people should give more. You're the person
: who adds "sacrificing his lifestyle to
: the point of inconvenience" to the
: equation. The fact is no one is asking
: anyone to sacrifice their lifestyle to
: inconvenience. Just asking people to give
: more to people who are less well off.
:
: Essentially Bono is just doing the role of
: the celebrity spokeman representing charity
: asking people to donate money. However in
: this case it's just on a general principle
: rather than to a specific charity
:
: Really the whole "denying others what
: they demand for themselves," is a case
: of us as a society demand the minimum
: standard of living. We demand that we get
: access to a minimum standard of clean food,
: water, shelter and health care and we
: wouldn't accept people living without it in
: first world country. tHerefore we shouldn't
: deny that to citizens of other countries in
: the world
:
: It's not the case of demanding the rich give
: up their luxuries for other people and some
: sort of classist warfare.
: --Previous Message--
: he made a song that chastised the rich for
: basically being rich and not giving enough,
: even if they do give to charity. who is he
: to decree who should give what to charity
: when it's a donation of their own free will
: . but bono criticizes them saying they
: could give more, and the lyrics i quoted
: were a perfect example of that. how does
: that not illustrate him being a hypocrite if
: he's piously dictating what wealthy people
: should give if they're "denying others
: what they demand for themselves," when
: he has his own private jet, a mansion, a
: personal chauffeur, and more money in his
: bank acct than most people know what to do
: with? i don't see him sacrificing his
: lifestyle to the point of inconvenience like
: he's chastising other millionaires for in
: order to ensure that lower economic classes
: aren't "denied what [the rich] demand
: for themselves," which is what makes
: him a pious, hypocritical cunt. i don't
: possibly know how to make that any clearer.
:
: --Previous Message--
: He does give money to charity. In fact he
: does
: a lot more work than just giving money to
: charity
: And he tries to encourage other people to do
: the same.
:
: That's not hypocrisy at all. It would be
: hypocrisy if he does nothing and then preach
: other people to give money.
:
: The fact that he is a millionaire living in
: luxury doesn't change a thing as he is not
: advocating people lose their luxury
: lifestyle, he's just promoting people
: donating money to charity.
:
: I really fail to see the problem with the
: lyrics you are quoting. Basically just means
: that we shouldn't deny other the things we
: take for granted.
:
: I'll just state that I'm not really
: defending Bono here because I'm some how a
: big fan of him personally. I'm quite sure a
: lot of musician that I like are complete
: prats in real life (in fact my favourite
: songwriter Thom Yorke seems to have a chip
: on his shoulder by the way he treats his
: fans).
:
: I'm only defending Bono because I have a pet
: peeve against people being ultra-cynical and
: spend their time critique people who do
: charity work.
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: i advocate giving to charity, if possible.
: i
: don't hold it against a rich person by
: saying "YOU SHOULD GIVE MORE!"
: it's not my place to dictate what someone
: should or shouldn't give on their own free
: will, as you're interpreting. the thing is,
: bono does think it's his place, and that's
: why he's a pretentious, holier-than-thou,
: hypocritical twat.
:
: hell, just listen to 'crumbs from your
: table' and tell me otherwise.
:
: "Would you deny for others
: What you demand for yourself?"
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