How come everyone hates Bono so much?

[SilkRoad]

It seems to have become a major left-wing/middle-class fad to hate Bono. I can't quite figure out why.

I may be biased to not hate him, as I have been a huge U2 fan for more than half my life (though in the biggest way from age 15-20 or so). Mind you, he is more than a little annoying. He can come across as self-centered, self-righteous, preachy, OTT, pretentious...etc.

But people seem to have chosen to hate him because he speaks up and campaigns for the causes he cares about. I should qualify again, I don't necessarily agree with all his views or approaches. But the thing that makes me laugh/go is that a lot of people seem to find celebrities who are drug-addled, alcoholic, Satan worshipers, stupid, murderers, etc, highly lovable and even admirable. Based on all the Bono-hating, the biggest sin of all is using your fame and popularity to promote what by most people's standards are good causes.

I may be taking it too far, but I find this an interesting example of the world's skewed morality.

 

[Phantonym]

I don't really pay that much attention to celebrities. I like U2 but that's about it. No point in hating anybody.

 

[SilkRoad]

I don't really pay that much attention to celebrities. I like U2 but that's about it. No point in hating anybody.

A very good and diplomatic answer. Seriously, I have come across a surprising number of people who say things like "I don't like U2 because I hate Bono." If you hate his singing, sure...but the fact that he's a campaigner?!

 

[proteanmix]

Haters gonna hate.

I've somehow managed to see him and his group U2 twice. He's fine with me.

 

[Jeffster]

I've never heard a single person ever say they hate Bono.

 

[sLiPpY]

I don't hate Bono but am more than a little ticked because everything U2 has released since Achtung sucks!

Used to be able to count on them for a complete texture and a couple of amazing songs that never made airplay.

Now they just wobble around onstage behind rose colored and oversized shades. Cranking out lame tunes not even a retired boomer should be subjected to.

It's not even good elevator music.

U2 Completely and Utterly SUCKS!

 

[SilkRoad]

I've never heard a single person ever say they hate Bono.

Serious? Maybe it's a UK thing! I'm sure I even saw a newspaper article more or less on this subject!!

I don't hate Bono but am more than a little ticked because everything U2 has released since Achtung sucks!

Used to be able to count on them for a complete texture and a couple of amazing songs that never made airplay.

Now they just wobble around onstage behind rose colored and oversized shades. Cranking out lame tunes not even a retired boomer should be subjected to.

It's not even good elevator music.

U2 Completely and Utterly SUCKS!

I have to partly-agree/partly-disagree with you on this. Achtung was a great album, and then Zooropa and Pop had a few moments, but overall were pretty poor. But I love their 2000's stuff - maybe a bit retro, but some great great songs. (How can you not love Magnificent, Moment of Surrender, Vertigo, City of Blinding Lights, Walk On...the list goes on...)

 

[JivinJeffJones]

Maybe people consider it greedy that he wants to be famous, hip (?), rich, talented, attractive to women and morally laudable? He has everything else already, now he wants to park it all on a nice piece of moral high-ground.

Actually I think it's just that people enjoy public vice since it gives them a vicarious thrill whilst also making them feel virtuous by comparison, whereas public crusading for causes makes people feel unvirtuous by comparison. Because of Bono's fame he's in the public eye a lot more, so he attracts more resentment. People would probably hate WorldVision or the Red Cross if they were made up of just one non-sweating, carefully-coiffed dude in a leather jacket wearing funny glasses.

Hmm, so many reasons really. I could go on and on. I respect him though, he'll be happy to note.

 

[SilkRoad]

Actually I think it's just that people enjoy public vice since it gives them a vicarious thrill whilst also making them feel virtuous by comparison, whereas public crusading for causes makes people feel unvirtuous by comparison. Because of Bono's fame he's in the public eye a lot more, so he attracts more resentment. People would probably hate WorldVision or the Red Cross if they were made up of just one non-sweating, carefully-coiffed dude in a leather jacket wearing funny glasses.

I think you're pretty much spot-on about that. It just annoys me when people try to disguise the fact that they're just jealous/resentful by taking the high moral ground themselves.

Btw, I hasten to add that Bono isn't paying me to drum up good wishes for him, or anything like that I do genuinely find him a bit annoying, as well as having a lot of liking and admiration for him!

 

[wolfy]

I've never heard a single person ever say they hate Bono.

Serious? Maybe it's a UK thing! I'm sure I even saw a newspaper article more or less on this subject!!

The first person I heard say that they hate Bono was Henry Rollins. He did a whole piece on Bono. I think he felt that Bono and U2 rode trends.

 

[Oaky]

Well, there was that south park episode...

 

[DaPerformer]

I love Bono. I've been a big fan of U2 since the 80's and I only like him more and more as time goes by. I guess I can understand where a person might be taken back by another if he is very outspoken about a topic that they are against... so I guess being outspoken itself could attract some negative from some people...

 

[SilkRoad]

I love Bono. I've been a big fan of U2 since the 80's and I only like him more and more as time goes by. I guess I can understand where a person might be taken back by another if he is very outspoken about a topic that they are against... so I guess being outspoken itself could attract some negative from some people...

I'm really starting to wonder now if the Bono-hating thing is more of a cynical European reaction - given that I think most of you are Americans (I'm a Canadian living in the UK, for the record).

If it was mostly English people in this thread, at least half of you would have said how much you loathe him - from my experience.

 

[rhinosaur]

To me, it seems like he has a huge ego. That doesn't make me hate him, but I would be wary of inviting him over for tea.

 

[INTP]

they hate him because so meny people say that they hate him

 

[Unkindloving]

I know people who like him. Personally, i merely find him annoying. He strikes me as pretentious.

My little crap has accomplished many things. But he could never shed the fact that he was really... a number two. So he spent his life trying to be number one, in everything.

That's why he's able to do so much, try to help so many people, but still seem like such a piece of shit.

 

[Prime]

Mind you, he is more than a little annoying. He can come across as self-centered, self-righteous, preachy, OTT, pretentious...etc.

I'm a believer in this camp. He takes on issues which are admirable but speaks with an air of feigned authority that makes me push mute. It's not just a British thing either. SST Records used to print Bono Sucks t-shirts back in the 80's.

Don't get me wrong, though. Celebrities with problems aren't any better. It's all a matter of who's the loudest.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

I definitely think a lot of people hate Bono, and I am puzzled by it, because many celebrities are criticized for NOT doing what he does. You kind of can't win as a celebrity.

Bono doesn't just give lip service to fuzzy concepts like "awareness"...he educates himself on the causes he champions, he travels to the places he wants to help, and he engages world leaders, scientists and economists in discussions of how to help. He's not a dilettante. If there is a reason why people hate him, I think it's because he makes no bones about openly using his celebrity to get people to pay attention to causes. I think that he sees his celebrity as a chit to be cashed in, and if you don't understand that this is what he's doing, it can come off as pompous or self-absorbed.

That's not to say he's egoless. Any rock star worth his salt has a pretty gigantic ego, even if they like to hide it (*cough* Thom Yorke). It's in the job description. And I'd love it if he didn't make speeches during concerts. I'd prefer he kept it separate. That said, I don't see why he should be pilloried for an ego when you have a world full of people like Pete Doherty, 50 Cent and Roman Polanski who are romanticized and cast as tragic heroes for their failings or misdeeds. I guess the lesson is that earnestness is not cool.

In the end it's the same old story. People who aspire are routinely torn to shreds by the wolves if they're not flawless. Anyone who tries to do great things needs to always be aware of the rabble and their cry of "You think you're better than me?"

 

[Shimmy]

Bono is a self-obsessed attention whore. That being said, he's no worse then any other pop-star who ever lived.

 

[SilkRoad]

Bono is a self-obsessed attention whore. That being said, he's no worse then any other pop-star who ever lived.

Sure, and you could argue that unlike many others, he's done something useful with it...