Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Bononsense

Options
2»

Comments

  • Options
    #32
    prinz
    Registered Users Posts: 14,598 ✭✭✭✭prinz


    Dades wrote: »
    You guys do understand the power of celebrity?


    it's not that powerful. I actively avoid having to listen to Bono prattle on about something he came across in a pop-up picture book. The "power" of celebrity is a curse on the world, a cancer that needs to be cut out tbh. I'm getting sick of seeing people ride roughshod over nation and international law just because they once-upon-a-time might have been able to hold a tune. The new fad for adoptions for example. Now there are hundreds and hundreds of couples begging to be allowed to adopt, at home and abroad, who go through years of tests, and waiting, and interviews etc....... but if you're Madonna you can go pick one up like a new handbag.

    The power of celebrity is a lot less than you might imagine. Do I remeber what Ginger Spice was special UN ambassador for..... uhmmm no. Not in the slightest. Have I seen her promote any cause, draw attention to any ills, campaign against wrongdoing.... uhmmmm no I haven't. I couldn't care less. Just like I couldn't care less what Bono has to say about anything.

    The only celebrities I respect are people who do their job, and go one about their business. Whether they give 1% or 100% or their money to charity doesn't bother me. What I don't like is some uneducated one-trick ponies trying to set government policy.


  • Options
    #33
    Goduznt Xzst
    Registered Users Posts: 1,353 ✭✭✭Goduznt Xzst


    Deleted User wrote: »
    Mother Theresa gave as much as she could to support her cause.

    You need to read more about Mother Theresa. Again a fine example of the veil of celebrity in action. Also a large supporter of the richest tax exempt organization in the world.
    prinz wrote: »
    See for example Bill Gates, or even Michael Schumacher who has given tens of millions away to charities... without making a spectacle of himself.

    Why is this relevant. Why does "making a spectacle" lessen the result of the act. Does the personality of the philanthropist reduce the weight of the act?

    Bono is an eejit, true, no one is arguing that, he also has an opinion, he's human, and he thinks he's absolutely right, he's Irish.

    Also you'd be a fool to underestimate the power of celebrity. In fact I think you do recognize it's power by calling it a "cancer" and a "curse". Harsh terms for something so powerless. You also accept that celebrity even has a hold over international law. In the capitalist west celebrities are our new Kings and Queens. Charities and research groups need celebrities, because I'm damn sure more people will listen to the vacant jabberings of Bono on curing cancer than they will listen to Nobody Phd who's spent his life in a lab doing the actual work.


  • Options
    #34
    prinz
    Registered Users Posts: 14,598 ✭✭✭✭prinz


    Goduznt Xzst wrote: »
    Why is this relevant. Why does "making a spectacle" lessen the result of the act. Does the personality of the philanthropist reduce the weight of the act?

    it's very relevant when other posters defend Bono's right to try and influence national policy and expenditure by virtue of the fact that he "gives a few bob to charity". Michael Schumacher gives a "few bob" to charity but I haven't seen him meeting the Pope, the G8, x, y and z, telling the German government how to spend money.
    Goduznt Xzst wrote: »
    Bono is an eejit, true, no one is arguing that, he also has an opinion, he's human, and he thinks he's absolutely right, he's Irish.

    He has an opinion. Fine. What he doesn't have IMO as a non-contributor to taxation is a right to tell the Government how the taxes of other peoples should be spent. O he's Irish...does that make it ok?
    Goduznt Xzst wrote: »
    Also you'd be a fool to underestimate the power of celebrity. In fact I think you do recognize it's power by calling it a "cancer" and a "curse". Harsh terms for something so powerless. You also accept that celebrity even has a hold over international law. In the capitalist west celebrities are our new Kings and Queens. Charities and research groups need celebrities, because I'm damn sure more people will listen to the vacant jabberings of Bono on curing cancer than they will listen to Nobody Phd who's spent his life in a lab doing the actual work.

    Simply because they haven't got the wherewithall to learn anything for themselves. They prefer being spoonfed sound-bites on the fashionable cause for the day from the same people who tell them what shampoo to buy or aftershave to wear.


  • Options
    #35
    Dades
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    prinz wrote: »
    Simply because they haven't got the wherewithall to learn anything for themselves. They prefer being spoonfed sound-bites on the fashionable cause for the day from the same people who tell them what shampoo to buy or aftershave to wear.
    That's the world we live in. :o


  • Options
    #36
    prinz
    Registered Users Posts: 14,598 ✭✭✭✭prinz


    Dades wrote: »
    That's the world we live in. :o


    It's not the world I live.I am a conscientious objector to a celebrity fuelled vacuous lifestyle. :D. If I want to hear about Tibet I'll ask the Dalai Lama, not listen to some talentless tart on a redcarpet in LA.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #37
    Goduznt Xzst
    Registered Users Posts: 1,353 ✭✭✭Goduznt Xzst


    prinz wrote: »
    He has an opinion. Fine. What he doesn't have IMO as a non-contributor to taxation is a right to tell the Government how the taxes of other peoples should be spent. O he's Irish...does that make it ok?

    But he DOES have the right to an opinion. Nobody has to listen to him, he has no say in how peoples taxes are actually spent. Take a Taxi around Dublin and I'm sure you'll hear plenty of opinions on what should and should not be done with this country. Bono is no different than the guy down the pub with the master plan. The only difference is the size of his audience, should he censor his opinions because some people don't agree with him? Never, the beauty of free speech is that people can say whatever they want. The problem here is`not what Bono has to say but the idiots that will choose to listen to him purely because of his celebrity.


  • Options
    #38
    Tim Robbins
    Registered Users Posts: 8,980 ✭✭✭Tim Robbins


    Goduznt Xzst wrote: »
    But he DOES have the right to an opinion. Nobody has to listen to him, he has no say in how peoples taxes are actually spent. Take a Taxi around Dublin and I'm sure you'll hear plenty of opinions on what should and should not be done with this country. Bono is no different than the guy down the pub with the master plan. The only difference is the size of his audience, should he censor his opinions because some people don't agree with him? Never, the beauty of free speech is that people can say whatever they want. The problem here is`not what Bono has to say but the idiots that will choose to listen to him purely because of his celebrity.
    But does anyone actually listen to him and change their actions about anything?

    I bought a book written by Jeffrey Sachs, probably because I had only heard about Jeffrey Sachs through Bono. I read the book, didn't really feel I learnt anything I didn't know, didn't give any more or less than I currently give.


  • Options
    #39
    prinz
    Registered Users Posts: 14,598 ✭✭✭✭prinz


    Goduznt Xzst wrote: »
    But he DOES have the right to an opinion. Nobody has to listen to him, he has no say in how peoples taxes are actually spent. Take a Taxi around Dublin and I'm sure you'll hear plenty of opinions on what should and should not be done with this country. Bono is no different than the guy down the pub with the master plan. The only difference is the size of his audience, should he censor his opinions because some people don't agree with him? Never, the beauty of free speech is that people can say whatever they want. The problem here is`not what Bono has to say but the idiots that will choose to listen to him purely because of his celebrity.


    Sure he has a right to an opinion. Just as I have a right to an opinion that he's been consistently leaking talent for years, should concentrate on music and lyric writing instead of trying to be a part-time social crusader, and should really talk about things he knows something about. Same goes for guys down the pub. If I don't know enough about some issue, I keep schtum until I do. I don't go blathering crap because that's what people 'want to hear'. You won't get a big cheer for saying unpopular non politically correct things, regardless of how accurate, apt or prescient they may be. Bono isn't stirring things up, he's just repeating the same worn out lines. Perhaps if he brought something new to the table and drew attention to it, then yeah he'd be worthy of being listened to. But as you say he's not saying anything I haven't heard being said at a pub urinal.


  • Options
    #40
    Goduznt Xzst
    Registered Users Posts: 1,353 ✭✭✭Goduznt Xzst


    prinz wrote: »
    If I don't know enough about some issue, I keep schtum until I do.

    Bully for you, although I think you'll find it's common for the average human to voice an opinion on a subject when they don't have all the facts, only the ones they've personally learnt and/or experienced. How do you determine when you know "enough"... it seems rather a subjective gauge.

    Should Bono use his stage as a soapbox, probably not. But is he wrong for doing so, not in the slightest. Again the burden lies with those that listen to him, not with Bono for voicing his opinions.
    prinz wrote: »
    Perhaps if he brought something new to the table and drew attention to it, then yeah he'd be worthy of being listened to.

    By "something new" do you mean "something I agree with".


  • Options
    #41
    prinz
    Registered Users Posts: 14,598 ✭✭✭✭prinz


    Goduznt Xzst wrote: »
    Bully for you, although I think you'll find it's common for the average human to voice an opinion on a subject when they don't have all the facts, only the ones they've personally learnt and/or experienced. How do you determine when you know "enough"... it seems rather a subjective gauge.

    I am not in the habit of making a tool of myself by speaking out of turn. If I want to voice an opinion, I at least make sure it's a well informed opinion.
    Goduznt Xzst wrote: »
    By "something new" do you mean "something I agree with".

    No. I happen to agree with a lot of what Bono says. What I don't agree with is his position to be telling anyone what they should be doing, his ability to swan in somewhere for a photo op with a President here, a Prime Minister there... You might have seen an interesting piece on Sky News about the recent G8 summt in Aquilani, Italy and the hundreds of representatives of NGO's, of lobby groups, experts in their fields actually being penned in and restrained from actually meeting anyone important. They were told there would be an opportunity for meeting and greeting the heads of state but apparently it never came about or was extremely rushed and limited. I remeber them interviewing one woman who was invited to attend, had accreditation to be there.... and did she actually get to present her case? Er...no. She was never allowed near anyone with any clout. On the other hand if you're a middle aged rock 'star' with stupid sunglasses well then....... come on in Paul...


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #42
    Affable
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,212 ✭✭✭Affable


    Joey the lips wrote: »
    You know whats even funnier. Bonzo spent a long time fighting fot the healthier nations to fund the poor it was proved recently that the bands method of dogdging tax is no different than the countries he is so critical of

    Precisely. Don't be pontificating about giving GDP to Africa when you can't even give a tiny bit of your fortune back to your own country,


  • Options
    #43
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Goduznt Xzst wrote: »
    You need to read more about Mother Theresa. Again a fine example of the veil of celebrity in action. Also a large supporter of the richest tax exempt organization in the world.

    Thats a rather vague answer... telling me to read more. Perhaps you should air your objection? She as an individual did much to help people devoting most of her life to that aim. That is worth quite a bit in my book.

    As for the organisation she represents, I actually don't care. She made the sacrifices. It was her life that she dedicated.


This discussion has been closed.
Advertisement