Why the hell do so many people hate Bono?

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Personality ? Plenty of celebs have far more foul personality stories, and get less hate.

Other celebs aren't in a band as big as U2, and don't get front page photos with presidents...

I think people take issue with how Bono's ego comes into his interviews and stage banter. Even I wince at some of his media appearances. People on this forum have made a habit of simply responding "Bono says a lot of things..."

McCartney doesn't chastized for his PETA/Vegan/Landmine/Seal puppy appearances. Or is Bono more famous than a Beatle?
 
I think people take issue with how Bono's ego comes into his interviews and stage banter. Even I wince at some of his media appearances. People on this forum have made a habit of simply responding "Bono says a lot of things..."

McCartney doesn't chastized for his PETA/Vegan/Landmine/Seal puppy appearances. Or is Bono more famous than a Beatle?

Yes, and we all know media is always 100% right at capturing the celebs' personalities (Zoo TV...)...there is a big difference between the band interviews and one on one Bono interviews. Or indeed between "Bono says a lot of things"/he has an ego (I know...shocking for a lead singer in a rock band) and outright hate for the guy.

Bono, in the last few years, is one of the biggest celebs on the planet and he's been in the biggest band in the world ever since 1987. Yes, I'd say for most people growing up today, that are not familiar with the Beatles, he's more famous than Macca. Who gets maybe 1/100 of the amount of press Bono has...the bigger the fame, the bigger the hate.
 
Yes, and we all know media is always 100% right at capturing the celebs' personalities (Zoo TV...)...there is a big difference between the band interviews and one on one Bono interviews. Or indeed between "Bono says a lot of things"/he has an ego (I know...shocking for a lead singer in a rock band) and outright hate for the guy.

Take for instance his 2001 statements along the lines of "Do we have the best band in the world job?"

This annoys lots of people, fans and non-fans alike. Nothing to do with activism not directly connected to whether his famous or not.

BTW, I attended a Bono speech in a Portland Hockey arena in 2004. I think only 2,500 people paid full amount for ticket and lots of discounts were done to fill it to 4,000. U2 did 8 times that many fans when they played a year later. Personally I was shocked so few fans cared for his only(?) public speaking gig in North America.
 
Oh and I do think that most haters are uninformed bimbo's.

See for yourself, go to youtube and see how many people bitch on how Bono evades taxes. While they have no fucking clue what really happened when the BAND moved their royalties to Holland because Ireland was planning to increase those taxes majorly. :wink: And they also ignore the fact that he pays far more tax to Ireland than any of them. Possibly than all haters combined.

Ignorance is bliss, except on the internet. There it means loud bashing.
 
BTW, I attended a Bono speech in a Portland Hockey arena in 2004. I think only 2,500 people paid full amount for ticket and lots of discounts were done to fill it to 4,000. U2 did 8 times that many fans when they played a year later. Personally I was shocked so few fans cared for his only(?) public speaking gig in North America.

You try too hard.

Really? You don't see the difference between a speaking engagement and a rock concert?

People don't like to hear about how other humans are suffering or are worse off than themselves because it touches upon their own inaction.

Animal cruelty causes don't touch everyone the same because some just don't care and those that do blame most of the cruelty on corporations not their own inaction.
 
You try too hard.

Really? You don't see the difference between a speaking engagement and a rock concert?

People don't like to hear about how other humans are suffering or are worse off than themselves because it touches upon their own inaction.

Animal cruelty causes don't touch everyone the same because some just don't care and those that do blame most of the cruelty on corporations not their own inaction.

And some people say "they´re just animals"
 
We are surrounded by "celebrities" whose especial gift is being arrested for drunk driving, having affairs with their friends' husbands or wives or just throwing away an obscene amount of money for a birthday party, nobody is going to believe that a famous person does anything for other human beings, nobody is going to believe that if one does, it is pure altruism. Hating on internet is completely free of charge, anonimous and cooler than that old-school thing about admiring someone.
Most of internet users are very young people who feel very important hating and bitching, it is not only Bono, it is almost anyone, Bono gets more of this cake just because he's more famous than others, but I don't think internet bitching is indicative of real life opinion on him. I don't even believe they are such serious opinions at all, it's like a game: I'm gonna write some terrible thing in internet and see if someone can beat it.
 
Take for instance his 2001 statements along the lines of "Do we have the best band in the world job?"

This annoys lots of people, fans and non-fans alike. Nothing to do with activism not directly connected to whether his famous or not.

BTW, I attended a Bono speech in a Portland Hockey arena in 2004. I think only 2,500 people paid full amount for ticket and lots of discounts were done to fill it to 4,000. U2 did 8 times that many fans when they played a year later. Personally I was shocked so few fans cared for his only(?) public speaking gig in North America.

What about that statement ? It came from a well respected band, I think safe to say legends, 20 years into their career, with JT, AB and Zoo TV - and now 360 - under their belt (not to mention UF and War). As opposed to younger bands that don't have classic albums or groundbreaking tours who say the same thing, with nothing to back it up. Also...he did say later the point was to stir it up a little. Why so serious ?

And you don't seriously expect Bono to draw the same crowd U2 does...do you?
 
i blame that one south park episode. its scary how much influence the show has on the way kids think these day. shortly after that episode aired i heard a kid in my class at college bad mouthing bono... calling him a douche and what not. so i walked up to him and asked him to give me one good reason to why bono is a douche. his reply after a minute of thinking was "uhhh cuz everytime he introduces himself he goes like i'm bono from U2 so hes uhhh like a sellout and stuff" ... i just shook my head
 
Yeeeeeaaaaaa I think people hated bono before south park

Speaking for just the youth, he's not wrong. I mean, it wasn't just the South Park episode... but stuff like that... you do realize that's where all of the Scientology jokes, etc. come from? South Park definitely has one of the biggest influences on making it 'cool' to hate Bono among young people in this decade.
 
... and then you have the ignorant youth who dont actually know who Bono is, or who U2 is, or anything about him.

But you're right... I don't experience this first hand or anything.
 
:sigh: and I don't work in a school?

I know full well the cultural influence south park has. I'm sure there are some kids out there who base their dislike for bono over one episode (a hilarious one at that). But I think perhaps you should look at the content of the episode for the reasons why most of the people who hate bono hate him, not that the episode caused a rash of hatred.

It's pretty easy, when you look at bono objectively, to figure out why some people dislike him.
 
:sigh: and I don't work in a school?

I know full well the cultural influence south park has. I'm sure there are some kids out there who base their dislike for bono over one episode (a hilarious one at that). But I think perhaps you should look at the content of the episode for the reasons why most of the people who hate bono hate him, not that the episode caused a rash of hatred.

It's pretty easy, when you look at bono objectively, to figure out why some people dislike him.

:sigh: And yet you're not of the youth. You really seem to be giving people a lot more credit than they deserve. Kids are stupid. I bet you could poll at least half of kids in high school and they couldn't tell you one damn thing about Bono. Other than maybe 'he's that humanitarian guy with the sun glasses'.

You are acting as if I'm coming off with this huge bias, when in reality you just like to tell people they're wrong. Hate to break it to you, but people are ignorant. Especially today's youth. More ignorant than ever before (or so it seems).

I'll admit to being ignorant when it comes to certain things. This is not one of them. You want ignorant? Today, numerous times, I tried to spark a conversation in 3 different college classes about the Grammy's. I got an astounding 'never heard of them before' from every single student but ONE. Of 65 students! Granted, not all said something, most of them admitted to not knowing.

You come from a time where Bono was well known. Bono was cool. Whatever it was. You're biased. Kids these days have no reason to know who Bono is. But they are highly susceptible to peer pressure and to do what's 'cool'.
 
"you're not of the youth"? That makes you sound not of the youth.

And not all kids are stupid. You know what's stupid? Generalizations.

What a weird argument you guys are having.

It's even worse than the one I had with Headache the other day, and I'm not even sure he knew I was arguing with him.
 
"you're not of the youth"? That makes you sound not of the youth.

And not all kids are stupid. You know what's stupid? Generalizations.

First off... what?

Second off... it's a good thing you think generalizations are stupid, because you're the only one who has said those exact words next to each other.
 
Fine, I'll bite. I suppose I generalize when I say all generalizations are stupid. Oh, the irony.

Seriously, though - you don't see how saying "you're not of the youth" is an incredibly odd-sounding thing to say? It makes you sound like you're from 1870 or something.
 
Fine, I'll bite. I suppose I generalize when I say all generalizations are stupid. Oh, the irony.

Seriously, though - you don't see how saying "you're not of the youth" is an incredibly odd-sounding thing to say? It makes you sound like you're from 1870 or something.

Fine. You're not a kid. You're not under the age of 18. You're not in high school. You're not in college. You don't socialize with kids. blah. blah. blah.

Pick any of em.
 
Second off... it's a good thing you think generalizations are stupid, because you're the only one who has said those exact words next to each other.

Are you off your game tonight? You usually have good stuff to say, but I have to say, that sentence doesn't really make much sense either.

I'm only assuming I got the gist of it.
 
Are you off your game tonight? You usually have good stuff to say, but I have to say, that sentence doesn't really make much sense either.

I'm only assuming I got the gist of it.

I'm saying I never generalized 'all kids' as being stupid. But you said generalizations are stupid, as though I did generalize all kids as stupid.
 
Ohhhhh, "all kids" were the words I used together.

Got it.

I still say you're having a weird argument. ;)
 
Silly as it may be... it's kinda ridiculous to think that working in a school is the equivalent to being a student in terms of understanding our younger generations. Especially in musical taste, understanding, and knowledge.

This is simply arguing the difference between a first hand experience and a second hand experience.
 
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