Anyway, I admire Bono for actually being tolerant and open minded to other viewpoints; lots of people claim to be, but don't practice what they preach. He understands that just because someone has different political views from you doesn't necessarily make them a bad person. Also, just because someone shares your political views doesn't automatically make them a good person. He's got a lot of good sense in that way, and we need more of that in the world.
This is a very true statement(both about Bono but more so about view points). I find that conversations have been replaced with arguments and there is no more discussion but rather “you are either with me or you’re a <insert generalization>”, which escalated the situation.
I believe that social media is a huge contributor to this as you don’t see the person or know their (real) name and you don’t need to think before you type because there are (usually) no repercussions.
Hell, it happens in a regular basis in this place.....”Rachel, you aren’t a XYZ, so you have no idea what it’s like and therefore can’t speak on the topic and need to shut up!” ...so....no dialog but just yelling and preaching ones position(I want to say someone called someone else a pedophile shortly before or after the release of SOE....how the hell does that happen in a U2 forum???? LOL)
Bono has always had a way of having that dialog and working to understand why people think the way they do and then working with that to change them (in some cases he has changed their position on things such as 3rd world debt or The AIDS crisis). That’s why I am so surprised/disappointed by his full tilt anti-Trump stance (From the Desire performance to the Fallen BTBS performance) as he never really goes “all in” like this. To your point, he is so good at understanding people that he usually can have a dialog to maybe change their mind on things but that’s not going to happen.
And before the massive Trump bashing starts....Im of the opinion that he is not a good guy(not even close), that he is isn’t a good representation of America but if you cut off all dialog and conversation then there is no hope for change or an evolution of thought.
That goes for any person. I mean what is more likely to make you sit back and go “okay, I see your point”:
1- “if you don’t like The Best Thing, you’re a piece of shit fake U2 fan who needs to go listen to Rush and die in a corner”
Or
2- “Best Thing has a fun feel to it and I like the drums that kick in after the first chorus and the song is one of few that actually showcases Edges vocals in a way that is just beautiful...blah blah blah”
You might still hate the song but one of those responses is going to make you reply with “Go fuck yourself” and the other is going to make you reply with “here is the problem with Best Thing and why I will always hate it”