It's over 7 years old.....from Blabbermouth
HENRY ROLLINS Questions Timing Of U2 Singer BONO's Activism - Jan. 8, 2003
Punk rock icon Henry Rollins recently questioned U2 activist frontman Bono's motives in getting involved in so many causes, implying in no uncertain terms that the Irish singer may be using his high-profile involvement in politics to promote the group's current "greatest hits" album.
"I think if the guy is doing something, it's better than nothing — but I just wonder if he's following through," the ex-BLACK FLAG frontman told Britain's Sunday Mirror.
Although Rollins is in no way a U2 fan, he respects Bono's convictions. "I hate this guy's music, but I like the idea of absolving Third World debt, because otherwise these people are going to die," he said. "So if he's using all that rock-star power, well, right on. Like he's Mr. Africa Third World Debt Guy, which is a huge issue, but now, he's Mr. AIDS Guy. Well, wait a minute, how did you go from Third World debt to AIDS?"
Rollins is skeptical about the timing of the activism as well, suggesting to the Mirror, "Is this a crusade or really good promo for U2's new 'Greatest Hits' album? I have to think his heart's in the right place. I think he's a boring singer, but I don't think he's a bad man."
Obviously, Henry Rollins has no idea about the Africa issue or about Bono and his motivations.
1.)Where was he when Bono was writing songs about seeing war, grinding poverty and drug addiction up close in Dublin? Where was he when Bono was helping a great amount with Band Aid, Live Aid and taking service trips to Ethiopia with Ali? Bono always cared about these issues, and it comes from having grown up in a very different Ireland than we see today and from having a difficult life in general(mother dying tragically).
What does Henry Rollins not understand about the undebatable fact that after Joshua Tree, U2 could have all retired to the south of France and just counted money for the rest of their lives on the beach?
Why the hell would Bono need to be doing activism to sell records in 2003??? 150 million career to that point wasn't enough? ATYCLB's 10 million and Elevation's 100% sell outs wasn't enough? U2 was irrelevant? What completely flopped for U2 in the early 2000s that I somehow missed that would require a massive publicity campaign and Bono good will tour to get U2 back in the game?
Even if it was 1980 and U2 were unknown, their strategy of sending demos to DJ's until they catch on with someone is a lot more efficient and less expensive/time consuming than going to Africa in hopes the media picks up on it and people say "what a good guy, I'll buy his album!"
It pisses me off when people like Rollins make these suggestions because Bono gives a lot of his own personal time and money to the causes he believes in. He'll spend weeks at a time in Africa, working with Red, working with Edun, speaking at events, meeting with world leaders, following through, etc. He doesn't have to do any of this. It affected his energy level a lot during Elevation, when it was show nights 1, 2 and 3 and then Drop The Debt events nights 4 and 5 then maybe day 6 off only to do another show on day 7.
This is just such elementary stupid stuff its not worth even thinking about. Either you like an album enough to buy it or you don't. Unless the artist is an ax murderer, the public at large doesn't take into much consideration what they do in their time off.
2.)Rollins clearly has no understanding of even the most basic concepts of Africa issue. He was "drop the debt" and that was great, and now he's all about AIDS and that is opportunism. The two issues are interconnected, as is every other issue of poverty in Africa- lack of education leads to lack of contraception use, increases aids, people are sick and unproductive and therefore poor, they're poor they can't get clean water, they don't have clean water they get sick again, etc.
What did he think, that debt on a ledger was going to kill all of these people by itself, just because the ink looks so menacing? It was what the countries were going to do with this money instead of owe it out to bad lenders that would save lives: AIDS prevention, clean water, bug nets, education, etc. All of which Bono is deeply involved in. (DATA, debt, aids, trade) AIDS is one of the biggest killers, and much of the dropped debt has been plowed into effectively reducing AIDS deaths.
I just can't get over how ignorant a comment that was by Rollins! What did he think, the African countries were going to have a party with the dropped debt, and that would make everyone happy and then happy people don't get sick or kill eachother, hell they may even forget they are poor and forget to die?
Bono always saw this as interconnected, and even more so after he sat down with economists like Jeffrey Sachs and others to get a detailed explanation of how this stuff works. So its not like Bono is just "using his rock star face" like Rollins claims, he actually educates himself on the issues and is viewed as a credible voice by many, many experts.
As for the comments that some experts think what Bono is doing is counterproductive, it is an illusion they have. Because the FACTS do in fact show that what Bono advocates for, probably more notably than anyone else in the world, works and gets results. The money that has flowed as a result of the millennium development goals is unlocked by politicians. Many of these politicians who control this money have personally attested to being pleaded with by cabinet members, citizens, economists, health professors, religious, etc and not being quite swayed and then meeting with Bono and being 100% convinced by his arguments. So who do we trust more? Some "experts," many of whom have their own agenda and take issue primarily with the fact that Bono also defends capitalism, or world leaders of all political stripes who control the money and have attested to Bono's effectiveness?
BVS is quite right. Bono is not a saint nor is anyone on this Earth save a very few people. However, I have yet to see any negative thing about him as a person(like, I met him and he's a total jerk) turn out to be factually accurate. Just unsubstantiated 2nd or 3rd hand rumors. I'll go with what everyone else in the world says on this one. The negative things that Gallagher or Mcullough say are plain and simple jealousy. Its not too hard to tell that Oasis and Echo wished to be as big as U2 and somehow feel they belong there with them. The negative things that people like Rollins say about Africa are just plain stupid and uninformed.
As for Rollins, he's just an idiot. What he said proves as much.
I didn't even know about the cretin part until you said it. That's badass. 
