Lefties Love U2? Not Necessarily...

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Diane L

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It's been a long-held belief of mine that if you're a U2 fan, your political views tend to veer towards the left. But FYM has challenged this view considerably, and a thread on a major left-wing blog has now blown this assumption apart.

atrios.blogspot.com right now has a thread called "New U2" on its home page. The blogmaster, atrios, started it by commenting that he thinks "Vertigo" sounds like the Supremes "You Keep Me Hanging On." A few people have mentioned that they like U2, like me (who posted over there as librarydiane), but others have been going on about how they don't like U2. One person said the Pogues are the only good Irish band...in fact, judging by the comments there, the Pogues are pretty popular. Another brought up Henry Rollins. A couple of the comments have been downright vile, and would have gotten the thread closed at Interference. Several dislike the "uno, dos, tres...catorce"...oh, it goes onandonandON, and you here get the idea.

I'd love to see what you Interferencers think of this thread, if you get a chance to check it out...it's getting pretty lengthy.

As for me, I feel like everything I knew was wrong, nothing I believed was true. Yeah, I'm being overly dramatic, but I can't understand how anyone can dislike U2, and I've enjoyed reading this left-wing blog and...the fact that so many people there dislike this band that is so important to me makes me feel much less enthusiastic about that place.

But I'm still enthusiastic about Kerry/Edwards...!
 
I used to be rather left of centre and loved U2, but that changed quite drastically to libertarian (for many of the same reasons as someone like Christopher Hitchens supports Bush) and I still love U2.

I doubt that political persuasion has too much to do with somebodies taste in music. But Atrios and Kos didn't win the WaPo readers choice blog awards but LGF did win the Best International Blog -> the lizardoid web widens mwhoahahaha.

If you want to be shocked check out this site.
http://www.conservativepunk.com/
 
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Diane L, I just read through the whole thing, and personally other than a lot of people not caring for the "one two three fourteen" thing (can't say I care for that either), I don't see that it's all that bad. It's not a U2 site, so you can't really expect everyone there to love them. I'm on a Church (band) site and while some people there love U2, there are also some that despise them, and the majority fall somewhere in middle. The only place where most people will love U2 is on a U2 site.

I do understand your surprise at finding conservative U2 fans though. Hell, I can't understand how anyone who is the least bit conservative can like The Church, but there are a few (honestly, I think there might be three worldwide -- I certainly hope there's only that many! ;) ). The Church isn't overtly political in their music, yet I and most of the Church fans I know are shocked when we run across a conservative Church fan. I know people say that social/political idealology has nothing to do with musical taste, but a conservative Church fan is a bit like a vegan who loves bacon -- it's just plain wrong!:D
 
My own father hated U2 for the longest time, and then on a drive up to Sydney I put Achtung Baby in the player and he was shocked to learn that it was U2.
 
To me it's strange that U2 would be associated with leftism. They always seemed like a religious good guy type of band to me. Bono's charity work does not seem leftist to me, but humanitarian. As Bono himself says, "I'm a non partisan guy."
 
I think the assumption that U2 was a "leftist" Rock band came from their association in the 1980's and early 1990's with such movements as the anti-nuclear/disarmament movement, the anti-apartheid movement, the solidarity movement with Central American freedom struggles (El Salvador, Nicaragua, etc - remember "Bullet the Blue Sky"?), the Amnesty International tour, their involvement with Greenpeace with the Sellafield protests, etc.

In the 1990's, there have been more of a humanitarian side to U2's activism - the concert for Sarajevo, Bono's passionate appeal for the Mothers of the Disappeared during Popmart, the Free Tibet concert, NetAid, the Jubilee 2000 movement, etc.

It has only been since Bono helped to found DATA in 2002, that he has taken on a more "non-partisan" bent because he knew that was the BEST way to ensure funding for Global AIDS and anti-poverty programs.:yes:

So, U2 has a history of openly supporting organizations and "causes" that have been considered anti-establishment all their professional lives and that has not changed to this day (check out Edge's comments in the Vanity Fair article).

And, please do not confuse Bono's astute politicking to get money for Global AIDS and anti-poverty programs with any change in his basic political leanings - Bono is a very stubborn person (bless him for that) and doesn't change his points of view easily. ;)

THE GOAL IS SOUL....:bono: :edge: :adam: :larry: :hug:
 
U2democrat said:
lol this reminds me of a thing the Daily Show did where they interviewed a punk who wasa voting for bush. it was HILARIOUS.

Yeah! Cause it's just so wrong that's it's amusing! :D
 
I'm definitely NOT leftist, but my political beliefs were in place before I became a U2 superfan so there's really no correlation between the two.
 
The Edge encourages people to vote for Kerry in his recent Postcard from the Edge. I realize that doesn't make him leftist though.
Didn't the band support Clinton in the 1992 election during Zoo TV? I could be wrong about that but I think I remember something to that effect in Flanagans "At the End of the World".
 
LivLuvAndBootlegMusic said:
I'm definitely NOT leftist, but my political beliefs were in place before I became a U2 superfan so there's really no correlation between the two.

But that's what's so weird to me, how people can separate the two. For instance, I could never quite like the Ramones after I learned they were fans of Reagan (and I made sure I never bought anything of theirs). I wouldn't even be able to stand The Church (and trust me, I utterly adore The Church) if I knew that their social and political views were vastly different than mine, even though their music is not overtly political. I would just find it grating to give them financial support (and I give them a lot of financial support! :rolleyes: ).
 
indra said:


But that's what's so weird to me, how people can separate the two. For instance, I could never quite like the Ramones after I learned they were fans of Reagan (and I made sure I never bought anything of theirs). I wouldn't even be able to stand The Church (and trust me, I utterly adore The Church) if I knew that their social and political views were vastly different than mine, even though their music is not overtly political. I would just find it grating to give them financial support (and I give them a lot of financial support! :rolleyes: ).

1) There's nothing to seperate, the two never went together. I was young republican before I was into U2.

2) I have friends and relative who have opposing political views and I don't feel the need to be seperate from them. My mom is a liberal democrat to the extreme and I still lover her :shrug:. In the end we all want the same things: peace, love, happiness, freedom, etc...it's just how we get there that's different.

3) U2 are Irish, not American, so while they have every right to have an opinion on American politics, it doesn't carry as much weight to me.
 
A_Wanderer said:
I(for many of the same reasons as someone like Christopher Hitchens supports Bush)

I'm sorry, come again?

He's just endorsed Kerry this past week, and among other things said:

Subjectively, Bush (and Blair) deserve to be re-elected because they called the enemy by its right name and were determined to confront it. Objectively, Bush deserves to be sacked for his flabbergasting failure to prepare for such an essential confrontation.

As for Bush's post-invasion plan, Hitchens referred to it as "near impeachable" incompetence.
 
indra said:
But that's what's so weird to me, how people can separate the two. For instance, I could never quite like the Ramones after I learned they were fans of Reagan (and I made sure I never bought anything of theirs).

You are creating a difficult, if not impossible standard to consistantly live by if you only like artists with matching political leanings.
 
nbcrusader said:


You are creating a difficult, if not impossible standard to consistantly live by if you only like artists with matching political leanings.

First, I didn't say "matching," I said "vastly different." There are artists I like who are more liberal than I; there are artists less liberal than I. But vast differences in social/political outlook bother me enough that I choose not to support artists I don't agree with in a major way.

Second, I don't think it does create "a difficult, if not impossible standard." I find I naturally gravitate to artists (not just in music, but in many media actually) who's views tend to be more liberal. I think a person's social/political/religious views do affect how he/she perceives the world around him/her, and I find the work of those who see things in certain ways more appealing to me. So it's really not all that difficult, and it isn't terribly constricting either.

After all...the best artists are liberals anyway! :D :D
 
U2democrat said:
lol this reminds me of a thing the Daily Show did where they interviewed a punk who wasa voting for bush. it was HILARIOUS.

:lol: What reasons did he have to vote Bush?

Seriously. Weird.

Last time I wondered about artists is when I learned that this guy.. what was his name? .. this harsh satan-lover dressed in black.. he was very intelligent politically, loved his comments.
 
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U2Kitten said:
To me it's strange that U2 would be associated with leftism. They always seemed like a religious good guy type of band to me. Bono's charity work does not seem leftist to me, but humanitarian. As Bono himself says, "I'm a non partisan guy."

Hey hey, I´m a religious good guy type! We´re all religious good guy types! I like the Dixie Shicks *hicks*! I like U2. I read the Bible. The Sermont on the Mount means poverty reduction.

The Ramones liked Reagan? Duh :down:

The funniest comment I ever heard about U2 being leftist or not came from an Irish who lived in Amsterdam: "Bono leftist? Nah come on. This asshole owns half Dublin".
 
whenhiphopdrovethebigcars said:


:lol: What reasons did he have to vote Bush?

Seriously. Weird.

Last time I wondered about artists is when I learned that this guy.. what was his name? .. this harsh satan-lover dressed in black.. he was very intelligent politically, loved his comments.

i don't remember his reasons but his face was painted like a skull. you know, white paint, black around the eyes, etc. i just about died laughing :lmao:
 
Shart1780, there is a difference between finding someone elses views disagreeable and disrespecting them - a very important thing to learn.

Anitram I was looking at this article from October the 21st.
Why I'm (Slightly) for Bush
by Christopher Hitchens
The election season is always hellish for people who fancy that they live by political principles, because at such a time "politics" becomes, even more usually, a matter of show business and superficial calculation. Ever since 1980, when I bet the liberals of New York that Reagan would win easily (and didn't have to buy my own lunch for months afterward), I have sympathized with the "prisoners' dilemma" that faces liberals and leftists every four years. The shady term "lesser evil" was evolved to deal with this very trap. Should you endorse a Democrat in whom you don't really believe? Is it time for that deep-breath third-party vote, or even angry abstention, of the sort that has tortured some Nation readers ever since they just couldn't take Humphrey over Nixon? This magazine prints columnists who regularly describe the terms of the captivity with more emotion than I can now summon.
...

...

Should the electors decide for the President, as I would slightly prefer, the excruciating personality of George Bush strikes me in the light of a second- or third-order consideration. If the worst that is said of him is true--that he is an idiotic and psychically damaged Sabbath-fanatic, with nothing between his large Texan ears--then these things were presumably just as true when he ran against Al Gore, and against nation-building and foreign intervention. It is Bush's conversion from isolationism that impresses me, just as it is the parallel lapse into isolationism on Kerry's part that makes me skeptical. You don't like "smirking"? What about the endless smirks and smarmy hints about the Administration's difficulties, whether genuine or self-imposed? The all-knowing, stupid smirks about the "secular" Saddam, or the innocuousness of prewar Iraq? The sneers about the astonishing success of our forces in Afghanistan, who are now hypocritically praised by many who opposed their initial deployment? This is to say nothing of the paranoid innuendoes I don't have to name that are now part of pseudo-"radical" rumor-mongering and defamation. Whichever candidate wins, I shall live to see these smirks banished, at least.
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041108&s=hitchens

Now one can see how I was under the impression that he had actually slightly endorsed Bush because there is an ever so slight difference when it comes to this.
 
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U2democrat said:


in what ways do you disrepect them politically and religiously?

Politically I think they can be way too idealistic. I don't want to get into an argument about issues, but I don't agree with his opinions on war alot of times. Same with the gun control and abortion thing. Plus I just get tired of the whole "Love and peace!! We need to love one another!! Lay down your weapons brother. Where's the love?" stuff. While all that is a nice thought, it's simply unrealistic and annoying after a while. Singers have been singing that since the 60's and it's serving no purpose but to annoy most of us and remind us of pacifist hippies. I do support his cause in Africa, though I don't really like him singing about it.

Religiously, again, I think he's too idealistic. I'm no unitarian, and I don't believe in the "many ways to Heaven" view. The Bible specifically condemns teaching like this, and says only Christ can get you to Heaven, Period. Bono treats fundamentalists as close-minded idiots who are completely intolerant of others. It honestly pisses me off. Oh and I AM willing to argue with people on this issue.

While I love the band for many reasons, I disagree AND disrespect them for others.
 
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I actually used to lean left, until a few key events. Clinton's scandal, blow jobs in the oval office and nothing but adulations for him. 2000 election and trying to count votes where no indentation had been made and also the Gore people trying to throw out military votes. And now the left seems to think Bush is more evil than our enemy and it is worth dividing the nation by politicizing this war and reveling in it's difficulties just to get their party back in power.

Yeah, I used to lean left when the left had some semblance of respectability. I guess I'm much more liberal in my personal life than in my political views right now, which fits with my admiration of U2 and their faith.
 
iota said:
And now the left seems to think Bush is more evil than our enemy and it is worth dividing the nation by politicizing this war and reveling in it's difficulties just to get their party back in power.

i don't know any lefty who believes this.
 
I don't disrespect U2 as people, there's just a few views they hold that cause me to disrespect them on certain levels.

They're definitely respectable guys. They have good intentions and present themselves well so I have no reason to disrespect them on the whole.
 
LivLuvAndBootlegMusic said:


Yeah, so I have to listen to shitty music 'cus I'm a republican then?! :p

Yep! :D It's just the price you have to pay...


And poor shart1780...he's doomed to a lifetime of crappy art and music....:shrug: ;)
 
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