This post is not a rebel post ... this post is "Yeah ... this will probably come out wrong"
Fully appreciating the incongruity of feeling the need to "defend" a band that is drawing sixty to eighty thousand people a night to their shows, Dolberry would like to vent a little in general about the harsh reactions that U2 (and Bono, in particular) draws in some corners. You, happy reader, are actually doing me a service here. By venting in advance, I'll be able to avoid direct confrontation w/ any critics at the show tomorrow or afterwards. I'll think to myself ... "Sir or Madam, you were seriously pwn3d on the DCV!" and walk away smugly. That is how the passive-aggressive Dolberry rolls. (Is there any other point to having a blog that only 6 people read?)
To be clear, I don't have a problem w/ people that don't like U2's music. There's something mystical about the combination of poetry and rhythm that affects different people differently. Dolberry personally cannot appreciate the aural value of scores of bands, singers, songs that others do. (I'm looking at you again here ABBA.) There are some frequently cited complaints about U2 that I think are illogical and seek to counter here.
1. "U2 is too political. Shut up and sing, Bono.": OK, this one bothers me the most. Excellent article here from Jim Wallis about his DC experience w/ U2 360. In that link and elsewhere (comments in the WaPo review of the concert) there are accounts of people at the show yelling at Bono to shut up as he expounds (for less than 60-90 seconds, mind you) about poverty in Africa, political prisoners in Burma, protecting the environment, or praising Nancy Pelosi and George Bush for their efforts to improve the state of our world. In my opinion, U2's politics are not particularly political. Is anyone really FOR impoverished and starving Africans? Is anyone really FOR maintaining multi-generational Protestant-Catholic grievances and the terrorism that follows? Is anyone really AGAINST promoting freedom in Burma ... are there really big supporters for the Burmaese military junta here in the States? If so, why? Unfortunately, I think politics has gotten so partisan, spin-centered, and just flat-out screwed up that people reflexively turn away from things like this that simply sound political ...
2. "Bono is a raving messianic megalomaniac.": What part of "rock star" are you having a hard time following? Your "egotistical madman" is my "charismatic leader". Semantics, I guess.
3. "U2 is going to hell ": Someone at APD's school expressed alarmed concern to him yesterday that he was attending a U2 concert ... warning against "false prophets" and those that "use God's words for their personal gain". Look as a professing Christian, I don't know if I'm Christian "enough" ... let alone judge other in the faith. (Based on my own "righteous" anger I felt inside when I heard that an adult unloaded all this on a 12 year old yesterday ... I clearly have progress to make on emulating Jesus' example.) My own personal opinion, based on Matthew 25, is that God favors the imperfect among us who do something about injustice, hunger, poverty, and truly loving our neighbors rather than the imperfect among us who are considered "righteous". If one can show one's faith by one's deeds, I see a vibrant one in U2.
4. "U2 are hypocrites.": Typically this refrain goes "How can U2 lecture me on the environment when their tour emits 4 gazillion tons of CO2? How can U2 lecutre me on poverty when they own a castle in France and a hilltop mansion along the Big Sur?" News flash: nearly everyone is a hypocrite. Don't we all have ideals that we may not always live up to? Most of us are fortunate enough not to have these inconsistencies displayed on a worldwide screen. Dolberry is certainly a hypocrite. I claim to care about the poor and the hungry and the hopeless, but I own a big TV and a Playstation and I live in a comfort that numbs me from doing anything substantial about the plight of others. I claim to care about the environment but for 2-3 years I drove around w/ a "smoker" (the Tercel) because I was too lazy/cheap to maintain it properly. I plead guilty to these and scores of others where I say one thing ... but do another. Be honest critics ... you too are hypocrites. So, what is the resolution to this universal tendency toward hypocrisy ... well it can't be to stop trying to do the right thing ... to stop promoting the right thing. We are an imperfect people but we still need leaders everywhere (also imperfect) to step up and show us the way to a better world.
Bottom line: you don't have to like U2 ... some of us do ... Dolberry in particular ... if you don't like U2 for one of the four reasons above ... keep it to yourself when around Dolberry. Thanks! :-)
Am I bugging you? I don't mean to bug you.
