Bono Heckles Mwenda

I like U2’s music, really. Well, Zooropa didn’t get my attention, nor did one other around that time. When I think they are being condescending to Americans or consumerism, which was my take on that album, I get turned off. And, as you saw in a recent post of mine, Bono’s outspokeness can be a problem. It was an interesting coincidence that Bono was mentioned in an article I was reading in the Parade section of the Sunday paper over the weekend that had nothing to do with him.

“They Can Kill Me, But They Can’t Kill My Ideas” was about Andrew Mwenda, founder and managing editor of a weekly newspaper in Uganda. He and his staff risk their lives to put together stories, such those that expose the government corruption, so that the country’s citizens are informed and able to use correct information to make sound decisions. He has been arrested or detained many times, his house has been looted and he has been threatened with a gun literally to his head. He says that when these things happen, he knows he is doing a good job. As a Ugandan citizen and a person who has spent many years reporting on the workings of the government, one would assume that when he says he feels “that foreign aid was undermining African democracies”, he has a fund of knowledge to base that on. Apparently Bono, not a native of Uganda and not someone who has had to struggle to survive, believes otherwise. The article notes that when Mr. Mwenda stated his opinion at a conference in Tanzania in 2007, he was ‘heckled’ by Bono. So we have a man risking his life daily to create a product that informs and assists the pople of his country under attack by a musician. I’m sure it was one of the milder encounters he has experienced as Bono wouldn’t have killed him for his opinion. But, if Bono knows so much and is so passionate about his desire for the world (or maybe just the US) to save all of Africa from itself, why is  he parading around the world singing songs that do not inspire anarchy or change rather than in a government position where his opinion might get action?

http://www.parade.com/news/2009/02/they-can-kill-me-but-they-cant-kill-my-ideas.html

U2 & the Presidential Inaugural Concert

I had thought Bono would promote his own political agenda during U2’s Presidential Inaugural Concert appearance, and so he did. “This is not just an American dream. Also an Irish dream, a European dream, an African dream … an Israeli dream … and also a Palestinian dream.” How dare he, not even a US citizen, take that stage and say the US should help with the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict. He should have gone up there only to do what he is asked and paid to do, sing hit songs. He should not stand on a stage in front of millions of Americans who are suffering with job losses, retirement and savings fund losses, a bad economy, a continuing racial divide, the hard choice of what necessities their income is going to be directed to, and ask them to shift their focus to a conflict that does not concern them.

Bono has so much money he’s never known that choices are faced by millions in every country every day. He’s made millions of dollars from fans that go to U2 concerts and buy their merchandise, so much more money than many families, American, Irish or other, have. The US ‘superpower’ country made him and his 3 bandmates into rich superstars and all he can do is come here asking for us to do more. The US is not the world’s mother, having to go into every conflict and solve it as though they are parenting little children. The US spends its military resources and time in countries that benefit us. Israel and the Palestine have no resources we need. Go to the UN and ask that collective of countries to help.

The purpose of the Presidential Inaugural Concert was to bring America together, to impart the feeling that a good change is coming, that all Americans should come together, work together, strive together. It was for America to feel good about America, to know that our next president is going to bring the concerns of the US citizen to work with him every day. Many people were asked to sing, many people could have also used that stage as a pulpit, but only one selfish person did not understand that it was not the time or place to voice his social/political views.

I Got Out and Voted!

I briefly thought about not going to vote yesterday. With so many others out there, why hassle with the crowds, the lines, the confusion? Then I thought, maybe my vote is needed, maybe late in the day others are thinking about not voting. So I went. No lines, not much traffic really. And, it turns out, a sort of close vote, when your dealing in the tens of thousands.

I voted for Obama. I am just ready to have a different party in the White House. I think he won because we all think a change of party will do us good. I don’t think people thought ‘hey, it’s about time someone other than a white guy is president’. Do black people think that this validates them as equals to whites?  Do black people think he’ll help them out? (Note that I have nothing against any minorities and I’ve never thought they should think of themselves as less than anyone else. I also think you have do make your own life what you want it to be, not wait until someone else does it for you.) At the grass roots level, for the regular work-a-day people, it doesn’t matter who is president. I don’t know if he’ll get us out of Iraq, reduce the national debt, but he’s too high up to really have an impact on my everyday life. It may be important that the Senate may have a majority of Dems so that their philosophical ideas will be voted into place. That may be what we can count on happening.

So, in the end, I’m glad I got out an voted. The fact that there were 3 sets of people running for president who didn’t get a podium at the debates is a blog for another day!

4th of July

Today is a national holiday. Time to barbecue, visit with friends & family, and watch fireworks. But it also the time to remember what this nation stands for. We are the land of the free and are a melting pot. I saw something on the news yesterday about a push to make English the official language. I don’t think that fits what the nation stands for.

The US is open to everyone from anywhere regardless of language. Forcing a language on someone will not make them a better person, will not make them work harder, be more lawful, be kinder to their fellow man, become more American. The stereotype is that people come here to collect welfare and other benefits. But there are many areas of poor, non-working born-in-the-USA Americans. People come here to experience the freedoms we have that they may not have had in their country – the freedom to practice their religion, speak their language, pursue their dreams.

I do believe that our country should not extend the benefits of government assistance, health care, and education to those who are in the country illegally with no intention of becoming citizens. I also believe that our country has a need for illegal aliens because they will take the jobs many of us will not, as this represents an opportunity they may not have in their native country.

As most of the country speaks English and business is conducted internationally in English, non-English speakers will probably be forced by circumstances to learn English to participate in the greater community. Making English the national language will only add an additional hurdle to an immigrant’s potential success.

Hillary has helped women get further in politics

Hillary Clinton won’t become the next presidential candidate but no one should discount what she has achieved. The Democrats have opened this level of politics to women and minorities. For Clinton to have gotten the nomination is a great first step and I never would have expected that she would win the nomination that AND then become president. The women that follow her footsteps will be more likely to achieve the nomination, the women after them more likely to win the presidency. The public needs to see it in small doses to get comfortable with the idea of a woman running the country. Given that the public will want a different party in the White House, Barack Obama has a good chance of winning the election. If this was a year when there was peace, a good economy, and a good housing market, the comfortable choice would be John McCain.

How I Would Change the Educational System if I Could

I remember learning about stuff that now seems to be not worth having spent time on. Why did I need to learn about all the wars we had? Great, it shaped our country, but we need to be producing business/industry leaders and people who are motivated to join the workforce. We need to spend time on practical skills like how to lead people, daily living skills like balancing a checkbook, budgeting, calculating what the best credit card would be, the mortgage process. We need to teach kids conflict resolution, about differences in personalities and how to work with others effectively, cultural differences.

Why didn’t I learn more about important women and minorities? I feel like I learned only that is was men who bought civilization and this country along.

I understand that all of what I learned wasn’t obvious – I know now I learned critical thinking by doing those word problems in math. But I also know I needed to be guided in applying skills to other areas. Do kids know that they can apply their critical thinking skills to TV-watching to know that reality shows exist because they are cheap not because they are good? Do they understand that TV news is a visual medium and that some of what is reported is solely because they have video of it and not because it is important to know? How come we learned about electricity in the same way the discoverers probably did rather than looking at the light switches in our own classrooms?