Bono on The O’Reilly Factor
Posted by nathan on 25 Apr 2007 | Tagged as: Uncategorized, thoughts on life.
on Sept. 2, 2004, Bono appeared as a guest on the O’Reilly Factor. Here are selected excerpts from that conversation:
O’Reilley: You want American drug companies then to send to Africa all the drugs they can possibly…
Bono: I’m not asking drug companies to behave like philanthropists. I’m saying we, our governments, United States and Europe, have to deal with this problem. If we don’t, we will reap a very ill wind. This is — it’s not just being bleeding hearts here. The strategic implications. There’s 10 million AIDS orphans in Africa right now. There will be 20 by the end of the decade. 12 right now. This is chaos. This is a consummating (ph) havoc, and the war against terror, which you talk about every night, is bound up in the war against poverty.
O’Reilley: But it’s not their fault when you’ve got the war on terror so intense and so — look, if 9/11 didn’t happen, you would have a much easier time with your crusade.
Bono: Yes. I disagree. Two things happened on 9/11. There was — the one that’s reported, of course, is the attack on America. But the one that has not been reported, and reported with less disgust, is what happened in the aftermath, which was those pictures around the world of people jumping up and down, celebrating the Twin Towers turning to dust. One of the most disturbing — they were the most disturbing images for me as a fan and a person who loves America.
A lot of people and this great country went. I don’t care who you are, a politician, you stop that. How did this happen to us? How did this — and this is the America that liberated Europe? Not just liberated Europe, we built Europe with the Marshall Plan which cost, by the way, 1 percent GDP over four years. That’s when “Brand USA” was at its brightest.
Right now “Brand USA” has taken some blows and some knocks. And I’m saying there’s an opportunity here. The Marshall Plan rebuilds Europe as a bulwark against Sovietism in the Cold War. It was smart. It wasn’t just goodness of heart, which it also was. It was smart. And I’m saying in a hot war, here’s a chance now to redescribe ourselves and be a bulwark against other militarism.
O’Reilley: And you believe that the world’s negative opinion of America would change if America took the lead to save people in Africa?
Bono: One hundred percent. They are. America is taking the lead.
O’Reilley: You’re certainly doing God’s work. I mean, I admire you very much for what you’re doing.
Bono: God must have a great sense of humor to have me on board.
O’Reilley: No. No. We need people like you to command a worldwide audience and to get people at least thinking about this. And then we need the politicians out here in the convention, in both conventions to come up with a strategy. I do agree that if America could take the lead, it would turn public opinion around and help us in the war on terror.
Bono: It a really, really important time right now in the world. And I’m a fan of America, and my band comes here and we love it here. But it’s dangerous around the world. We travel around the world.
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