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Originally posted by: franna
  Just don't try that in the US.  It probably won't turn out so well.  

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Actually, he did. And it didn't.

The polite Canadian in me cringes every time Bob makes an outburst like that, but maybe some people do need to be shocked out of their apathy. Problem is, as with any good shock technique, the more you use it, the less it works.

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Originally posted by: Jules
"I agree with Rita on this one. Sometimes things have to be said and good for Bob for having the guts"

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You may be misunderstanding my point.  I agree with you in that "sometimes things need to be said."  I also agree that it's good BG has the guts to say something. 

My concern is with HOW those things are said.  BGs tactics are apparently effective within the UK's (and EU's) cultual norms.  Those tactics backfire in the US, ESPECIALLY when said by an outsider, a foreigner with NO ties here.

I avoided getting into this part of the discussion because it seems rude, but Bono gets it (which is something I've said before).

What's the difference?  Well, I suppose Bono flatters us first, and then speaks to our vision of who we want to be.  His flattery may or may not be genuine.  Since he owns a home in NYC, and writes love songs to both NYC in particular and America in general, some of it probably is. 

Admittedly, BG could NEVER say the things Bono does, as he has a radically different and much less pleasant experience of this country.  I'm not saying that to be effective BG would have to become a Bono-clone. just that BG's at the opposite extreme.  And that opposite extreme gets him nowhere in trying to move popular opinion.

Apparently BG has the celebrity and the clout to be effective in the UK and EU.  For the most part, we don't know or care who BG is.  So let BG work the EU and let Bono work the US, and maybe something will happen between them. 

A few starter links: I can't find the video for this one anymore (other than the 3 hour version of the entire graduation ceremony), but here's the text to Bono's commencement address at the University of Pennsylvania - May, 04.  http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/between/2004/commence-b.html

Bono's recent acceptance speech for the TED prize http://ted.com/tedprize/index.cfm?flashEnabled=1

Bono being made fun of last week: http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/thedailyshowwithjonstewart/videos_headlines.jhtml

Launch of the Edun clothing line at Saks fifth Avenue last week: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7182840/

The American Ireland Fund honors Bono (2003): http://www.irlfunds.org/aif/washington/news_1.html   He thanks a lot of political people you won't recognize, and some of the things he talks about are now out of date.

If nothing else, this should give you a better understanding of the relationship Bono has with America.  And if this is the stuff we respond to, that BGs antics simply won't work.