U2 has kept me alive, but Bono is an arsehole

According to my mom, my U2 fandom began in utero with Boy and October. I cannot quantify how many times I have bought their various albums. When Songs of Innocence was dropped into all of our iTunes accounts, I was annoyed because I had already pre-ordered the Deluxe edition (I ended up with 2 copies of the album). While it has been popular to diss them as a band, there has never been an album that I didn't find at least 4 songs I absolutely loved and gave me an emotional touchstone (yeah even the newest one Songs of Experience). I cannot emphasize enough that during my darkest times, U2's music kept me from that ledge. My love for their music does NOT mean I am ignorant or looking the other way to Bono's problematic behavior. Most of the criticisms of the band should be narrowly directed at the very outspoken with an admitted messianic complex frontman Paul "Bono" Hewson.

Many people mistakenly believe U2 is Bono's band. It's not. U2 was founded and led by drummer Larry Mullen. Bono and Edge are the primary songwriters and most visible. Bono, over the last 2 decades, has a variety of very public moments of assholery. The most notable would be the buddying up to the 43rd President of the United States and war criminal, George W. Bush. Larry, Edge, and Adam were protesting against the Iraq war and the torture committed by U.S. intelligence, Bono was befriending and negotiating with Bush to forgive the exploitative African debt. Bono has also sexist remarks about the state of rock music. I get that it is easier to get what you want with honey than with vinegar, BUT you can have good faith negotiations for debt relief without, for all appearances, condoning and or dismissing human rights abuses of a head of state. The icing on that shit cake came in the form of accepting the Inaugural Leadership Medal at the Bush Center for humanitarian work for HIV/AIDS work in Africa. You read that correctly. The center named for a family with a record of human rights abuses gave an award for humanitarian work to a man that has been involved with multiple humanitarian & advocacy foundations (DATA & Product(RED), ONE Campaign), but has not directly managed any of them. Yes, he has been heavily involved and vocal in his support (a lot of criticism regarding his messianic complex is due to his preaching at concerts about these issues). Yes, lobbying and support make an impact, but some (a lot) of his publicity for his pet causes has been either devoid of the citizens he's trying to help or has been a huge white savior catastrophe. He would be a much better global citizen by paying his taxes. U2 created moved their royalty tax location to Netherlands which has since changed their tax laws to close those loopholes. Bono also appears in the Panama Papers data dump.

Many people fail to understand being a fan and loving something that has helped them demonstrably doesn't mean you cannot criticize it when the opposite is true. Truly showing love for something and/or someone is to show them where they are wrong so they can improve and become better. U2's music kept me buoyed while mom and I were being emotionally and financially abused by her family. Their music gave me hope and courage while we were being stalked, it lifted my spirits after I was assaulted, it gave me safe emotional outlets for grief when friends, family members, and pets died. When, what we now know is a combination of anxiety, depression, and PTSD, was pushing me into teenaged self-harm and I was borderline suicidal (fuck you stalkers & Frederick County Sheriff's Office), it was U2's music playing constantly that grounded me and let me focus on reasons to live. When I say I LOVE U2's music, please understand the depths of that love, but also understand that love is why I am obligated to call out Bono & the band for the fuckery they commit.

For those curious, I do have favorite songs on every album and a few albums get more listens than others (Joshua Tree, No Line on the Horizon, Songs of Innocence Deluxe, Rattle & Hum).