I'm posting this excerpt here for the benefit of those of you who do not compulsively check atu2.com every day for the latest U2 news (and why the heck don't you, might I ask?)
Back in September of 2000, I wrote a piece called Politics: The Art of the Possible. It concerned the then-novel sight of Bono in Congress, talking with the people in power with and without cameras present. The question then was "Why is Bono effective? How is he getting people to listen to him?" I predicted the next few months would be interesting to watch as Bono's political activity would collide with U2's promotion of All That You Can't Leave Behind.
"Months" proved a gross underestimation. It is now October of 2002 and Bono is still on the campaign trail. If he were after a political office it would be his by now. Unfortunately for his work schedule, his goal isn't anything nearly as easy. His goal is to cancel the debts owed by the poorest countries to the richest ones, halt the spread of AIDS in Africa, and make the most poverty-stricken corners of the world thrive through trade. Incredibly, his crusade has not prompted howls of cynical laughter from the media; if anything, the media has helped raised expectations of his effectiveness absurdly high. Newsweek ran a story in January 2000 headlined, Can Bono Save the Third World? Time Magazine upped the stakes with their cover question in March 2002: Can Bono Save the World? These are questions that I will not attempt to answer. I'm interested in one more fundamental: Why is Bono still doing this? What is his motivation?...
...I have a theory. Bono likes to play chess.
No, really; that's my theory. Chess is a game of strategy, of planning your moves ahead, of trying to think like your opponent. All the pieces are useful in different ways, but toward only one objective -- checkmate. There are kings, queens, bishops and knights, but when the game is over it's affected nothing; no real power has shifted. What chess player, confident in his skills, wouldn't grab the chance to play a game where the stakes were high and the pieces had minds of their own?
The full article is here.
Bono *does* like to play chess.
His father taught him how to, and he used to be good at it in school. He even won a few junior competitions, but soon realized it wasn't helping him become any more popular with the girls, so he joined U2...
I read this on Bill Flanagan's "U2 at the End of the World"...
Posted by: Lucilla at October 15, 2002 01:20 PM