Bono Needs To Take A Break From Davos And Visit Inglewood Instead

We went to see U2 at the Forum in LA on Saturday. It was a terrific show, albeit full of political and social messages aimed at the 1970s. Lots of talk about MLK, Amnesty International, Irish car bombings from 40 years ago, social justice and even some gloating by Bono about the gay marriage vote in Ireland. Bono did some name-dropping as well, mentioning Davos in one between-song talk. It was all very conventional, like listening to Lawrence Welk talking to you decades ago.

Outside the Forum, in Inglewood, fatherless black men were shooting other fatherless black men.

INGLEWOOD: As many as five people were shot and wounded today in violence that started at gang party in Inglewood before spilling into neighboring South Los Angeles.

Two of the victims, both men, were wounded in a car-to-car shooting in Inglewood and ended up at the intersection of Van Ness and Century Boulevard, according to Lt. Leonard Perez of the Los Angeles Police Department’s 77th Street Station.

I've never been a big U2 fan and I don't own any of their music. I usually liked their singles when they were played on the radio, but I'd never heard a full album.  I had no idea how relentlessly political they were.

Bono beat his messages from 20, 30 and 40 years ago into our heads with every tool he could find. Meanwhile, in the year 2015, not 6 blocks from where his wealthy fans were nodding their heads in agreement and singing along, poor, black boys from "perfectly acceptable alternative family structures" were dying at each others' hands.

Bono's heart is unquestionably in the right place, but his messages seemed like such a wasted opportunity.