Bono: "...my least favorite John Lennon song? Imagine."

[Karmadillo]

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/dec2005/time-d22.shtml

Time names super-rich trio as 2005 “Persons of the Year”

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The victims of these tragedies were overwhelmingly poor, the vast majority still suffering to this day due in large part to the lack of preparation and allocation of adequate resources combined with the indifference of government authorities. Millions of ordinary people around the world looked on in horror, responding with an outpouring of sympathy and compassion for those affected. Many volunteered their time or made personal donations to relief agencies.

Taking the year’s events into account, one struggles to come to grips with Time’s seemingly bizarre naming on Monday of two multibillionaires—Bill and Melinda Gates—and one multimillionaire—U2’s Bono—as their 2005 Persons of the Year for their altruistic work. In a year dominated by an endless string of natural disasters, which laid bare in their wake vast social inequalities and misery, the actions of these three massively wealthy individuals have had a negligible impact.

Time magazine’s annual selection of its Man, Woman or Persons of the Year is not necessarily based on popularity. Past choices have included Adolf Hitler (1938), Joseph Stalin (1939, 1942), Richard Nixon (1971, 1972) and George Bush (2004). But the magazine’s choice is said to be based on people who have “made a difference” in the course of the year—for better or for worse.

For 2005, Time writes that the Gateses and Bono have been selected “for being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow.” In reality, the primary reason they have been selected is because of their immense personal fortunes. From the viewpoint of the editorial offices of the mass media in America, wealth and power dazzle and impress, and should be duly acknowledged. It matters not that these Persons of the Year travel in an orbit thoroughly disconnected from the lives of the overwhelming majority of the world’s population.

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By playing it safe in its selection of Bono and the Gateses, Time also sidestepped one of the year’s biggest stories: the deepening debacle in Iraq. The grim milestone of 2,000 US soldiers killed in the war and occupation was passed in October. Opposition to the Bush administration’s policies—both in Iraq and at home—intensified. One mother, Cindy Sheehan—who lost her son to this war—galvanized this antiwar sentiment. From the viewpoint of people who make a difference, and provoked controversy, she would have made a more apt choice.

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This conformist and opportunist outlook was summed up by Bono in remarks quoted by Time in their “Persons of the Year” issue. Standing on the balcony of his Manhattan apartment overlooking Central Park, Bono commented, “You know what my least favorite John Lennon song is? ‘Imagine.’ At the root of it is some rigorous thinking about the way things could be, but people have stolen the idea and made it an anthem for wishful thinking. I’m against wishful thinking. I hate it.”

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