Expecting wisdom from a popstar is like expecting sonnets from a gerbil. Except last night, Bono said this of terrorists:
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BONO, SINGER-SONGWRITER: They hate music. They hate women. They even hate little girls. They hate everything that we love. And, you know, the worst of humanity was on view in Manchester last night and so was the best as people took perfect strangers into their houses and queued up for blood banks. And Manchester has a undefeatable spirit, I can assure you.
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He's right. Islamists see fun as evil maybe because it's missing in their ghoulish, cowardly lives.
Pop singer Morrissey from The Smiths -- you remember them -- went even further. When the Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham called the attacker "an extremist," Morrissey asked "an extreme what? An extreme rabbit?" This is the same mayor who said the jihadist was a terrorist and not a Muslim. Sorry, guy, he's both. But to avoid the bigot stigma, the mayor avoids a truth -- which is a pattern. BBC News claims calls were made to a terror hotline about the bomber years before he struck. So, why no action? Could it be again the fear of appearing bigoted?
But at least some entertainers are starting to reject this. Maybe they realize that hugs won't bring peace, but a willingness to fight does. You want to know how pop music actually flourished? How The Beatles were able to sing All You Need is Love? You can thank veterans who dispatched heinous enemies in some really ugly wars, giving pop music center stage in long periods of peace.
So, can music survive under a caliphate? I doubt it. ISIS has no use for Coldplay. Bataclan, the Pulse nightclub, Manchester -- all young people, all music fans, all targets. So, maybe it's time we speak less of love and more about evil. Maybe it's time for All You Need Is Guns.
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