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What Would Bono Say?
The other night, I watched Bill Maher interview Michael Stipe, the lead singer of REM. The premise of the interview was the Bring ‘Em Home Now concert tour that Stipe helped coordinate. The tour is an effort on the part of pop musicians to drum up support for an 
immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq—a practical variation of which I am all for.
Within that category of strident rock-n’-roll crusaders, Stipe, a brilliant singer and songwriter, has acquitted himself respectably, if predictably. He can be thought of as a kind of vice Bono. I admire him.
Maher ended the interview with a softball question from left field—“Michael, before I let you go, what, other than the war, is the most important issue facing this country today?” Stipe seemed a little surprised that Maher would ask such an obvious question. “Well, clearly,” he said, “the environment.”
Maher approved of this answer. He closed his eyes, emphatically pounding whatever furniture was in front of him with his fists. “Yes!,” he said. “Yes, he gets it!”
Well, I don’t get it. I think the biggest issue facing the United States of America is still race. The environment is a huge problem. It is also a very popular cause—it’s much easier to talk about than race. The bad guys when it comes to the environment are GM and George Bush. Fire away! The enemy when it comes to race is…us. Discuss.
Stipe, who went directly to the Gulf Coast to help after Katrina, is certainly aware of the problem. He and Maher would agree, I’m sure, that we need to talk about it, and there’s no use quibbling about what’s on the front burner. But, as long as Maher is asking….
I’m just saying,
Vanx
March 29, 2006 at 4:48 am
I wish he and others would organize events for pushing to hold those accountable for getting us into Iraq under false premises in the first place.
Race likely comes into play in Iraq too. Otherwise how can we stand by while so many Iraqis are killed as “collateral damage?”
March 29, 2006 at 11:28 am
you see i think we all have our own ideas as to what is the WORST problem facing our society.
i for one think it is the lack of education. if we educated ourselves (and our brothers and sisters) there would be better BIRTH CONTROL, better RACE relations (bigotry stems from fear and fear goes away MOST of the time once it’s understood), better care for the elderly, children, homeless….. and on and on and on
March 29, 2006 at 1:40 pm
It is interesting to note that Crash, a somewhat clumsy and contrived film, won the Academy Award for best picture. Some people were shocked. But I remember how Crash made me feel–I didn’t think about its flaws until long after I dealt with having had my nose rubbed in the blight of racism in America. You can’t watch that film without asking serious questions about yourself.
March 29, 2006 at 3:03 pm
I have a hard time talking about race because I live in a VERY WHITE part of the country. We don’t have a whole lot of racial issues here in New England because we don’t have a whole lot of diversity here in New England. In all of my classes, about ninety kids, I’ve got maybe two kids who aren’t caucasian. TWO. Out of ninety-some-odd. Seriously.
That being said, I recognize that it is a HUGE issue in our country as a whole, and am doing my part to make sure that my white-bread students see that. I make a point of discussing diversity whenever the subject presents itself. I will teach entire units on the literature of diversity - racial, religious, and sexual - when I have my own classroom. It may not fly too well in the community, but these kids need to know that the lovely harmony of their hometown doesn’t extend very far out into the rest of the world.
So, it seems I straddle the line between Vanx and Rose. I think that most of the race issue IS about education - ignorance breeds fear and discrimination, and I think that the root of understanding is planted firmly within the concepts of education. Granted, not ALL of it is about education - a lot of it is about economic disparity and historical bias and “that’s the way it’s always been” thinking - but education, I think, is the start of the cure.
March 29, 2006 at 10:53 pm
Vanx,
You of course know that my town has the largest Hispanic population in the state…during the summer…between the hours of 7 and 3.
March 30, 2006 at 11:00 am
mrs chili i beg to differ with you. i too live in new england and it IS diverse. at least my section of new england is. hartford has the largest population of puerto ricans (outside of new york) on the east coast for example.
in my neighborhood alone we have people from india, japan, thailand, china, vietnam, korea, mexico, mauritious (sp)
vanx, i LOVED the movie crash. i ignored it’s faults and just savored it
March 30, 2006 at 10:52 pm
I read that second link to the article about young black men in the inner city. That article was really to-the-point, I thought. There is a toxic culture drawing these boys/men into it, where education is uncool.
There’s a lot to ponder in this post of yours! I would agree with Michael Stipe, though. “The Environment” as a category includes Hurricane Katrina and Rita, includes volcanoes, mudslides, tsunami’s, rising ocean levels, etc… all under the Global Warming heading. There’s a saying “Mother Nature bats last” and I’m afraid that’s what we’re up against. While we’re here working out our dysfunctional social systems, ol’ Mother Nature is doling out fatal mayhem around the world, as a result of our decades of poor stewardship.
That’s my take on it, anyway.
March 30, 2006 at 11:08 pm
I agree with you my dear! Absolutely. I watched part of a film (lousy one..) made about the 1965 riots here in L.A.(made in 1994 btw)..AND..u=it reminded me that NOTHING has changed. NOTHING…and here it is, 2006!!! Help Us Oh Lord!
I thought “CRASH” was a very important film because of exatly what you said in your comment…It does make you look at yourself, IF YOU CAN look at yourself…that’s the real key…And I just saw for the 100th time (well, not exactly..) the old film “Gentleman’s Agreement”..This could have been made today and you just subsitute any minority that experiences racism and it is as relevent today as it was in 1947!!! YES!, 1947…
I don’t think there is any doubt that if most of the people in New Orealns had been White…things would have been done that STILL have’t been dealt with or addressed 7 months later…! Education certainly would help…The education of White people about what they feel in their hearts..well, I’m not sure that can be ‘learned’ with education by itself….Racism is a BIG BIG problem that this country still turns it’s face away from at every opportunity.
March 31, 2006 at 4:26 pm
I thought Crash was contrived too but I still liked it for trying (too hard?) and the crash with the woman being saved by her molester still haunts me. Ah, humanity.