Ripped from the headlines

[gordonzola]

I know it's not funny, but I can't stop laughing at this. I also heard Bob Geldof is up for UN President and Sting was nominated to the World Court but I can't find documentation to support it.

Which washed up rock star should be the next Pope? Oh duh... Sinead O'Connor! Of course!

Comments

[incendiarymind.livejournal.com]

The silly thing is, he's not even on the short list because they think he'd do a good job but because the guy doing the nominating is a fan. The first thing he'd probably do as President is dissolve the bank after he's spoken out against it so often. But can you imagine the wonderful reform Sting would bring to that institution?

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

The first thing he'd probably do as President is dissolve the bank after he's spoken out against it so often.

oh, if only....

[loolica.livejournal.com]

it is to laugh, for sure. but the headline is totally misleading. it's not like he said, oh hey we're thinking of nominating bono for the position. he just answered a question diplomatically.

our current prime minister did a photo op thing with bono when he was running in the last election and was roundly mocked everywhere in the canadian press. that kind of thing just doesn't fly here the way seeing ben affleck and bruce springsteen flanking candidates seems to work in the states.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

look, I love Canadians. I don't generally mock you people or anything. But c'mon. What, like your PM candidates are gonna tour with Leonard Cohen or Michael J. Fox? It's hardly comparable.


(I mean, I prefer Leonard Cohen to any of the previously mentioned stars, but I can't imagine him out stomping for votes)

[loolica.livejournal.com]

no, it's true, and that's maybe why people reacted so badly, because when he trotted out bono, it was just weird.

i think maybe when you see springsteen with his arms around kerry it's somehow more believeable that they actually share values and uh, i don't know, know each other? but with bono and paul martin, you have to wonder if bono even knows who martin is. and vice versa.

awesome

[chitinous.livejournal.com]

"Most people know him as a rock star..."

Re: awesome

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

YES! that was the line that got me too. It's like when those people buy themselves an art gallery or something and treat themselves like undiscovered geniuses.

Re: awesome

[elevenoclock.livejournal.com]

for me it was g.w.'s "i will attest to my admiration for bono". (anyway, isn't it redundant to attest for something you, yourself, think?)

Re: awesome

[bebopmonkey.livejournal.com]

that was the line that got you? the one that got me was "he also a rockstar of the development world." oh, im wiping the tears.

Re: awesome

[touchyphiliac.livejournal.com]

iawtc

i am not internet savvy

[bebopmonkey.livejournal.com]

what does the "c" stand for?

dammit, and there's a typo in my comment.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

Why so defensive? Do you have political ambitions? ;)

It's just that I didn't realize this type of thing had gone world wide yet. I thought it was just our phenomenon.

[sanmiguelmalo.livejournal.com]

my grasp of international economics is crappy but for some reason i can almost see this just because the world bank has always been the IMF's bitch anyways so being head of the world bank is sort of, meh. at least, relatively. haha.

i took econ 1 from john taylor. he was really fond of doing zany things to make econ more exciting. (what was he thinking? econ can't possibly be more exciting than it normally is!?!) every quarter he taught he would come to lecture dressed up as a raisin. i actually missed this because i skipped lecture that day. ::shakes fist:: although i did see him wear a pumpkin on his head for the lecture closest to halloween.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

stop thinking about this rationally. It is absurd. not because I feel it somehow demeans the World Bank or something. But to the scope of Rock Star self-centeredness. Shilling for corporations is one thing. Shilling for international capital is another. I know it's just degree of difference but...

We aren't the world
we aren't the children
we're just bosses and bureacrats and rock and roll has-beens...

[sanmiguelmalo.livejournal.com]

oh no, i definitely agree it's absurd, i just thought it was also an amusing highlight of WB v IMF power. re: someone else's comment below i got the idea that the IMF held more power than the WB from joe stiglitz's "globalization and its discontents" where he bitches about how the IMF screwed with all his WB programs.

[tinymammoth.livejournal.com]

Given the rockstar context, I thought at first you meant John Taylor from Duran Duran.

I would love to see that John Taylor try to explain Schumpeter while dressed as a raisin. That's like a wonderful dream.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

Oh I assumed it was that John Taylor. He must have gotten a leave of absence for the current tour.

I love this concept

[jwz.livejournal.com]

Which of these men would you trust?

[kaileo.livejournal.com]

Even MORE absurd is what I heard (but haven't researched yet) a week or so ago: Bono and the Pope are being considered for a Nobel! WTF?

Personally, I'd like to see a Bono vs. the Pope Celebrity Deathmatch.

[ammonoid.livejournal.com]

Am I the only person that thinks this is a good idea? The bank prez doesn't have to be an economist; its not like Wolfensohn has been spending the last five years crunching numbers or anything. If it'll keep U2 from releasing anymore godawful albums it'll be a good thing.

I find it amusing that my Dad will then have to report to a pop star. F

YI to the commenter above, the IMF is part of the World Bank, not the other way around.

[halfjack.livejournal.com]

Elvis Costello for FCC commisioner.

[usedtobeme.livejournal.com]

fight the real enemy.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

bad fashion?

[touchyphiliac.livejournal.com]

duh !

[crosley-bendix.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping they go with Carly Fiorina. If she can ruin Hewlett Packard, maybe she can foul up the World Bank. There may be something to be said for incompetent imperialism.

[jendle.livejournal.com]

Um, as a former policy wonk, I have to say Bono has actually done a hell of a lot more than most gov/nonprofit types to focus international attention on AIDS and poverty. He also knows a ton about nuclear disarmament and has testified in Congress. He's one of those rare folks who has an actual serious interest in the topics and uses his wealth and fame to do good.

And as long as we're mocking former rock stars who go into real social activism, how 'bout Krist Novoselic and his voting initiatiaves?

Krist

[amillionandone.livejournal.com]

Man, his book is terrible. Did anyone else read that? The part where he's all upset and whiny about the anarchists in the WTO protests in Seattle slayed me...

Re: Krist

[jendle.livejournal.com]

I didn't read the book. I mostly just know about these guys from the political angle.

Punks need to get involved in politics.

Half the anarchists I used to know now work for the government.

Re: Krist

[amillionandone.livejournal.com]

"Half the anarchists I used to know now work for the government."

Is that necessarily a good thing? There are far more ways to get involved in politics than this.

Re: Krist

[jendle.livejournal.com]

That's true. But often the biggest change comes from having people inside who can tweak the system in ways that make outside activists more likely to be effective, or can take opportunities for change that outsiders wouldn't even be aware of. And let's not even get into the possibilities for preventing bad things before they happen -- believe me, a BIG part of any progressive/radical government worker's job.

My favorite part of my former federal job was secretly leaking stuff to the advocacy groups and then sitting back with a smile when the email/phone protest barrages started. The key is that you have to be senior enough to have access to the important stuff, and smart enough to do this effectively without getting caught or compromising your position.

Anarchy is really about the people taking government into their/our own hands. Working in the government is a pragmatic application on the individual level. If you can sustain your principles while working on the inside, it can be great. Personally, I burned out after six years, including a year of watching Bush appointees roll back most, but not all, of what I'd worked on.

Re: Krist

[jendle.livejournal.com]

Oh, I guess I should also confess that along the way, before I became a fed, my political views changed a bit, closer to progressive liberal. Maturity and pragmatism again -- after we smash the state, then what? Mutual aid and libertarian municipalism essentially duplicate many of the structures and goals of progressive liberal democracy. Plus I've seen first-hand how vicious the politics can be, and how certain civil rights issues, like disability access, consistently get left behind in so-called "radical" organizations. That alone made me a believer in rule of law.