Reactionary

I posted this in response to what I felt was a calling out on U2PhillyFans on Bono and the Africa issue. I wanted to say something about how it isn’t about Africa at all that I have the problem with, it’s the time away. I posted it and immediately strange, knee-jerk, not terribly sophisticated reactions come up. People are morons.

I didn’t want to say anything yesterday because I feared anything I said would quickly degenerate into bitterness into my not being able to get tickets for the shows. But I do have something to say and I feel I should reply as I’ve been called out on that quick post about the whole ticket situation. And all of this is with respect to Abbey and anyone else. I heartily disagree and here’s why:

Abbey, I think you’re making an issue out of the actual issue of Africa. I’m not, regardless of what the short post on this list may have sounded like. Whether it’s Africa, AIDS, or a sudden fascination with juggling, it’s the time away from the band that I resent. And I resent it not because of me or my inability to get tickets. I’m going to make this about and because of them, and therefore entirely upon their shoulders to face and fix.

They made themselves who they are. Their talent and drive have taken them to heights they deserve. Give people credit for their work (this isn’t directed to anyone on this list, just a general mindset I’ve glimpsed). Having become this phenomenon, this rock band, they themselves need to keep it and not betray themselves. It isn’t about us, it’s about *them*. Along with the territory of Rock Band comes the responsibility that they must do something to maintain it, that they not turn their back upon themselves. One thing they have to do because they both love it and because it’s part of the definition of “rock band” (a definition they themselves have created) is tour. Part and parcel of touring is selling tickets. And though they have no control or responsibility over Ticketmaster, they also cannot be ignorant of the disaster that company is. Same goes for brokers. As the performers of said concert, it cannot be okay with them that it’s so easy to get tickets and sell them for many times the prices they themselves have had a hand in setting.

And so *knowing* this (because it’s their business to know… and if they don’t know, they’re guilty of their ignorance) they have a burden to fight it, as they have fought many other things before. They’ve created their own legend of fighting injustice on a large scale. It is upon them to fight it on a small scale. They should have had control over their fanclub and not handed it over to Ticketmaster so freely. Given their track record, it would also be fair to say they launch their own protest against Ticketmaster. God knows they have the power to do it. They didn’t, and that’s where I blame them.

I don’t think the oversight had to do with greed or any of the other conspiracy theories floating around. I blame distraction. How is it Bono has so much time to pour into his Africa fight and not a moment to make sure the tour (of which I know he’s aware he’ll be participating in, “See you in the spring!”) was run in the same legacy of U2?

Does the whole line on Africa sound harsh? Does it sound like I’m saying “Who the hell cares?” when it comes to the actual issue? I’m not arguing the issue here, while I think Abbey was. I realize the tour etc is tiny molehill in comparison to the gravity of the problem of extreme poverty and disease and the juxtaposition of it against what those in the wealthy countries have. BUT that’s not what should be in discussion when speaking of a tour. They’re touring. Period. People starving in the Third World or not. And the fault has been done with the tour. Because people are starving in Africa doesn’t suddenly make it okay for this tour to be mis-run. It may not be an articulate way to say it, but I think that’s making an issue out of an issue. The bottom line is something was done wrong and as observers, we’re in a position of calling them on it. And regardless of Africa, aren’t we all trying to get tickets anyhow? Saying we’re just spoiled I think misses the point that there’s a problem here. While there may be a whole hierarchy of wrongs and crimes in this world, the gravity of the larger ones doesn’t automatically dismiss or ameliorate the smaller ones. The issue of the tour may be morally a smaller issue than Africa, but it’s still *wrong*.

As a self-admitted Rock Star he has to live up to the definition of the label and the identity that goes with it. He’s trying to straddle both identities full time. Even he cannot have both. I’m viewing the political/ poverty activist as the secondary identity because it occurred second and I believe it also occurred as a result of superstardom (guilt at his own comfortable lifestyle). Giving part time to one in favor of the other isn’t fair to the other part of him. He’s trying to be so full-time in the poverty campaign, he’s been unfair to the Rock Star in him and his three childhood friends whose dreams they all followed together and who he’s in danger of betraying as much as himself.

I think the time’s coming when he’ll have to choose. He can’t be full-on Africa and still think he has time to be a Rock Star, not even his own socio-political incarnation of a Rock Star. He can’t continue to drag U2 around like a pet dog or a bullet on his resume. He’ll have to choose. And if Africa etc. is so important to him, then U2 will have to go. They’re better off gone rather than having their good name they’ve spent their lives building dragged through the press because Bono had a meeting to go to.

And now a bit about what I feel about charity organizations in the first place. You don’t need to be involved with one to be doing any good in this world. It starts at home. It starts in if you tipped the pizza guy fairly, did you? It begins in if you turn your music down once evening crawls in out of respect for your neighbors, did you? It’s in attending to your job when you’re at work, not spending your time calling all your friends. It’s in not shoplifting, even if given the opportunity, or not taking your bad day out on someone else. Comedians are as important as doctors. Everyone has their own place, and if one day you get a whispering in your ear to do something else, do it, but never make someone else feel they’re a waste of DNA because they haven’t.

On the same definition of what it is to be who you are, as the ticket-buying public, we can’t continue to cry about Ticketmaster and do nothing. If we want change, we need to do it from our end. Remember what you feel like right now, how cheated and angry you feel right now. Remember it before it fades away with time and /or any fixes U2.com may offer. I agree with Abbey about reporting Fanfire to the Better Business Bureau. The incompetence they showed on the whole signup (as if internet business had been invented, like, yesterday) deserves a government response since they’re a business and business was the last thing they conducted. Brokers shouldn’t even be legal. How is this allowed! They have offices right here in Center City. I walked by one yesterday. This deserves criminal checks, subpoenas, men in black, etc. But it seems like the government only does something if everybody is talking about it, so I prefer going to the press first. The Inquirer, Rolling Stone (music is their reason for being!). Ticketmaster in Europe has issued an apology and has vowed to have more people and servers available for the upcoming shows. It’s a start. We need to make it happen here. ETS, on the other hand, is a broker. While I feel for those who had their ticket rescinded because U2.com demanded them back, it’s the price of dealing with someone who shouldn’t have any tickets to tout around anyway. Sorry, Phyllis and everyone else who had this happen. The original mistake was made before the ETS mess.

The Inquirer:
Metro Commentary Page
The Philadelphia Inquirer, Box 8263
Philadelphia 19101
Fax: 215-854-5884
E-mail:metroletters@phillynews.com

Rolling Stone Magazine:
1290 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10104 - 0298
(212) 484-1616
E-mail: letters@rollingstone.com

The Better Business Bureau:
4200 Wilson Blvd, Suite 800
Arlington, VA 22203-1838
http://www.bbb.org

There’s the information. Be not quiet. They’ll only respond if we speak. I think individual letters will be more effective than one signed by many, especially as this is the internet and digital signatures still look fake to me, like anyone could have written them. But many e-mails from different IP addresses has a better resemblance to bags full of mail. Silence is permission. Let them have it. After posting this, I’m going to start drafting my own letter.

If something is finally done about this. If this tour and the disaster it’s been somehow moves the powers that be to finally do something about this, then it makes this royal screwing over worth it. If this is what it takes to get Ticketmaster investigated and brokers illegal, then it was worth it. Sometimes something big is what it takes.

Ciao, y’all,

Rose

www.U2Literary.com

Posted on January 30th, 2005 under General, Tunes •  Print •  Email • RSS 2.0 feed • Both comments and pings are currently closed