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U2 drummer Larry Mullen: Next time you see a rich man, thank him!

By
THE WOLFHOUND
,
IrishCentral.com Columnist

Published Sunday, June 21, 2009, 7:11 PM
Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 5:42 PM

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U2 drummer Larry Mullen: Next time you see a rich man, thank him! | IrishCentral




Read more: Bono (Musician), Larry Mullen, Ireland, U2, Alternative and Contemporary Rock, Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music, Jay Bourke, Paris Hilton
The beloved and talented Wolfhound
The beloved and talented Wolfhound

"All those rich wives, all those rich guys with all those balls (Not sure what Larry means here about these guys and their balls, but let's keep the tape rolling...), all those women that you see organizing this and organizing that, without them we'd be in a very, very different state than we are now."

Ummm, Larry? Have you popped your balding head out the window of your limousine long enough to see the state we are in now? Maybe some of those men you know need to have more balls. Maybe you do, too. Better have a look.

When asked if this shoddy treatment of the fabulously wealthy had made him think of leaving his beloved Howth, Mullen went into deep thought. "I certainly thought that if ... if this is what (super-rich people) experience ... how can I fly the Irish flag and tell people come to Ireland because it's great?"

Larry, if you can bring yourself to do Ireland any favor, please do this: DO NOT FLY THE IRISH FLAG. It's not meant for people like you.

But there is room in Larry's heart for "the little guy." Take restaurateur Jay Bourke's admission he would be forced to close the snobby Eden in Temple Bar unless he got a break on rent. "It's my favorite restaurant," Larry moaned, moved with sympathy for himself. "I love that restaurant. 'll be broken-hearted if that goes down."

Well, wouldn't we all be? Where else is the working man, or more likely, the non-working man, going to find his "Caramelized Banana and Praline Parfait" with chocolate nougatine and milk chocolate mousse? At McDonald's, fer Chrissake?

The world loves Bono not only because of his amazing talent and his genuine, generous joy before a live audience, but for his humanity. He is one man who has earned his super-richness, and has earned the love of his fans and the respect of the world not just because, as Larry says, he "has brought a lot of money into this country," but because he has taken a lot of it it out and spread it around — and not just in Ireland, but around the world.

There are people in the world who are have something to eat, who may live through an epidemic, who may see their children grow up in a better world than they knew, because of Bono.

What have YOU done, Larry?

It shouldn't come as any surprise that Larry has a different view than others (human beings) when it comes to the kind of charity and advocacy work Bono has made U2 symbolic of. The Herald Sun quoted Bono saying Larry worried that "all my campaigning would sink the ship."

Was Larry worried that Bono's work would make the band less-popular? Its music less-compelling? Or was it, perhaps, that he irrationally feared it might kill the golden goose, and thus deprive him of the rich life he clings to — and this, despite all the "humiliation" he must suffer for having tens of millions to his name?

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U2 drummer Larry Mullen: Next time you see a rich man, thank him! | IrishCentral


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