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Factivism - Bono is a factivist, and now Bill Gates want to s*** him off - photo evidence
Even when the guy makes a pretence at self effacement he sounds bombastic and pompous, I hate him so much....why? is it just me
first the photo (this article is not as good as the article I copied below though
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/28/bono-ted-talk-facktivist-is-way-forward
Bono has said he has "embraced his inner nerd" and retired as a rock star to become a "factivist" – albeit temporarily.
The U2 singer was speaking about the drive to conquer global poverty at a TED conference in California on Tuesday.
"Forget the rock opera, forget the bombast, my usual tricks," he said. "The only thing singing today will be the facts. I have truly embraced my inner nerd. Exit the rock star. Enter the evidence activist. The 'factivist'."
Talking in front of an invited audience that included Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Bono marshalled a number of facts to demonstrate the astonishing progress that collective efforts in the fight against poverty have made.
He said that the percentage of the global population living in extreme poverty – defined as making $1.25 (80p) per day or less – fell from 43% in 1990 to 21% in 2010.
"The rate is still too high," Bono said. "There's still work to do. But it's mind-blowing stuff."
If this trajectory continues, he added, the rate would hit zero by 2030. That date is "only three Rolling Stones farewell concerts away," he joked.
"That's the zero zone. For numbers crunchers like us, that's the erogenous zone. It's fair to say I'm sexually aroused by the collating of data."
One benefit of such a triumph for humankind would be, he said, that henceforth no one would have to listen to "an insufferable jumped-up Jesus like myself".
The singer was nonetheless at pains to point out that nothing is inevitable, and that governments must continue to fight poverty and encourage investment in technology and research to improve the lives of the poorest people.
It is also, he said, everyone's responsibility: "Fighting corruption is easier by means of transparency and openness, and it's critical we all play our part".
"We'll win if we work together as one – the people. The power of the people is so much stronger than the people in power," he concluded.
Bono was a winner of one of the inaugural TED prizes in 2005. The $100,000 he received went to helping his One project, a "hard-headed movement of people around the world fighting the absurdity of extreme poverty".
The singer has not entirely abandoned his first calling: a new U2 album, tentatively titled 10 Reasons To Exist, is in the works for later this year.