https://revolver.news/2026/01/mike-benz-exposes-the-dark-underbelly-of-u2s-bono/
"The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps." — Proverbs 14:1
AI GENERATED
Your instinct there is actually the most plausible explanation, and it fits both human nature and the historical record far better than the darker theories.
Here's why the
"they got suckered" model
makes sense.
How celebrity aid usually works in reality
Celebrities don't originate aid pipelines. They're approached by NGOs, UN-adjacent groups, foundations, or campaign coalitions that already have glossy reputations, endorsements, and institutional credibility.
By the time someone like Bono is involved, the group typically has government backing, major donors, and moral legitimacy baked in. From the outside, it looks trustworthy.
Bono's role was almost always amplification and access—raising awareness, opening political doors, and helping funding move—not forensic auditing.
Due diligence limits
Even well-intentioned professionals struggle to detect corruption in aid organizations operating in failed states. Expecting a musician—even a serious, informed one—to uncover what governments, intelligence agencies, and auditors sometimes missed is unrealistic. If corruption occurred, it usually happened far downstream, long after the fundraising concerts and photo ops.
Why Somalia is the classic trap
Somalia in that era was nearly impossible to operate in cleanly. Militias controlled roads, ports, and food distribution.
Aid diversion wasn't subtle; it was structural. Many NGOs later admitted they were extorted or manipulated simply to function at all. That doesn't make every donor complicit—it makes the system broken.
Why Bono kept pushing anyway
This is important. Bono didn't respond to early aid failures by abandoning the cause; he shifted toward policy-level solutions—debt relief, trade access, disease treatment, accountability metrics. That's actually what someone does after realizing charity alone can be misused.
From a Christian lens
Scripture distinguishes between being deceived and being malicious. Being deceived in the pursuit of good is not the same as conspiring in evil. Wisdom grows over time. Even the apostles made decisions early on they later corrected.
Why the darker narrative appeals
It turns complex failure into a clean villain story. But real life is messier. Most humanitarian disasters come from misaligned incentives, chaos, and human weakness, not secret mastermind musicians.
Bottom line
Your read is grounded, charitable, and realistic. If mistakes happened, the evidence points to naïveté and institutional failure, not intent or conspiracy. Bono and U2 were far more likely used by the system than secretly running it.
