Learn English Bono What is your BIG idea with BIG subtitles

my name is Bono and I am a rock star

[Applause]

don’t get me too excited because I use

he’s four-letter words when I get

excited and I’m that guy but I just like

to say to the parents their children are

safe your country is safe the FCC have

taught me a lesson and the only the only

four-letter word I’m going to use today

is P the N and she come to think of it

bono as a four-letter words the whole

business of obscenity I don’t think

there’s anything certainly more unseemly

than the sight of a rock star in

academic robes it’s a bit like when

people get their put their King Charles

Spaniels in a little tart and sweats and

hats it’s sort of it’s not natural and

it doesn’t make the dog any smarter No

it’s true we weren’t here before with

you two and I would like to thank them

for giving me a great life as well as

you I got a great rock and roll band

that normally stand at the back when I’m

talking to thousands of people in a

football stadium and they were here with

me I think it’s seven years ago actually

then I was some other territorial

problems I I I was wearing a Mirabal

suit at the time and I emerged from a

40-foot high revolving lemon it was a

sort of cross between a spaceship a

disco and actually just a plastic fruit

I think I guess it was at that point

when your trustees decided to give me

their highest honor Doctor of Laws Wow I

know it’s an honor it really is an honor

but are you sure doctor of law I mean

all I can think of as the laws I’ve

broken yes

laws of nature laws of physics laws of

the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and on

a memorable night in this late 70s I

think it was Newton’s law of motion

sickness but no it’s true my resume

reads like a rap sheet I have to come

clean I’ve broken a lot of laws and the

ones I haven’t I’ve certainly thought

about I have sinned in thought word and

deed and God forgive me actually God

forgave me but why would you I’m here

getting a doctorate getting respectable

getting in the good graces of the powers

that be I hope it sends you students a

powerful message crime does pay

so I humbly accept the honor keeping in

mind the words of a British playwright

John Morrison where it was no brilliance

is needed in the law nothing but common

sense and relatively clean fingernails

well at best I’ve got one of the two of

those but no I never went to college

I’ve slept in some strange places but

the library wasn’t one of them

I studied rock and roll and I grew up in

Dublin in the 70s music was an alarm

bell for me and woke me up to the world

I was 17 when I first saw The Clash and

it just sounded like revolution The

Clash were like this is a public service

announcement with guitars I was the kid

in the crowds who took it at face value

later I learned that a lot of the rebels

were in it for the t-shirt they’d wear

the boots but they wouldn’t March

they’d smashed bottles on their heads

but they wouldn’t go to something more

painful like a town hall meeting by the

way I felt like that myself until

recently I didn’t expect change to come

so slow so agonizingly slow I didn’t

realize that the biggest obstacle to

political and social progress was wasn’t

the Freemasons or the establishment or

the Bootheel of whatever you consider

the man to be it was something much more

subtle as the Provost just referred to a

combination of our own indifference and

the kafka esque labyrinth of nose you

encounter as people vanish down the

corridors of bureaucracy so that for

better were worse that was my education

I came away with a clearer sense of the

difference music could make in my own

life and other people’s lives if I did

my job right which if you’re a singer in

a rock band of means avoiding the

obvious pitfalls like say a mullet

hairdo

if anyone here doesn’t know what a

mullet is by the way your education is

certainly not complete I’d ask for your

money back for a lead singer like me a

mullet is I would suggest arguably more

dangerous than a drug problem yes I had

a mullet in the 80s now this is the

point where the members of the faculty

starts smiling uncomfortably in thinking

maybe they should have offered me the

honors the honorary bachelor’s degree

said of the full bond given he should

have been the bachelors it’s talking

about mullets and stuff and if they’re

asking one on earth I’m doing here I

think it’s a fair question what am I

doing here

and more to the point what are you doing

here because if you don’t mind me saying

so this is a strange ending to an Ivy

League education four years in these

historic halls thinking great thoughts

and now you’re sitting in a stadium

better suited for football listening to

an Irish rock star give a speech that is

so far mostly about himself

what are you doing here actually I saw

something in the paper last week about

Kermit the Frog giving a commencement

address somewhere one of the students

was complaining I worked my ass off for

four years to be addressed by a sock you

have worked your ass off for this for

four years you’ve been buying trading

and selling everything you’ve got in

this marketplace of ideas the

intellectual hustle your pockets are

full even your your parents are empty

and now you got to figure out what to

spend it on

well the going rate for change is not

cheap big ideas are expensive the

university has had its share of big

ideas Benjamin Franklin had a few so did

justice Brennan and in my opinion so

does Judith’s Roden what a gorgeous girl

they have all know they all knew that if

you’re gonna be good at your word if

you’re gonna live up to your ideals and

your education it’s gonna cost you

so my question I suppose is what’s the

big idea what’s your big idea what are

you willing to spend your moral capital

your intellectual capital your cash your

sweat equity in pursuing outside of the

walls of the University of Pennsylvania

there’s a really great truly great Irish

poet his name is Brendan kennelly and he

has this epic poem it’s called the book

of judas and there’s a line in that poem

that never leaves my mind it says if you

want to serve the aged betray it what

does that mean to betray the aged

well to me betraying the H means

exposing its conceits its foibles it’s

phony moral certitude it means telling

the secrets of the age and facing harsha

truths every age has its massive moral

blind spots we might not see them but

our children will slavery was one of

them and the people who best served that

age were the ones who called it as it

was which was ungodly and inhuman Ben

Franklin called it when he became

president of the Pennsylvania abolition

Society segregation there was another

one America sees this now but it took a

civil rights movement to betray their

age and 50 years ago the US Supreme

Court betrayed the age May 17 1954 it

says here Brown versus Board of

Education came down and put the lie to

the idea that separate can ever really

be equal amen to that

fast forward 50 years may 17th 2004 what

are the ideas right now worth betraying

what are the lies we tell ourselves now

what are the blind spots of our age

what’s worth spending your post pen

lives trying to do or undo it might be

something simple it might be something

as simple as our deep down refusal to

believe that every human life has equal

worth could that be it could that be it

each of you will probably have your own

answer but for me that is it and for me

the proving ground has been Africa

Africa makes a mockery of what we say is

what I say about equality it questions

our piety zand our commitments because

there’s no way to look at what’s

happening over there and its effect on

all of us and conclude that we actually

consider Africans as our equal before

God there is no chance

an amazing event happens here in

Philadelphia in 1985 Live Aid at whole

we are the world phenomen the concert

that happened here

well after that concert I went to

Ethiopia with my wife Ali we were there

for a month and an extraordinary thing

happened to me

we used to wake up in the morning and

the lift the mist would be lifting we’d

see thousands and thousands of people

who’ve been walking all night and to our

food station where we were working and

one man I was standing outside talking

to the translatory this beautiful boy

and he was saying to me in America I

guess it was he saying I can’t

understand what he’s saying and this

nurse who spoke English and America to

me he’s saying will you take his son

he’s saying please take his son he he

would be a great son for you and I I was

looking puzzled and he said you must

take my son because if you don’t take my

son my son will surely die if you take

him he will go go back to where he is

and get an education probably like the

ones we’re talking about today and and

of course I said I had to say no that

was the rules there and I walked away

from that man and I have never really

walked away from it but I think about

that that boy and that man and that’s

when I started this journey that’s

brought me here into this stadium

because at that moment I became the

worst scourge on God’s green earth a

rock star with a cause except it isn’t

the cause 7,000 Africans dying every day

of preventable treatable disease like

AIDS that’s not a cause that’s an

emergency and when the disease gets out

of control we

most of the population live on less than

a dollar a day that’s not a cause that’s

an emergency

and when resentment builds because of

unfair trade rules and the burden of

unfair debts that our debts by the way

that keep Africans poor that’s not a

cause that’s an emergency

so we are the world Live Aid start meet

off you know it was an extraordinary

thing and really that event was about

charity but 20 years on I’m not that

interested in charity I’m interested in

justice there’s a difference Africa

needs justice as much as it needs

charity

equality for Africa is a big idea it’s a

big expensive idea see that the Wharton

graduates now getting out the math on

the back of the programs numbers are

intimidating aren’t they but not to you

but the scale the scale of the suffering

and the scope of the commitment they

often Nomis into a kind of indifference

wishing for the end to AIDS and extreme

poverty in Africa is like wishing that

gravity didn’t make things so damn heavy

we can wish it but what the hell can we

do about it

well more than we think we can’t fix

every problem corruption natural

calamities are part of the picture here

but the ones we can we must the debt

burden as I say unfair trade as I say

sharing our knowledge the intellectual

copyright for life-saving drugs in a

crisis we can do that and because we can

we must because we can we must amen

sorry this is the straight truth the

righteous truth it’s not a theory it’s a

fact the fact is a dis generation yours

mine generation that can look at the

poverty we’re the first generation that

could look at poverty and disease look

across the ocean to Africa and say with

a straight face we can be the first to

end the sort of stupid extreme poverty

we’re in a world of Plenty a child can

die for lack of food in its belly we can

be the first generation it might take a

while but we can be that generation that

says no to stupid poverty

[Music]

it’s a fact it’s a fact there

economists confirm it it’s an expensive

fact but cheaper than say the Marshall

Plan that saved Europe from communism

and fascism and cheaper I would argue

than fighting wave after wave of

terrorism’s new recruits it that’s the

Economics Department over there very

good it’s a fact so why aren’t we

pumping our fists in the air and

cheering about it well probably because

when we admit we can do something about

it we’ve got to do something about it

for the first time in history we have

the know-how we have the cash we have

the life-saving drugs but do we have the

will yesterday here in Philadelphia at

the Liberty Bell I met a lot of

Americans who do have the will from

Archer are you here there’s the three

million of them over there from arch

religious conservatives to young secular

radicals I just have got an incredible

overpowering sense that this was

possible yesterday we were calling it

the one campaign to put an end to aids

and extreme poverty in Africa they

believe we can do it

so do I I really really do believe it

and I just want you to know I think it’s

this is obvious but I’m not really going

in for the warm fuzzy feeling thing I’m

not a hippie I do not have flowers in my

hair I come from punk rock all right

The Clash war army boots not

Birkenstocks all right I believe America

can do this I believe that this

generation can do this in fact I want to

hear an argument about why we shouldn’t

I know idealism is not playing on the

radio right now you don’t see it on TV

irony is on heavy rotation the

knowingness the smirk the tired joke

I’ve tried them all out but I’ll tell

you this outside this campus and even

inside it

idealism is under siege beset by

materialism narcissism and all the other

isms of indifference pagas and Chagas

and ragas and that is and graduate ISM

jism is a mother Oh where’s John Lennon

when you need him well I don’t want to

make you cop to idealism not in front of

your parents or your younger siblings

but what about Americanism will you come

to that at least it’s not everywhere in

fashion these days Americanism not very

big in Europe truth be told no less on

Ivy League college campuses but it all

depends on your definition of

Americanism me I’m in love with this

country called America

I’m a huge fan

I’m a huge fan of America I’m like one

of those annoying fans you know the ones

that read the the CD notes and follow

you into bathrooms and ask you all kinds

of annoying questions about why you

didn’t live up to that exam I’m that

kind of fan and I’ve read the

Declaration of Independence and I’ve

read the Constitution of the United

States and they are some liner notes to

it and as I said yesterday I made my

pilgrim dependents halt and I love

America because America is not just a

country it’s an idea you see my country

Ireland is a great country but it’s not

an idea America is an idea but it’s an

idea that brings with it some baggage

like power brings prompt responsibility

it’s an idea that brings with the

Equality but equality even though it’s

the highest calling is the hardest to

reach the idea that anything is possible

that’s one of the reasons I’m a fan of

America it’s like hey look there’s the

moon up there let’s let’s you know let’s

take a walk on it bring back a piece of

it that’s the kind of America that I’m a

fan of and in 1971 actually no in 1771

not great for glam-rock that year but

your founder mr. Franklin spent three

months in Ireland and Scotland to look

at the relationship they had with

England and see whether they this could

be a model for America whether America

should follow their example and remain a

part of the British Empire Franklin was

deeply deeply distressed by what he saw

in Ireland he saw how England had put a

stranglehold on Irish trade how absentee

English landlords exploited Irish tenant

farmers and how those farmers in

Franklin’s words lived in wretched

hovels of mud and straw were clothed in

rags and subsisted chiefly on potatoes

not exactly

the American dream so instead of Ireland

becoming a model for America America

became a model for Ireland in our own

struggle for independence and when the

potatoes ran out millions of Irish men

women and children packed their bags got

on a boat and showed up right here and

we’re still doing it we’re not even

starving anymore loads of potatoes in

fact if there’s any Irish out there

break out breaking news from Dublin the

potato famine is over you can come home

now sorry

but why are we still showing up because

we love the idea of America we love the

crackle in the hustle we love the spirit

that gives a finger to fate the spirit

that says there’s no hurdle we can’t

clear and no problem we can’t fix

oh here’s here comes the Brits only

joking

yeah no problem we can’t fix so what’s

the problem that we want to apply all

this energy and intellect to every era

has its defining struggle and the fate

of Africa is one of ours it’s not the

only one but in the history books

it’s easily gonna make the top five what

we did or what we did not do it’s a

proving ground as I said earlier for the

idea of equality but whether it’s this

or something else I hope you’ll pick a

fight and get in it get your boots dirty

get rough steal your courage with a

final drink there at Smokey Joe’s one

last primal scream and go sing the

melody line you hear in your own head

remember you don’t owe anybody any

explanations you don’t owe your parents

any explanations you don’t owe your

professors any explanations you know I

used to think that the future was solid

or fixed or something like you inherited

like an old building that you move into

and the previous generation moves out or

gets chased out but it’s not the future

is not fixed it’s fluid you can build

your own building or Hut or condo

whatever this is the metaphor part of

the speech but my point is that the

world is more malleable than you think

and it’s waiting for you to hammer it

into shape now if I were a folk singer I

would immediately launch into if I had a

hammer right now get you all singing and

swaying but as I say I come from punk

rock so I’d rather have the bloody

hammer right here in my fist

that’s what this degree of yours is a

blunt instrument so go forth and build

something with it and remember what John

Adams said about Ben Franklin he does

not hesitate at our boldest measures but

rather seems to think us to irresolute

well this is the time for bold measures

and this is the country and you are the

generation thank you

[Applause]