Worldly, compassionate, and super-rich are some of the words to describe “Bono”, the lead singer of the popular music band U2. His latest offering to his beholden masses and to anyone else who will listen is a determination to end world hunger and forgive Third World debt. This coming from a man who frivolously extracts large sums of money from his listening audience seems quite contradictory.

If “Bono” really wanted to forgive the debt of those less fortunate, why not give refunds first to the millions of kids duped into buying his intoxicating music mix of confused emotion, then get on to examining Third World debt?

Alas, careful examination reveals two problems: one, that G8 countries forcing Third World nations into unmanageable debt shouldn’t happen in the first place; and two, the sashaying in of an ear-pierced, sunglass shaded singer clearing away all debt with a grandiose sweep of his hand convinces people of the Third World to continue to not be financially responsible.

To truly end world hunger, couldn’t “Bono” give most of his 100’s of millions of dollars away to food bank charities, and keep enough money for himself to live simply? That should be part of the solution to his efforts to end world hunger, if he were to follow his own logic. However, his feel good logic is plain wrong.

See, “Bono” thinks in terms of the “if you feel good, I feel good” mentality so that by helping Africans feel good by loading them up with rice bags, you feel good too, and therefore this is good for everyone.

Wrong. Africans still don’t understand how to be healthy and self-sufficient, like how not to screw everyone in the village because of overpopulation, lack of food, and AIDS, instead of loving other people properly; and Africans still would not know how to grow their own food and how to develop their villages in a more sustainable way.

Non-monetary assistance and education is the solution to end world hunger.