U2 delayed their 2017 album, Songs of Experience, in order to make it more political. They have succeeded in that. The single, Get Out of Your Own Way, has a hyper-political accompanying video, crafted by an anonymous Israeli graffiti collective, Broken Fingaz Crew. The Crew released a statement about the creation of the animated video:

“The video addresses the current political situation: 2017 for us was the year fascists worldwide felt confident enough to raise their heads again, encouraged by Trump and other world leaders, who use people’s fear to build more walls and segregation.

The song is both a personal letter and a clarion cry to the global situation, and in the same way, we’ve combined our psychedelic pop style with political imagery; shot entirely analogue, using paper cut and stop motion animation techniques in collaboration with Adam Albo, who edited the video.”

The video includes images of the KKK in white robes and masks walking through the White House gardens, as viewed by President Trump from inside the oval office. It also shows a KKK-clad man riding the subway to work, and coming home to his wife and child. Another image recounts the dead Syrian child who washed ashore in Turkey, and another animation shows planes dropping bombs. There is much more too.

The art is very cool, but the first thing that came to mind when viewing the video was a nagging feeling that the creators, and by extension Bono and U2, are misguided souls. They are under the impression that Trump, or simply his presence, has led to an uptick in bad things happening. They specifically point to a rise in fascism. But they are under-informed; this started long before Trump, and was covertly, if not heartily, encouraged by Obama. And I will go so far to say that Obama had it in mind all along to make the world a much more divisive place. After all, that’s what community agitators, I mean organizers, do.

Taking first for example, Alan Kurdi, the young boy whose picture became a rallying cry to pay attention to the crisis in Syria: he drowned in 2015, less than three months after Trump had announced his candidacy. Trump wasn’t even a serious thought in the minds of many voters yet. How unfair is it to lump that horrifying image into a collage of images meant to denigrate Trump? The video is filled with American flag imagery as well. Perhaps those flags are meant to represent all the evil America has brought to the world, and if there is anyone to take some blame for the Syrian refugee crisis, well then the place to look is to the last occupant of the Oval Office, not the current one.

Multiple images of KKK members appear in the video, creating a feeling that they are ubiquitous in today’s society. That narrative is a complete lie. The Anti-Defamation League estimates there may 3,000 members nationwide, spread out among 40 different groups, with groups averaging about 25 members. To try to propagate the idea that Klan activity has been so normalized that KKK members wear white robes and masks on the subway, without anyone taking notice, is completely disgusting. In addition, let me tell you what I saw when I viewed all those white robes roaming around: Hmmm, those sure remind me an awful lot of a burka. And in fascist countries, burkas are ubiquitous. Wrong color, wrong country. Fail.

The irony of this video being created by Israelis is also mind-blowing. Trump literally just displayed the most courageous support of Israel that the world has seen in ages by moving the American embassy to Jerusalem. There is always talk of being supportive of Israel, but very few Americans in leadership ever do much about it, and certainly not hardly on the level of the power of that symbolic statement.

But the real villains here are Bono and U2. Yet more entertainers who wants to lecture us about the lies they tell about us. I like U2. I don’t want to stop listening to their music. But it is now impossible to disassociate their art with this utterly contemptible message. Celebrities can have a voice just like anyone else, but they need to understand that there are consequences to what they say. I’m sure U2 doesn’t need the money, so they think they can handle the consequences. But the consequences to which I’m referring to go to the heart of social responsibility. This video is completely irresponsible to disseminate for a group that holds such a powerful place of respect and prominence in the public eye. It would be one thing if they had a particular viewpoint supported by facts, but they have completely distorted the facts in order to support their skewed narrative. It’s extremely disappointing and a disgusting display of ignorance and carelessness, which is quite dangerous considering their ability to reach so many people. This video is propaganda of the highest order. Get out of your own way, U2.

Signed, ex-fan of the formerly great group U2.