Bono: Send in Amy Schumer, Chris Rock and Sacha Baron Cohen to take on ISIS
U2 frontman Bono has a novel idea for Congress: send in the comedy troupes to combat ISIS.
Speaking at a Senate hearing on the role of foreign assistance in combating violent extremism worldwide, Bono pointed out that military solutions aren't the only way to halt the spread of militant groups like ISIS and Boko Haram.
He told lawmakers on the subcommittee "don't laugh" before he detailed how comedy could help to combat the group's extremist views.
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"It's like, you speak violence, you speak their language. But you laugh at them when they are goose-stepping down the street and it takes away their power," said Bono. "So I am suggesting that the Senate send in Amy Schumer and Chris Rock and Sacha Baron Cohen, thank you."
Despite his quip, Bono was serious as he spoke on Capitol Hill Tuesday, calling on members of Congress to take swift action to deal with the global refugee crisis and violent extremism.
Bono co-founded the One Campaign, an advocacy group that works to end poverty and preventable disease and spoke about the challenges faced by those in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
"You laugh at them when they are goose-stepping down the street and it takes away their power."
"When aid is structured properly, with a focus on fighting poverty and improving governance, it could just be the best bulwark we have against the extremism of our age," Bono said.
Africa, in particular, is grappling with what Bono called a phenomenon of three extremes — ideology, poverty and climate.
"Those three extremes make one unholy trinity of an enemy and our foreign policy needs to face in that direction," he said. "It's even bigger than you think."
Bono said he understood the financial stress the U.S. and other nations are under as they debate how much foreign aid to allot. But he warned that bills will only get bigger without action.
"If you don't do it now, it's going to cost a lot more later," he said. "I do know that."
Additional information from the Associated Press.
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Megan Specia was Mashable's Assistant Real-Time News Editor and joined the team in September 2014. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism & Mass Communications from the University of New Hampshire after growing up in the Jersey 'burbs. She made her way to New York via a four year stopover in Dublin. Megan previously worked as a journalist and editor at Storyful in both Dublin and New York. Before all of that, though, her claim to fame was as head cake arranger and purveyor of all things sweet at Queen of Tarts cafe in Dublin, where she developed a serious addiction to macarons.
