Heard the one about Bono and extemism? U2 star says use comedy to tackle terror

U2 frontman Bono has suggested that comedy should be used to fight extremist groups. In testimony before a Senate subcommittee at Capitol Hill the musician called on members to take swift action to deal with the global refugee crisis and terrorism. "So I am suggesting that the Senate send in Amy Schumer and Chris Rock and Sacha Baron Cohen, thank you.“ US senator Jeanne Shaheen said: "Actually that’s not the first time I’ve heard experts on how we counter violent extremism talk about that.”

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.

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Bono talked about the flood of people fleeing their homes and called it a human torrent threatening the very idea of European unity. He urged lawmakers to think of foreign aid as national security instead of charity. "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. Bono said members of Congress need to confront an "existential threat” to Europe that hasn’t been seen since the 1940s. 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.

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