Whether it's "winning without war" or boycotting Israel, celebrities must enjoy being on the wrong side of things because they usually are.
As there are SO many examples (like Palin-baiting, not being a doctor but playing one on TV and palling around with dictators), I'll have to gloss over a few.
It's irrelevant to mention one's right to express one's opinion, even if it is outrageously stupid. This is not at issue. The issue is using one's status as a reason for validity and ultimately adoption. Why should I support saving rain forests because a celebrity read an article about it and now thinks he or she is an expert? Can I not form an opinion on my own? Or simply, I'm not paying for a movie ticket or using up an hour of my life watching some TV show just to be cluncked on the head by some hack writers' liberal politics and the face that utters their illogical dreck. When I form an opinion, I do so on my own. My upbringing gave me the wherewithal to do so. The arrogant presumption that I can learn only from some flash-in-the-pan is most galling. Yet, for some reason, the vapid masses cling to a celebrity's misguided sentiment as a commandment of sorts.
At least try to look to a higher being.
And there is a being much higher than Hollywood wags.
Cases in point (the wags, that is):
Artists United to Win Without War and its folly:
It is in the very heart of Hollywood, as misguided and self-serving as it is, to march in the streets, to make movies about their positions, and to yell like banshees: “War is not the answer!” The problem with Hollywood celebrities shouting anti-war babble is their inability to ask the question, “Without war, where would Hollywood be?”
War IS money.
Does anyone really believe celebrities banded together and pooled their knowledge of international military engagements and conflict management to form one cohesive and well-informed group of valid political action? NO! These are celebrities, not members of a think tank. If they actually lived where everyone else did, they wouldn't say half of the stupid things they do! Armed with their naivety and liberalism (or is liberalism a form of naivety? Another topic for another time), their dashed hopes pinned on one man must have put them in a spin.
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| Obama, why hast thou forsaken us?! |
Case two: Israel is the whipping boy of the uninformed:
Kiss’ Israeli-born singer-musician Gene Simmons is shouting out loud at the string of musicians who refuse to perform in his homeland.
“They’re fools,” the legendary bassist told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday, on his first return to Israel since leaving the country as a child more than 50 years ago...
Simmons had harsh words for musicians like Elvis Costello and the Pixies who have recently canceled concerts to protest Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians. Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters has gone further, joining an organized movement dedicated to boycotting Israel and its exports, though he appeared in Israel in 2006.
“The countries they should be boycotting are the same countries that the populations are rebelling,” he said. “People long to be free ... And they sure as hell don’t want somebody who’s a ruler who hasn’t been elected by them.”
It's bad enough that someone like Ryan Murphy doesn't realise how damn lucky he is not have gravel shoved in his mouth by a bunch of child-killing morons, it's quite another when other artists just jump on a band wagon. The Palestinians have Gaza and Jordan, rely on Israeli doctors to heal the children they will soon turn into walking bombs and Israel has the problem? How rich!
Then we have the self-esteem mavens:
Lady Gaga's mission to create a more tolerant culture extends to everyone, even much-maligned YouTube sensation Rebecca Black.
Black, a 13-year-old whose heavily Auto-Tuned single, ' Friday,' has generated an overwhelmingly negative response from Internet users across the world, is getting some unlikely support from Mother Monster herself.
During the Q+A section of 'Google Goes Gaga,' the 'Born This Way' singer said, "I say Rebecca Black is a genius and that anybody telling her she's cheesy is full of s**t."
Countless critics have panned 'Friday,' penned by Ark Music Factory, calling it everything from the "worst song ever" to "the most appalling thing on the Internet," leaving Black feeling "cyber-bullied."
Gaga, who has been outspoken in her anti-bullying efforts, admitting that she herself was bullied at school, said of the dangers of our highly critical and tech-savvy culture, "I, too, am a child of the dot-com era... That's the thing about fame that is difficult because if you screw up ... Google. It's there."
Well, Lady Gaga, we can't all be Ella Fitzgerald or Astrud Gilberto. You know, people who could actually sing. Maybe telling this girl to keep on trucking with a fledgling singing career is a bad idea. A really bad idea. Perhaps it would be better if she directed her abilities in another direction. Maybe she's good at science. I don't know. I'm just saying you're as bad at being a careers counselor as you are a fashion model wearing discarded pizza boxes while attempting to belt out an entirely forgettable tune.
This might seem like a convenient answer but, really, the dissolution of older and tried and true values only to replace them with the decadence and stupidity is the root of what we are seeing now. How else could mediocre talents earn fabulous but fleeting fortunes or actors turn themselves into idols?
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