Rarely does anything in my Facebook feed pop up that I think is really clever, or interesting, or even accurate. There's a lot of mis-information out there, even though the weirdest election in history is now over.
Celebrities like to make self-important videos and tell us what to do. Click here for an example. I wanted to vomit, watching it -- except that, I must reluctantly admit, some parts of it were mildly funny.
However, this video [I hope the link works] is spot-on. It reminds us that celebrities have ONE JOB -- they are supposed to entertain us. Period.
Now, if a celebrity wants to urge people to donate to a worthy charity, I'm fine with that. Use your celebrity, in that instance.
However, there are certain celebrities who have earned my everlasting disgust and disdain because of their idiotic insistence on trying to impose their beliefs on the rest of us.
I'm going to especially call out Martin Sheen. He didn't go to college. He has no credentials for political commentary. I don't care how many seasons he acted the part of the president on TV, that doesn't give him the right to try and influence national elections. As an American citizen he has the right to free speech, and it's his right to say whatever he wants. However, I have no interest in his opinions nor do I think he is worth listening to. [Plus, he fathered Charlie Sheen -- a totally insane drug-addled nightmare of a person.]
Ditto for Miley Cyrus -- best known for led behavior and zero talent. Make all the crying videos you want, girl, it won't change the election. She has ZERO credibility.
Singers are also on the bandwagon. Bruce Springsteen says he's terrified to live in America when Trump becomes president. OMG! Bruce is scared! Everyone, quick, RUN!! RUN AND HIDE.
Celebrities, listen up:
Your job is NOT to try and tell us how to vote. Your job is to entertain us.
PERIOD.
You can use your celebrity to try and influence the election but be forewarned: there will be a backlash. I have such disgust and disdain now for Martin Sheen and Robert DeNiro and Bruce Springsteen and every person on The View that I literally will not watch any movie or TV show where they appear. The idiotic comments made by Jim Carrey and Liam Neeson about gun control make me want to slap them both. I certainly don't intend to ever watch one of their movies again.
A lot of my friends feel the same way I do. We are turning off the TV and skipping the movie appearances of celebrities who push their political agendas in our faces.
Even if you think they are right, stop and think for a minute, why should you listen to a celebrity tell you how to vote? Would you listen to them tell you what car to drive or where to send your child to college? Of course not. THEY AREN'T QUALIFIED. Nine times out of ten they haven't been to college. They aren't even especially intelligent. They are ACTORS.
Some celebrities defend Trump but does that make the nightly network news? No. In my research for this blog I came up with this story about Tim Allen. Watch it. I dare you. He didn't come out as a huge Trump supporter but he made a very good point, which is that in Hollyweird anyone who wasn't on the Hillary bandwagon was bullied and belittled.
Nice.
Now, I will admit there is one actor whose opinion I will consider when it comes to politics: James Woods. Why? three reasons. One, he went to college -- and not just any college, MIT. Two, he majored in political science in college. Three, he has a genius level IQ of 180.
There are actually a lot of highly intelligent and sometimes even well-educated actors in Hollyweird. Check out this article. Does that mean they have the right to tell me who to vote for? No, of course not. However, it does mean if they do publicly spout off about a politician I will at least listen to them and consider their opinions.
Call me an education snob. I will own that label. It takes more than simple intelligence to get a college degree or an advanced degree. What college teaches -- among other things -- is the ability to weigh different opinions and consider a lot of information and figure out what's credible and what's not. It teaches critical thinking. I've met very few uneducated people with the skill to really think and argue critically and appropriately.
I used to enjoy arguing with my professors in college and in grad school because it was fun to mentally spar with someone possessing the same verbal and reasoning skills, although theirs were of course far more advanced than mine. Does that mean a college professor has the right to tell me who to vote for? Nope.
Nobody really has the right to tell me -- or anyone else -- who to vote for. Everyone should make up their own mind about their vote. Celebrities who use their public faces to try and sway elections are AS BAD as Putin. Probably worse, in fact.
Do your research. Read unbiased materials, if possible. Don't let ANYBODY -- even a celebrity -- tell you how to vote. If you do, you are part of the problem.
UPDATE:
I started watching the Golden Globes last night and turned them off after about 30 minutes. In the first 15 minutes of the broadcast, Jimmy Fallon did 5 anti-Trump jokes. Really? I like Fallon. I think he's funny and creative. The Trump jokes were cheap shots, though.
I turned off the TV well before Meryl Streep got up and gave her hate speech about Trump. Thank goodness. That would have made me want to yell and throw things at the TV. Streep thinks because she went to an Ivy League School she has a right to lecture everyone in the world, I suppose. I wrote about her a couple of years ago when she tore into Walt Disney at an entirely inappropriate time.
People criticize old-school Hollywood actors sometimes for NOT being more political. I think they had class. When your job is to be an artist or an entertainer it's inappropriate to switch gears and try to talk politics just because you're on TV.
Let's change it up for a moment and imagine if a politician stood up in Congress and ripped apart Meryl's performance in a movie. Totally inappropriate. Probably even ridiculous, right? What right would a senator have to be a drama critic? NONE.
I don't know if Trump will be a great president or a dismal failure. I am just waiting, just like everyone else. A year from now it will be much clearer. However, the attitudes of people in Hollywood, who think they have the right to lecture America on politics, may prove to be their undoing. They have no idea of the backlash they are spawning because they live in their own little insular world, divorced from reality.

above, James Woods
Recent Comments