Celebrities! What do they know?
This is kind of a re-rant, but with new, updated information. Especially since the 'Save Tookie' movement brought out all the usual suspects in regards to the celebrity activists. Think of it as a revised edition!
I cannot stand these celebrities who think that their opinions on social issues matter. Mike Farrell goes on NPR and a speaking tour to tell how Tookie needs to live. Sharon Stone tries to sell her earrings on "Ellen" to save cancer patients. Michael Moore... well, he's just a loon. Barbra Streisand says how much she'd like Bush impeached, despite how little criminal activity he's actually been charged with. But she'd still like to see him impeached. Susan Sarandon makes a movie about death row inmates and suddenly she knows more than judges and juries-of-his-peers about the state of the penal system? Celebrities feel obligated to speak out on everything from foreign policy to global warming, when they are merely qualified to speak out about shoe styles or hair color treatments.
The danger is when the these know-nothing bozos decide to champion a cause celebre, like global warming or the fur trade. They feel they have more brains and insight on emissions standards than the big brains at the EPA, for example.
It's because of a couple of factors:
1. Celebs have low self-esteem.
The drama geek is usually the kid who reaches out to the dark expanse beyond the lip of the stage for validation. This translates into a screaming love of the spotlight. The celebrity is the apogee of the drama-geek orbit; they are drawing on the crowd of adoring fans, screaming paparazzi, and shelves of tabloids in order to get validation for their lifestyles. Obviously I am important; otherwise, why are so many people looking at me?
Photographers, fashion magazines, celeb rags, and teen mags are trying to make sell magazines, nothing more. But it inflates the celebrity's already fragile self-esteem. "You like me! You really like me!"
2. Celebs are surrounded by sycophantic yes-men.
Celebs are covered with servants, peeps, homeys, entourage, whatever you want to call them. These are people who want nothing but the celebrity's money. Celebrities attend parties flowing with Cristal champagne! Their rides are stretch Hummers or Navigators! This is the life of a celebrity, and also the dream of every sycophantic entourage member who wants a piece of THAT action. So, of course, if J-Ho decides to put out a new perfume or record a song about Lindsay Lohan decides she's a singer, of course their sycophants will latch onto that idea, thinking that's the single greatest idea since people decided to start wearing coats on cold days. Because they want to be part of the gravy train! As MC Hammer will attest, the entourage is the first thing to go once the money dries up. 'Where Is Hammer Now?'
The average celebrity has graduated from high school, sometimes a college (as a drama major). There are always exceptions, like Mira Sorvino's degree in Chinese or Danica McKellar's Ph.D. in Mathematics. But, on the whole, if brains were dynamite, the average celeb couldn't blow his nose. So where do they get off telling us how to live, how to think, how to vote, how to shop, how to drive, and how to save the earth? They don't know how to get to Rodeo Drive from Wilshire Blvd. They have a driver for that.
When Mike Farrell went before an Los Angeles inner-city group to speak out against the death penalty and against gang violence, he was greeted with contempt. In a recent NPR interview, he said that he was asked by an irate audience member where he got off telling them how to respond to gang violence. He didn't live in their neighborhood; he didn't send his kids to those schools. The woman went on to explain that her son had been killed in a gang shooting. Who was he to tell her how to live?
An excellent question.