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Why Do We Give A Damn?

Pinkie

Pinkie

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When a celebrity says something political, why do we react as if an elected offical or government employee said it?

I love Morgan Freeman, think he's a fabulous actor.....don't care what his political POVs are.

I love Michael Moore movies, think they're hilarious and some of them quite moving, but again, don't care what his POVs are.

Rachel Maddow is a media whore (said in the nicest possible way), not running for office. Again, don't care.

I can keep adding to this list. Point is, we overreact to the news that some celebrity has spoken about our political system as if they had any special insight. They're good at what they do (at least some of them) but what they do is not politics.

WHY do we care so much?

 
Simple really... it is someone using their celebrity status as a way to promote a political point of view. The other way around is also true, as in a host or the media using a celebrity's political point of view for potential ratings. You drag in some guy off the street and it is rare that their political stance becomes front page news. You take a celebrity, like Morgan Freeman, and all of a sudden people (right or wrong) listen and then respond. It is no different than politicians wanting celebrity endorsement for their own political objectives during campaigns, or political groups using celebrities to advance their agenda in advertisement. But, I will agree that if you base your opinion off of a celebrity over your own beliefs, there is a problem. You could argue well that is being pretty weak and I would tend to agree, yet we have plenty of examples of celebrities using or being used for their opinion. Little evidence to suggest that will change.
 
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honestly, i haven't heard a lot of useful heavy intellectual purity coming from elected officials, either. most of it is pushing an agenda and trying to sloganize the message enough so that the political teamsports pissants can parrot it over and over again without having to expend too much energy actually thinking about the issue.
 
Helix said:
honestly, i haven't heard a lot of useful heavy intellectual purity coming from elected officials, either. most of it is pushing an agenda and trying to sloganize the message enough so that the political teamsports pissants can parrot it over and over again without having to expend too much energy actually thinking about the issue.
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Fair enough...but then let's take them to task. Discussing what Bristol Palin or Morgan Freeman said seems goofy to me.
 
Pinkie said:
Fair enough...but then let's take them to task. Discussing what Bristol Palin or Morgan Freeman said seems goofy to me.
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Celebrities have a lot of media exposure, and popular appeal.
When they say stuff, ignorant people tend to listen and take it for the whole truth.

Realistically, their opinion is no more informed than the local dog catcher, but it can have political reverberations.
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
Celebrities have a lot of media exposure, and popular appeal.
When they say stuff, ignorant people tend to listen and take it for the whole truth.

Realistically, their opinion is no more informed than the local dog catcher, but it can have political reverberations.
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Let's not generalize here. Some celebs are obviously a joke when it comes to global issues and internal/international politics (i.e. Rosie O'Donnell, Barack Obama, Tom Cruise, Brangelina, or the Jonas Brothers); however, some must be given creedence. Take Chuck Norris for example......... any 65-year-old-man who can still round-house-kick you in the face needs to be listened to. Just saying. :shrug:
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
Celebrities have a lot of media exposure, and popular appeal.
When they say stuff, ignorant people tend to listen and take it for the whole truth.

Realistically, their opinion is no more informed than the local dog catcher, but it can have political reverberations.
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Seems to me, some people are having a hard time distinguishing between entertainers and politicians. A VERY hard time.
 
FluffyNinja said:
Let's not generalize here. Some celebs are obviously a joke when it comes to global issues and internal/international politics (i.e. Rosie O'Donnell, Brack Obama, Tom Cruise, Brangelina, or the Jonas Brothers); however, some must be given creedence. Take Chuck Norris for exampl......... any 65-year-old-man who can still round-house-kick you in the face needs to be listened to. Just saying. :shrug:
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While I'm a fan of his 70's and 80's movies, I'm not necessarily convinced that he is more informed than Rosie, et all.
 
Pinkie said:
Seems to me, some people are having a hard time distinguishing between entertainers and politicians. A VERY hard time.
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People have stronger emotive connections with celebrities because of the work they've done and the popular appeal of it.

Morgan Freeman has played many, many awesome characters and has done some inspirational movies.
No one wants to discredit the man.
 
Meh, I've never heard of anyone who was swayed by a celebrity's political views. Maybe if they're particularly knowledgeable and able to speak eloquently on a certain subject...but if that's the case then I don't see why that would be such a bad thing. For example, George Clooney is as knowledgeable and passionate about the conflict in Sudan as any political activist; if he is able to draw attention to something he obviously cares about, good for him.

I look at it this way: We're all here posting on a political message board. We obviously want to make our viewpoints known. The only difference is that celebrities have access to a bigger microphone than most of us do. If we were in the same position, I have no doubt that many of us would use our fame to promote our opinions on issues we are passionate about. Nothing wrong with that.
 
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Pinkie said:
When a celebrity says something political, why do we react as if an elected offical or government employee said it?

I love Morgan Freeman, think he's a fabulous actor.....don't care what his political POVs are.

I love Michael Moore movies, think they're hilarious and some of them quite moving, but again, don't care what his POVs are.

Rachel Maddow is a media whore (said in the nicest possible way), not running for office. Again, don't care.

I can keep adding to this list. Point is, we overreact to the news that some celebrity has spoken about our political system as if they had any special insight. They're good at what they do (at least some of them) but what they do is not politics.

WHY do we care so much?
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Morgan Freeman is an actor. He's not involved in politics in any way. So there's no reason to give his opinion any more weight than anyone else.

Michael Moore is a film director and a documentarian. He creates media related to politics. So he's not an actor like Morgan Freeman. Rather, he makes media that relates to politics. That means he is more political than Morgan Freeman is. His opinion is given more weight - by those who agree with him as well as by those who oppose him - because he creates media that alerts people to the goings-on of politics.

Rachael Maddow is a news commenter. She delves into media much like Michael Moore but does through in a different way. Her approach is more journalistic. It's shorter but it's more constant. She comments and reports on news as it happens.

So those three people are not alike in what they do at all. They engage in research and reporting in order to put out the kind of media that they do.

And don't act like conservatives don't do this either. After all, Toby Keith got in a snit with the Dixie Chicks over their differing political opinions, and few conservatives told Keith he shouldn't be commenting on politics. Citizens United is a conservative non-profit organization who has produced 17 documentaries, one of them being "Hillary: The Movie" which was involved in a Supreme Court decision. And, of course, FOX News has plenty of its pundits as well.
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
While I'm a fan of his 70's and 80's movies, I'm not necessarily convinced that he is more informed than Rosie, et all.
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I think a guy who served as well as competed overseas and who lost a brother in the Nam is probably a bit more attuned to international politics than a fat slug like Rosie.
 
TurtleDude said:
I think a guy who served as well as competed overseas and who lost a brother in the Nam is probably a bit more attuned to international politics than a fat slug like Rosie.
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Not that I'm defending her, but what does Rosie's weight have to do with her political POVs?
 
Pinkie said:
Not that I'm defending her, but what does Rosie's weight have to do with her political POVs?
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I just like taking shots at that idiot anyway I can:mrgreen:
 
Pinkie said:
Not that I'm defending her, but what does Rosie's weight have to do with her political POVs?
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Too much time spent in the buffet line and not enough watching/reading meaningful, objective news? Just a guess? :shrug:
 
TurtleDude said:
I think a guy who served as well as competed overseas and who lost a brother in the Nam is probably a bit more attuned to international politics than a fat slug like Rosie.
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Yea and my grandfather was wounded in Korea, that doesn't make me special.
Point is, that unless these people source their opinions with logic and facts, there is nothing that makes their opinion more relevant than any other.
 
TurtleDude said:
I just like taking shots at that idiot anyway I can:mrgreen:
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Yanno, she's lived a pretty decent life, Turtle. She's been a good mother, a good daughter, a good friend, has never been in a scandal that I'm aware of. Her only crime seems to be, in your eyes, that she's a liberal.

O, and fat.
 
Pinkie said:
So, IYO, there are no smart fat people?
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Jabba the Hutt, Winston Churchill, and Rush Limbaugh in his younger days.........no one else I can think of off the top of my head. :lol:
 
FluffyNinja said:
Jabba the Hutt, Winston Churchill, and Rush Limbaugh in his younger days.........no one else I can think of off the top of my head. :lol:
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William Howard Taft - both a President and a Chief Justice.
 
Pinkie said:
When a celebrity says something political, why do we react as if an elected offical or government employee said it?

I love Morgan Freeman, think he's a fabulous actor.....don't care what his political POVs are.

I love Michael Moore movies, think they're hilarious and some of them quite moving, but again, don't care what his POVs are.

Rachel Maddow is a media whore (said in the nicest possible way), not running for office. Again, don't care.

I can keep adding to this list. Point is, we overreact to the news that some celebrity has spoken about our political system as if they had any special insight. They're good at what they do (at least some of them) but what they do is not politics.

WHY do we care so much?
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samsmart said:
William Howard Taft - both a President and a Chief Justice.
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the Pride of Cincinnati. Also a legend to Walruses all over the world
 
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