The site:
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/schlussel1.asp
The article:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Debbie Schlussel
'Stardumb'
ARE YOU A SCIENTIST or an expert on alar? Neither is actress Meryl Streep, but that didn't stop her from testifying as an expert on the chemical pesticide before a Congressional committee hearing, a few years back. Streep lectured the U.S. Congress about how alar residue on our fruit was poisoning our children and causing severe disease and illness. Streep was never a scientist, but she played one in the movies.
And as it turns out, Streep didn't know what she was talking about.
Authoritative studies by real scientists came to the opposite conclusion about alar, showing the residue to be virtually harmless at current levels.
That's the problem with giving the Hollywood glitterati a forum for their political views. Not only are celebrities out of touch with the American everyman, they are, true to their entertainment industry, only acting. They only pretend to know what they're talking about.
At last week's Emmy Awards, the proverbial blood-red AIDS ribbon was back. Viewers were subjected to yet another celebrity political pronouncement, lest we get too comfortable in the decrease in AIDS-related deaths. The ribbons were enclosed with all tickets for Emmy attendees. Who cares about larger killers like cancer (which has no AZT or “AIDS cocktails” to lessen its toll) when you have a celebrity-endorsed disease that affects Hollywood? Since when is the blood of victims of cancer and other maladies less red than the AIDS victims' ribbons?
From Jane Fonda’s hideous behavior during the Vietnam War to Rosie O’Donnell’s rants against the National Rifle Association (NRA), Americans cannot avoid the ludicrous, misinformed, usually left-wing, and, often, hypocritical, politics of the entertainment industry. In order for tabloid shows like “Entertainment Tonight” to get an interview with, say, actor Ted Danson about his new television show, they must air his views on the environment.
There’s nothing wrong with shows like “Politically Incorrect” (on which I recently appeared), where celebrities are presented as naked political animals, unclothed by their latest movie, TV show, or CD; where their views are moderated and challenged with opposing views from host Bill Maher and three other guests. Unlike other celebrity shows, Maher’s not worried about being able to do a feature on Pamela Anderson’s beach house, next week. He’d rather challenge her and have a lively show, this week.
But aside from a show that from its title is billed as a "Political" show, politically correct celebrity activism Selleck usually involves hypocrisy and backfires. Witness the nuttiness, earlier this year, of Ms. O’Donnell, the host of her own nationally syndicated daytime talk show. Poor Tom Selleck, who appeared on the show to promote a new movie, was verbally assaulted for his pro-choice gun stance by Ms. O’Donnell’s rapid-fire machine-gun mouth. Selleck, an NRA member, was repeatedly harangued by O’Donnell, a gun-control advocate since the Littleton, Colorado incident. Most viewers, according to polls, felt that O’Donnell’s behavior went too far. The next day, radio shock jock Howard Stern pointed out that O’Donnell is a national spokeswoman for Kmart, possibly the nation’s largest vendor of guns, and called for her resignation or ouster.
Both O’Donnell and Kmart refused, and instead, O’Donnell continued on her gun control mission. She canceled the appearance on her show of Broadway star Bernadette Peters, a star of “Annie Get Your Gun,” because Peters refused to omit the line “I can shoot a partridge with a single cartridge” from a performance of the Irving Berlin song “Anything You Can Do.” Later, at the Daytime Emmy Awards, the Producer of soap opera “General Hospital” congratulated O’Donnell for her views and said, “We must have more gun control laws, and we must use our shows as the influence to do this.” O’Donnell, then, took her zealotry to full-page, pro-gun control ads in newspapers nationwide signed by her and other celebrities.
But yet, Hollywood still protests that it doesn’t consciously use its forum to influence political views. If only that were true.
“President” Warren Beatty aside, while celebrity political activism is, again, ill-advised, to say the least, there are far too many examples of its vibrant continuation. In Wild in the Woods, author Robert Whelan writes that, in 1991, rock singer Sting helped Brazil’s Kayapo Indians wage a successful battle for ownership of a 25,000-square-mile rain forest reserve, allegedly to preserve it from destruction by business.
Beatty as 'Bullworth' The Kayapos, then, completely logged and mined the tract, using the money to buy planes and cars for tribal chiefs, while most villagers lacked basic medical care.
Remember Oprah Winfrey’s careless remark on her daytime talk show regarding Mad Cow Disease—a disease restricted to Great Britain—and American beef? “Now doesn’t that concern you?” she told her national audience. “It has just stopped me cold from eating another burger!”
She also stopped the American beef market cold and drove cattlemen to great financial loss, even though mad cow disease had nothing to do with American beef.
Actor Sean Connery campaigned in his native Scotland for a nationalist campaign in the country’s May 6th Parliamentary elections. Opponents pointed out that Connery hadn’t lived in Scotland for years. His preferred candidates were soundly defeated.
Benjamin Franklin was once a self-proclaimed vegetarian, but then, he wasn’t. Like Mr. Franklin, supermodel Naomi Campbell did nude ads for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in which she said, “I’d rather go naked than wear fur,” and claimed to be vegetarian. Later, she modeled fur on the fashion runways and said she loves to eat meat. Fellow supermodel Claudia Schiffer, too, was a preachy vegetarian nanny of us regular people. But caught Schiffer eating chicken, I guess she’s now a “faux vegetarian.” Even in their campaign to keep the rest of us from consuming animals, both Campbell and Schiffer had no problem wearing leather. I guess models don’t know that comes from a dead animal, too.
Barbara Streisand used a temporary Web page on America Online as a bully pulpit to endorse liberal political candidates across the country in the 1998 elections. And her manager lauded her political influence, claiming 80 percent of her political choices won. I wonder how many voters really knew or cared who Streisand endorsed.
Celebrities don't even stop short of advocating violence if it furthers their allegedly peaceful pet cause. Let’s not forget producer Spike Lee’s comment that “someone should shoot [NRA President] Charlton Heston,” or actor Alec Baldwin’s call on late-night TV for killing House Judiciary Committee Henry Hyde and Independent Prosecutor Kenneth Starr and their families, or comedian Chris Rock’s declaration of his desire to get a “gang from the ‘hood to whup Ken Starr’s a--.”
Then there’s Irish singer Sinead O’Connor. Remember her? She’s the one who ripped up a picture of the Pope on “Saturday Night Live.” O’Connor told Irish newspapers that the American Senate should stop wasting time on Bill Clinton’s impeachment because “Clinton is the sexiest man in the universe. I would bring my own cigars. My mouth is watering at the prospect. Does impeachment mean they're gonna [sic] turn him into a peach? If so, can I eat him?”
Of course, if you are a conservative or politically incorrect celebrity, you will likely not be heard. Sonny Bono’s views were never given a forum until he was elected to Congress. Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote of his need to conceal his conservative views or never work again in liberal Hollywood. Rocker Sammy Hagar has similarly kept quiet after coming under fire from the music industry for supporting the Gulf War and anti-Communist freedom fighters. Even James Woods, a liberal Democrat, didn't get much coverage of his status as one of the few actors to call for Clinton’s ouster during impeachment proceedings. You probably didn't know that he called Clinton “a certified liar, a card-carrying liar . . . ., a sociopath” and said, “I’m ashamed to be a Democrat.” Given all this, it’s amazing that the entertainment industry continues to claim that it’s impartial, not pushing a particular set of politics.
While I generally ignore celebrities’ views on political issues, there is an exception to every rule. I can’t help but respect Gene Simmons, legendary founder and bassist for the rock group KISS, who said it best. “We don’t comment on whales and the rain forest. We don’t try to be ambassadors to Bosnia. Duh. You need a rock star for that? Some idiot who couldn’t tune a guitar six months ago is now an environmental specialist? I blame media for giving rock stars more credence than they deserve. Why don’t they ask Al Gore how to play bass?”
People generally don’t care about AIDS ribbons at the Emmy’s when their relatives are dying of cancer. They watch such awards shows for an escape. They don’t want to hear about politics, but when they do, they look to politicians. Entertainers should stick to what they do best — entertainment!
[/quote]
------------------
John/az
"The middle of the road between the extremes of good and evil, is evil. When freedom is at stake, your silence is not golden, it's yellow..." RKBA!
www.quixtar.com
referal #2005932
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/schlussel1.asp
The article:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Debbie Schlussel
'Stardumb'
ARE YOU A SCIENTIST or an expert on alar? Neither is actress Meryl Streep, but that didn't stop her from testifying as an expert on the chemical pesticide before a Congressional committee hearing, a few years back. Streep lectured the U.S. Congress about how alar residue on our fruit was poisoning our children and causing severe disease and illness. Streep was never a scientist, but she played one in the movies.
And as it turns out, Streep didn't know what she was talking about.
Authoritative studies by real scientists came to the opposite conclusion about alar, showing the residue to be virtually harmless at current levels.
That's the problem with giving the Hollywood glitterati a forum for their political views. Not only are celebrities out of touch with the American everyman, they are, true to their entertainment industry, only acting. They only pretend to know what they're talking about.
At last week's Emmy Awards, the proverbial blood-red AIDS ribbon was back. Viewers were subjected to yet another celebrity political pronouncement, lest we get too comfortable in the decrease in AIDS-related deaths. The ribbons were enclosed with all tickets for Emmy attendees. Who cares about larger killers like cancer (which has no AZT or “AIDS cocktails” to lessen its toll) when you have a celebrity-endorsed disease that affects Hollywood? Since when is the blood of victims of cancer and other maladies less red than the AIDS victims' ribbons?
From Jane Fonda’s hideous behavior during the Vietnam War to Rosie O’Donnell’s rants against the National Rifle Association (NRA), Americans cannot avoid the ludicrous, misinformed, usually left-wing, and, often, hypocritical, politics of the entertainment industry. In order for tabloid shows like “Entertainment Tonight” to get an interview with, say, actor Ted Danson about his new television show, they must air his views on the environment.
There’s nothing wrong with shows like “Politically Incorrect” (on which I recently appeared), where celebrities are presented as naked political animals, unclothed by their latest movie, TV show, or CD; where their views are moderated and challenged with opposing views from host Bill Maher and three other guests. Unlike other celebrity shows, Maher’s not worried about being able to do a feature on Pamela Anderson’s beach house, next week. He’d rather challenge her and have a lively show, this week.
But aside from a show that from its title is billed as a "Political" show, politically correct celebrity activism Selleck usually involves hypocrisy and backfires. Witness the nuttiness, earlier this year, of Ms. O’Donnell, the host of her own nationally syndicated daytime talk show. Poor Tom Selleck, who appeared on the show to promote a new movie, was verbally assaulted for his pro-choice gun stance by Ms. O’Donnell’s rapid-fire machine-gun mouth. Selleck, an NRA member, was repeatedly harangued by O’Donnell, a gun-control advocate since the Littleton, Colorado incident. Most viewers, according to polls, felt that O’Donnell’s behavior went too far. The next day, radio shock jock Howard Stern pointed out that O’Donnell is a national spokeswoman for Kmart, possibly the nation’s largest vendor of guns, and called for her resignation or ouster.
Both O’Donnell and Kmart refused, and instead, O’Donnell continued on her gun control mission. She canceled the appearance on her show of Broadway star Bernadette Peters, a star of “Annie Get Your Gun,” because Peters refused to omit the line “I can shoot a partridge with a single cartridge” from a performance of the Irving Berlin song “Anything You Can Do.” Later, at the Daytime Emmy Awards, the Producer of soap opera “General Hospital” congratulated O’Donnell for her views and said, “We must have more gun control laws, and we must use our shows as the influence to do this.” O’Donnell, then, took her zealotry to full-page, pro-gun control ads in newspapers nationwide signed by her and other celebrities.
But yet, Hollywood still protests that it doesn’t consciously use its forum to influence political views. If only that were true.
“President” Warren Beatty aside, while celebrity political activism is, again, ill-advised, to say the least, there are far too many examples of its vibrant continuation. In Wild in the Woods, author Robert Whelan writes that, in 1991, rock singer Sting helped Brazil’s Kayapo Indians wage a successful battle for ownership of a 25,000-square-mile rain forest reserve, allegedly to preserve it from destruction by business.
Beatty as 'Bullworth' The Kayapos, then, completely logged and mined the tract, using the money to buy planes and cars for tribal chiefs, while most villagers lacked basic medical care.
Remember Oprah Winfrey’s careless remark on her daytime talk show regarding Mad Cow Disease—a disease restricted to Great Britain—and American beef? “Now doesn’t that concern you?” she told her national audience. “It has just stopped me cold from eating another burger!”
She also stopped the American beef market cold and drove cattlemen to great financial loss, even though mad cow disease had nothing to do with American beef.
Actor Sean Connery campaigned in his native Scotland for a nationalist campaign in the country’s May 6th Parliamentary elections. Opponents pointed out that Connery hadn’t lived in Scotland for years. His preferred candidates were soundly defeated.
Benjamin Franklin was once a self-proclaimed vegetarian, but then, he wasn’t. Like Mr. Franklin, supermodel Naomi Campbell did nude ads for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in which she said, “I’d rather go naked than wear fur,” and claimed to be vegetarian. Later, she modeled fur on the fashion runways and said she loves to eat meat. Fellow supermodel Claudia Schiffer, too, was a preachy vegetarian nanny of us regular people. But caught Schiffer eating chicken, I guess she’s now a “faux vegetarian.” Even in their campaign to keep the rest of us from consuming animals, both Campbell and Schiffer had no problem wearing leather. I guess models don’t know that comes from a dead animal, too.
Barbara Streisand used a temporary Web page on America Online as a bully pulpit to endorse liberal political candidates across the country in the 1998 elections. And her manager lauded her political influence, claiming 80 percent of her political choices won. I wonder how many voters really knew or cared who Streisand endorsed.
Celebrities don't even stop short of advocating violence if it furthers their allegedly peaceful pet cause. Let’s not forget producer Spike Lee’s comment that “someone should shoot [NRA President] Charlton Heston,” or actor Alec Baldwin’s call on late-night TV for killing House Judiciary Committee Henry Hyde and Independent Prosecutor Kenneth Starr and their families, or comedian Chris Rock’s declaration of his desire to get a “gang from the ‘hood to whup Ken Starr’s a--.”
Then there’s Irish singer Sinead O’Connor. Remember her? She’s the one who ripped up a picture of the Pope on “Saturday Night Live.” O’Connor told Irish newspapers that the American Senate should stop wasting time on Bill Clinton’s impeachment because “Clinton is the sexiest man in the universe. I would bring my own cigars. My mouth is watering at the prospect. Does impeachment mean they're gonna [sic] turn him into a peach? If so, can I eat him?”
Of course, if you are a conservative or politically incorrect celebrity, you will likely not be heard. Sonny Bono’s views were never given a forum until he was elected to Congress. Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote of his need to conceal his conservative views or never work again in liberal Hollywood. Rocker Sammy Hagar has similarly kept quiet after coming under fire from the music industry for supporting the Gulf War and anti-Communist freedom fighters. Even James Woods, a liberal Democrat, didn't get much coverage of his status as one of the few actors to call for Clinton’s ouster during impeachment proceedings. You probably didn't know that he called Clinton “a certified liar, a card-carrying liar . . . ., a sociopath” and said, “I’m ashamed to be a Democrat.” Given all this, it’s amazing that the entertainment industry continues to claim that it’s impartial, not pushing a particular set of politics.
While I generally ignore celebrities’ views on political issues, there is an exception to every rule. I can’t help but respect Gene Simmons, legendary founder and bassist for the rock group KISS, who said it best. “We don’t comment on whales and the rain forest. We don’t try to be ambassadors to Bosnia. Duh. You need a rock star for that? Some idiot who couldn’t tune a guitar six months ago is now an environmental specialist? I blame media for giving rock stars more credence than they deserve. Why don’t they ask Al Gore how to play bass?”
People generally don’t care about AIDS ribbons at the Emmy’s when their relatives are dying of cancer. They watch such awards shows for an escape. They don’t want to hear about politics, but when they do, they look to politicians. Entertainers should stick to what they do best — entertainment!
[/quote]
------------------
John/az
"The middle of the road between the extremes of good and evil, is evil. When freedom is at stake, your silence is not golden, it's yellow..." RKBA!
www.quixtar.com
referal #2005932