Speak Your Mind
3/7/2003
Celebrities enamor the America public. Whether one of them gets married, divorced, arrested, or any mundane daily activity, the paparazzi are usually not far behind. Perhaps that is the price of fame, but very often celebrities deliberately draw attention to themselves to accomplish their personal agenda. A question was proposed to me about how I feel about random celebrities using their fame to promote any number of causes.
There are all different types of celebrities. Athletes, actors, and musicians entertain us while some criminals reach a celebrity stature because they captivate and intrigue us. We expect certain things from each type of celebrity. For example, movie stars will do the talk show circuit to promote and upcoming movie and musicians will tour the country and world to sell more albums.
The problem with a lot of celebrities is that they mistake their celebrity status with that of intellectuals. A perfect example involves Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit. During his presentation at this year’s Grammy Awards, Durst took it upon himself to forego the prewritten script and preach his views of the imminent war with Iraq. Even though it lasted less than a minute, Durst made the same mistake too many celebrities make. What made him think anyone cared what he thought about the war? He is famous because of his musical abilities, not for his intellect about the Persian Gulf.
Why do celebrities feel the need to publicly profess their personal beliefs? Probably for the same reasons that you and I would do the same thing. As much as it can be annoying and potentially damaging to their careers, they want the issues that are important to them to be important to us. I would be a hypocrite if I said that I would not try to use my influence to gain publicity about the issues important to me if I were in their situations.
At first, my reaction to his question was simple. I wished that all celebrities would accept why they are famous and otherwise shut up! As I began to write this however, I realized that they would be stupid not to try to make an important difference in this world. Too bad that the ones that disagree with our views get the same chances to speak.
Why? Just Because!