Thought for the day
And another question: Why will the basically conservative people who think Tom Selleck is a great choice say that it’s terrific for the popular nonentity to stump for unbridled license to guns, but that liberal actors should shut their pie holes?
Every time a Barbra Streisand or Dixie Chick takes a stand, the right screams and hollers and says that actors should act, singers should sing, and that entertainers should firmly place their opinions where the sun don’t shine.
But Tom Selleck, well, that’s another story. Obviously his well-groomed mustache and masterly performance in “Three Men and a Baby” make him just the dude to cross the nation delivering his opinions on this most political of issues.
I admit that I say the same things about Streisand and her ilk. Are we being fair to the voices from the other side?
October 4th, 2006 at 11:39 am
I don’t recall that I’ve ever opined that someone should just shut up, but what does bother me are celebrities who act like I should really care what they think about an issue. They are people just like everyone else, and thus there are some of them who are informed, intelligence and articulate, and some of them who are total dunces.
In regards to the article, it’s the same tired crap. Supporting the second amendment, except for guns they don’t like, which is convinenetly anything that they don’t think is suitable for hunting or target shooting, which only a few very politically correct looking guns qualify for in their world.
October 4th, 2006 at 11:46 am
One of the differences I see between Selleck and “those others” is Selleck doesn’t preach his beliefs when he has the spotlight. I don’t recall him ever giving a pro-gun speech during the Emmy or Golden Globe awards, unlike the political BS we’re served up whenever some other “stars” have an agenda to push.
I’ll listen to anyone with a cogent argument, even a Dixie Chick. Except the singer. She’s an idiot.
October 4th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Dude, it’s all explained in the Shouting Points Memo:
October 4th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
To say nothing of Ronald Reagan—an actor—that has been virtually canonized by the Right.
Sure, Tom Selleck doesn’t preach his beliefs when he has the spotlight … but why shouldn’t he? Actors, singers, etc, are still Americans, they still are entitled to their opinions, and personally, I can’t think of any good reason why any American shouldn’t voice their opinions if given the chance.
Of course, I do believe that there is a time and a place for everything. I also believe that there’s a difference between an informed individual and an ignorant one.
But the larger belief that in general entertainers should just shut up and entertain? I disagree with that.
October 4th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
*cough*Heston*cough*
October 4th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
I have no problem with entertainers having opinions, even ones not supplied to them by their agents.
I like to say “Shut up and play yer guitar” mostly. Usually, it’s the Dixie Chick moments that make me say it. If an actor or musician wants to be a spokesperson, fine, but unless your entertainment genre is political in nature, leave it out of your performances. And, if you do put out a message, and your fan base evaporates, don’t cry “censorship” or “intolerance”. Cry “I really scrooed the pooch that time”, and drive on.
October 4th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
I think I mirror the “shut up and play your instrument” thing. I think Alice Cooper of all people said it best. “Why in the WORLD should we listen to people who don’t wake up till 1:00 in the afternoon, are surrounded by people telling them that NO MATTER WHAT, they’re right, and spend most every night drinking, taking drugs, and screwing all the while telling other people what real life is like.”
The difference is that there is NO WAY IN HELL Bono knows what it’s like to be a 30+ year old father working in a factory. He’s got millions of dollars at his fingertips not to mention the sheer power of being a big star. And he wants to tell me how to live my life.
It’s more insulting than anything, and I believe that’s what infuriates people most.
October 4th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
Here is a comment I posted to the original article you linked to:
——
It’s very simple really.
If you agree with a position, you support it. If you disagree with a position you oppose it. That’s what we do too.
When the Ditsy Tricks or Babs open their pie-holes, we tell them they should shut up because we disagree with them and think they should shut up.
We don’t ask the government to shut them up.
We don’t say they don’t have the right to speak.
We just tell them they are idiots and that they should shut up because they are annoying us.
We may even go so far as to tell them that if they CHOOSE not to shut up, we may CHOOSE not to purchase the “entertainment” that they peddle.
Don’t we have the right to speak our minds just like the Ditsy Tricks or Babs?
Just like you can tell me to shut up. And just like The Ditsy Tricks or Babs do with us, I can ignore you.
Don’t like Tom Selleck being a spokesperson for the NRA? Fine, don’t watch his movies any more. Excroriate him. Call him names. Tell him to shut up. That’s your right in a free society.
He’ll ignore you. That’s his right in a free society.
October 4th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
And, if you do put out a message, and your fan base evaporates, don’t cry “censorship” or “intolerance”. Cry “I really scrooed the pooch that time”, and drive on.
Right on, Rustmeister.
October 4th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
At least Selleck does have a college education unlike many of the others.
October 4th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
It’s “interesting” how Tom Selleck is characterized as a “popular nonentity” and how the Dixie chicks “take a stand,” while the “the right screams and hollers” – that all really does follow the Shouting Points Memo.
Like they say in Hollywood, “There’s no such thing as bad press” – (Paris Hilton) and it’s really quite true. Actors and entertainers are professional and well-paid emotionalists. They’re heartstring-pullers, and it really doesn’t matter to them what strings get pulled or whose – bad or good is better than indifferent – and they often confuse themselves with their own audience, so in that respect I really don’t care whether they’re treated fairly or not, it’s all grist for the mill. They’re also usually more clever and cunning than what one would call “smart,” because intellect is not the part of the cortex they go to when they deliver the goods. The really smart people in that industry are the techies; the backstage and other-side-of-the-camera people, typically electricians and lighting people being at the upper levels of very-smart. At least that’s my experience working in Theater.
October 4th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
in the spirit of “when to use blackface in your blog“, I propose a new rule:
This way we can either dismiss the “Barbra Streisand” type whiners as inconsiderate and out of touch, and we can call all the “Sean Penn” type a-holes hypocrites.
[snark/]
October 4th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
Say Uncle-
I think that you let the author of this rant/article off the hook by quoting some relatively (in the context of his other comments) benign statements.
The following were the ones that made me chuckle the most.
“Let’s be realists. Terrorism is a fact of life. We can’t make it go away but can only confront it through legal investigation and direct retaliation for specific acts.” — In other words, let’s wait to be hit again, then have law enforcement investigate, and then retaliate (read: impose UN sanctions). What a fatalistic approach.
Since this guy is the self-appointed gate-keeper of our liberties, just for consistency’s sake, where is his commentary as to the state of our civil liberties under the Reno Justice Department?
Somehow, watching the government fire upon, torch and destroy the complex at Waco, killing almost all of the residents, didn’t give me a good feeling from a civil liberties standpoint.
Nor did watching a SWAT team stick a MP-5 in a 5-year old’s face in a snatch and grab to return little him to Castro.
I agree with most of the guy’s references to the Patriot Act, and I hoped that it wouldn’t be renewed, but I don’t think that a Kerry or a another Clinton or Gore administration would make me feel freer.
No, I feel that gun control is more about control (the government kind) and less about guns.
“Many liberals hunt, of course, or shoot guns at target ranges.” — Sure, buddy, I talk with liberals at the shooting range all the time. Same with gun shows and gun stores.
“I don’t think many of us on the left support, as does the NRA, automatic and semi-automatic weapons.” — I guess that means you libs only shoot revolvers and bolt action rifles.
“I still firmly believe in rigid control and mandated safety locks on all weapons.” — I’m sure you do, pal.
And BTW, we aren’t embarassed about Charlton Heston’s saying “from my cold, dead hands!” — It happens to be our rallying cry.
October 4th, 2006 at 11:26 pm
Say Uncle did not post this Chris.
I, Gunner, posted it. The main subject of interest was not the subject of the article, as much as the power given to celebrities. I admit that Tom S. would be a great spokemen for the NRA, but for all he is, he is the same as others.
I just found a small bit of thought in another article of little worth.
October 7th, 2006 at 7:07 am
This is exactly why I never quote celebrities, even when I agree with them. They are only people who have a talent, either for performing or sometimes only for attracting attention. They become famous because of this talent, not because they have any special insight on how things are or how things should be.
The majority of them, in my opinion, are a sort of idiot savant. They are very good at their talent of performance, and essentially useless for anything else.