Celebrities And Politics

User avatar
OscarGuy
Site Admin
Posts: 13668
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 12:22 am
Location: Springfield, MO
Contact:

Post by OscarGuy »

First of all, the regular American citizen doesn't have the ability to say something and have people listen. Celebrities have that power. It is our duty as Americans to question the government we've elected. If we do not, then we allow them to steamroll over our freedoms. If you doubt that, then perhaps you should see the evidence of this in V for Vendetta.

I think it's imperative for those who have the recognition to stand up with their opinions. People will listen to them and point out the flaws in an administration run amok. If they don't, then the public will rarely know how many support them or who does. I don't care if someone's asked for his or her opinion or not. I think everyone should stand up and speak out for what they see as failings whether of an administration, a union or whatnot.

So, I don't have a problem with Hopper standing up and speaking. I disagree with him but it's his right as an American. Those who criticize the people who speak out generally don't like what ramifications that speech could have. I, for one, welcome it.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
criddic3
Tenured
Posts: 2874
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2003 11:08 pm
Location: New York, USA
Contact:

Post by criddic3 »

You're quite right. Partly. I don't think that getting up on a stage or ranting on a TV show is appropriate for celebrities. But if they are asked for their opinion, I think it's ok to say what they think. This is so, as long as name-calling isn't involved. I think George Clooney has every right to say he doesn't agree with the President. I never said he shouldn't. And while I do not like Jane Fonda, she has every right to speak on Larry King Live about her feelings. But by the same token, she said she would not tour the country spouting her political views. This is because maybe she even knows that a celebrity should not necessarily become a political activist in that way. For instance, I thought it was wrong for Richard Dreyfuss to stand up at a political meeting and call for the President's resignation or impeachment. It's not really his place. It has to do with the avenue you choose.

I'm glad you brought it up, because it's important to distinguish what the difference is. Any citizen has the right to speak against policy. But there is a dignified way to do it. Using a concert to bash the President, when perhaps half your audience is not in sync, is wrong. Being interviewed by a newspaper and saying how you will vote in an election or what your view is, is ok. Make sense to you?

However I do stick by the notion that a celebrity should not assume he speaks for everyone. Some of them do suggest that "all of America" is secretly behind them, but are "afraid" to say so, ala Clooney and some others. Such bloated egotism is unwarranted.
"Because here’s the thing about life: There’s no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days when you need a hand. There are other days when we’re called to lend a hand." -- President Joe Biden, 01/20/2021
User avatar
Sonic Youth
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8003
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:35 pm
Location: USA

Post by Sonic Youth »

criddic3 wrote:Good for him.

Hypocrite.

I was so waiting for this. You never say "good for him" whenever someone speaks out AGAINST Bush. You've said again and again, "public figures have no business making outspoken comments about politicians or the war. It is not their place to use the public forum to voice their political opinions." If you find it so inappropriate whenever a celebrity or public figure publicly speaks out about politics, it should be EQUALLY inappropriate whenever Dennis Hopper does it.

But no. You only bitch about your phony principle on outspoken celebrities whenever it's against Bush. When it's for Bush, it's "good for him", and your principles for celebrities using the public forum to make political statements (which you're very vocal about) flies out the window. I think that's called shameless ass-kissing.

Don't worry. Everyone on this board knows exactly what you mean when you say "it is not the place for celebrities to speak out about the war" as you did about Woody Allen in Cannes, or Bruce Springsteen during the election period or so on. It means "don't speak out about politics or the war unless it's in support of Bush." You are so transparant. And thank God you're not in Nazi Germany because your hero worship is terrifyingly fanatical. As usually happens with someone who can't tell the difference between a good leader and a major crush.
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Damien
Laureate
Posts: 6331
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:43 pm
Location: New York, New York
Contact:

Post by Damien »

From Rolling Stone:

NEIL YOUNG: IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT
Singer-songwriter takes aim at the Commander-in-Chief on "Living With War"

Earlier this year, Neil Young told Rolling Stone,"I'm always going from one extreme to another." True to form, just months after the release of his studio album Prairie Wind, the legendary singer-songwriter is returning with the incredibly politically charged Living With War. On the album, whipped up in just two angry weeks earlier this month, Young takes aim at the war in Iraq and President Bush -- through songs including the Bush-basher "Let's Impeach the President."
Living With War features what Young describes on his Web site as "metal folk protest" and "a metal version of Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan," recorded with "a power trio with trumpet and 100 voices." Other songs include "Lookin' for a Leader" and the title track, the lyrics of which are partly available on the site:

I'm living with war in my heart everyday/. . . and on the flat screen we kill and we're killed again/and when the night falls, I pray for peace.

While the war certainly remains a divisive topic, it's unlikely that Young is worried about alienating any fans. "There are things that I've done that have been hard for people to get into," Young told Rolling Stone. "They haven't liked everything. They want me to do the same thing over and over, and they think I'm inconsistent and erratic when I don't. That's a very narrow viewpoint, I think."

"I just try to stay open," he added. "I'm happy when I have a new idea, when my music turns a corner."
==============

And the New York Times:

ON HIS NEW ALBUM, NEIL YOUNG CALLS FOR BUSH'S IMPEACHMENT

By JEFF LEEDS
LOS ANGELES, April 17 — Neil Young, who has periodically touched on political themes during a four-decade career, plans to release a hastily recorded new album ruminating on the war in Iraq and directly calling for the impeachment of
The 10-song album, "Living With War," will probably represent Mr. Young's most overtly partisan work since the song "Ohio," recorded and quickly released by the group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young as a response to the Kent State shootings in 1970.

Elliot Roberts, Mr. Young's longtime manager, said the album would be "more about soldiers" and "what it's like to all of a sudden be 18 and on the line."

The titles on the album include "Let's Impeach the President," which features Mr. Bush's voice overlaid above a 100-voice choir singing, "Flip flop." Another title is "Lookin' for a Leader." The album also includes an a cappella version of "America the Beautiful," sung by Mr. Young with the choir.

Mr. Roberts said that he did not know exactly what had inspired Mr. Young to record the new songs, which were written and recorded in a span of roughly two weeks, but that "I know he watches the news." He added that he believed the album's sentiments would resonate broadly, adding that "it's not a political, Democratic versus Republican feel."

The album comes at a time when major record companies and radio stations appear to have developed a degree of comfort with bluntly political material. The latest song from the band Pearl Jam, "World Wide Suicide," which accuses the president of taking soldiers' sacrifices for granted, recently logged three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard modern-rock airplay chart. And Green Day's 2004 album "American Idiot" which addresses themes of alienation but also includes lyrics like "Sieg Heil to the president gasman," has emerged as a blockbuster, selling more than 5.4 million copies so far, according to Nielsen SoundScan data.

Mr. Young has expressed varying views on politics over the years. In the 1980's he openly supported Ronald Reagan, but he has since become a fairly consistent critic of Republican administrations.

His 1989 song "Rockin' in the Free World" implicitly criticized the first President Bush. In "Greendale," a film he directed to accompany his 2003 album of the same name, Mr. Young sings lyrics nodding to the Patriot Act — "We'll be watching you/ No matter what you do" — against images of former Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Mr. Roberts said that he had not yet played the new music for executives at Mr. Young's record label, the Warner Brothers/Reprise unit of Warner Music Group, but that he expected the album to be released as soon as June. Mr. Young's last album, "Prairie Wind," has sold about 452,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

On his Web site (neilyoung.com), Mr. Young describes the recording as "a metal version of Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan. ... Metal folk protest?"

The site also displays a scrolling sample of lyrics from the album:

And when the dawn breaks I see my fellow man

And on the flat-screen we kill and we're killed again

And when the night falls, I pray for peace

Try to remember peace.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
criddic3
Tenured
Posts: 2874
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2003 11:08 pm
Location: New York, USA
Contact:

Post by criddic3 »

Good for him.
"Because here’s the thing about life: There’s no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days when you need a hand. There are other days when we’re called to lend a hand." -- President Joe Biden, 01/20/2021
Damien
Laureate
Posts: 6331
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:43 pm
Location: New York, New York
Contact:

Post by Damien »

From Rush & Molloy in the NY Daily News:

BUSH IS HIS MAN, MAN

President Bush still has one fan.

"I voted for Bush, and I don't have anything to disapprove of," Dennis Hopper told us Tuesday night at Soho House.

The actor/artist, who obviously isn't playing against type as conservative Col. Eli McNulty on the Pentagon drama "E-Ring," added, "I think the results of what is happening [in Iraq] is disappointing, but it doesn't have to do with the President."

So where does the buck stop? "I just think he underestimated where we were going."

Hopper and wife, Victoria, were at the artist-soaked salon, hosted by The Week mag, to screen and chat about his motorcycle movie "Easy Rider" with the likes of Julian Schnabel, Fran Lebowitz, Alba Clemente, Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant, Annie Churchill, Cary Woods, Jaid Barrymore, and the two women who started the monthly soiree, called Grand Classics: Katrina Pavlos and Vanessa Wingate.

Hopper might have a lot more to say in his upcoming autobiography, which he's shopping. Could be chewy: The dude's had five wives, one of whom got the Andy Warhol soup can he bought for 75 bucks when they split.

"I have a lot to write about," he told us with a grin.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Greg
Tenured
Posts: 3285
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 1:12 pm
Location: Greg
Contact:

Post by Greg »

In an interview on the Alex Jones Show on the GCN Radio network, Charlie Sheen claims that there is reason to believe in a U.S. government complicity and cover-up in the 9-11 attacks.

http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20060321072815695
Damien
Laureate
Posts: 6331
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:43 pm
Location: New York, New York
Contact:

Post by Damien »

I couldn't find the thread on the subject of celebrities and politics so I started this one. But if any monitor knows where that thread is, please move this there.

The Dixie Chicks have a new CD coining out in May, and in one song it's payback time for all the cretins who demonized and tried to censor them for being right on Iraq. How stupid and petty do those people who wanted the group boycotted look now?

"NOT READY TO MAKE NICE"

Words and Music by Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines and Dan WIlson

Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting

I’m through with doubt
There’s nothing left for me to figure out
I’ve paid a price
And I’ll keep paying

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

I know you said
Can’t you just get over it
It turned my whole world around
And I kind of like it

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Post Reply

Return to “Current Events”