When Celebrities Attack!

Why do celebs feel the need to voice their moral, social, and political opinions? It is not that they don't have the right to speak their minds, but that it appears that they believe it matters. Celebrities are nothing more than glorified entertainers who fade With the last bad movie or song they put out. I go to the movies because I need to escape, relax, laugh, and have a good time. I do not spend hard earned money to see a movie or download a song because the artist is important, but because they are entertaining.

A good example is Ellen DeGeneres. She is the funniest female comedian to come around in a long time. I enjoyed her stand up routines and her sitcom, but when she began to take herself too seriously by letting us all know she loved to bed women, she was no longer amusing. Homophobia did not temporarily disable her career, but her belief that her sexuality crusade was as important to us as it was to her. I always believed Ellen was a lesbian but that was her own business, and frankly I did not care. When Ellen stepped outside of her role as entertainer, she stepped out of the one thing that made her publicly likeable. Homosexuality is a controversial topic, so it is no surprise that her career took a nose dive. Ellen decided ( wisely I believe) to become an entertainer again. Her talk show is top notch and the controversy is left outside the show.

Tom Cruise goes on religious tirades, Jane Fonda flirts with enemy combatants, and a host of ego-inflated celebrities continually blur the line between entertaining and important. The most annoying type of person in the work-place is someone who assumes responsibilities and leadership that they have not been given. These sorry individuals are usually ignored, laughed at, and sometimes despised, but they are rarely taken seriously. I believe this may be the reason that most celebs have had little influence in affecting the masses. Most individuals (including celebs) take their personal opinions very seriously, and in my opinion, would not give over important personal convictions to an entertainer. TOTT

Tongues of Fire V.S. The American Soul

What a hurricane can do to a city, the tongue can do to a nation or the world. Within days of the Katrina catastrophe, powerful, influential individuals began to open their mouths and add to the misery that followed a natural disaster. A whole city was under water, people were terrified and in danger, and these inept individuals vociferously and without concern for temperament or leadership, vomited their contempt and ill-will against our nation. The President was called a racist and genocidal, and the national guard was accused of arriving to kill the predominate black citizens of New Orleans.

The finger wagging began before the masses could be rescued; media hysteria and emotionalism guided truth rather than self-control and leadership. The "actions" of the average American was quite different. Individuals risked their own lives, gave from their own pockets, and set out to save their fellow Americans (not refugees), from the devastation. The state of Texas opened wide and took in over 250,000 Americans who had nowhere to go. Churches even worked with local bars to raise money for relief, and a people from every race, religion, and ethnicity worked together to save their fellowman.

I am now convinced that it is by the average American which our nation should be judged, and not by the self proclaimed or elected leaders of our nation. We are capable of putting aside our many differences for the common belief that human life is worth saving. This is the great decency of our nation, and it may be the very attribute that allows us to overcome the pathetic and contemptuous tongue and finger waggers that chew and naw their way to power. While Americans serve those in desperate need, power mongers abuse tradgedy for the sake of their ideologies. These useless power beggars share nothing of the American soul, that is now at work doing God's will.

TOTT