# Matt Damon, STFU! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 11, 2008, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064 "2008-09-11T04:08:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/81 "2008-09-12T04:51:12Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > Sonny Bono. Gopher from Love Boat. Fred Thompson. Yeah, those conservative celebrities get NO airtime. This is rich! A handful of celebrities culled from the last 30 years or so. Let’s see now, how many times over the last 30 years have we heard the liberal POV espoused by, or conservatism made fun of by, the likes of: Warren Beatty; Annette Bening; Susan Sarandon; Tim Robbins; Robert Redford; Barbra Streisand; Jane Fonda; Alec Baldwin; Oliver Stone; Sean Penn; Bono; Mike Farrell; Madonna; Julia Roberts; Joy Behar; Oprah Winfrey; Martin Sheen; Whoopi Goldberg; Janeane Garofalo; the Dixie Chicks; George Clooney; Cher; Woody Harrelson; Candice Bergen; Kirstie Alley; Jay Leno & David Letterman; Ed Asner; Danny Glover; Spike Lee; Sandra Bernhard; Sarah Silverman; Hugh Hefner; Rosie O’Donnell; George Carlin; John Cusack; Michael Moore; Jack Nicholson; Ted Turner… And this barely scratches the surface…shall I go on? Just like your pretending that because we have Limbaugh and Fox we dominate the media, the idea that there is an even remotely fair comparison between right and left wing celebrities is laughable…as is the contention that they have no impact. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/82 "2008-09-12T05:03:48Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > This is rich! A handful of celebrities culled from the last 30 years or so. > > Let’s see now, how many times over the last 30 years have we heard the liberal POV espoused by, or conservatism made fun of by, the likes of: Warren Beatty; Annette Bening; Susan Sarandon; Tim Robbins; Robert Redford; Barbra Streisand; Jane Fonda; Alec Baldwin; Oliver Stone; Sean Penn; Bono; Mike Farrell; Madonna; Julia Roberts; Joy Behar; Oprah Winfrey; Martin Sheen; Whoopi Goldberg; Janeane Garofalo; the Dixie Chicks; George Clooney; Cher; Woody Harrelson; Candice Bergen; Kirstie Alley; Jay Leno & David Letterman; Ed Asner; Danny Glover; Spike Lee; Sandra Bernhard; Sarah Silverman; Hugh Hefner; Rosie O’Donnell; George Carlin; John Cusack; Michael Moore; Jack Nicholson; Ted Turner… > > And this barely scratches the surface…shall I go on? > > Just like your pretending that because we have Limbaugh and Fox we dominate the media, the idea that there is an even remotely fair comparison between right and left wing celebrities is laughable…as is the contention that they have no impact. Why? you’re right!, all those liberals get to give their opinions while poor republican celebrities merely get elected to the highest positions of power in the US government! **SA** , get real. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/83 "2008-09-12T05:05:32Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Just like your pretending that because we have Limbaugh and Fox we dominate the media . . . Cite, or you’re a liar. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/84 "2008-09-12T05:19:34Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > Why? you’re right!, all those liberals get to give their opinions while poor republican celebrities merely get elected to the highest positions of power in the US government! > > **SA** , get real. Like I said upthread, it works when you guys have the playing field all to yourselves, but it only took Limbaugh and Fox to even things up. Why do you think that is? It’s because your ideology can’t stand the light of day, that’s why…and once people begin to hear the other side of the story, they realize just how much damage 40 years of liberal influence on this society has had. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/85 "2008-09-12T05:21:45Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Cite, or you’re a liar. Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah? Well…uh…your mother wears combat boots! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/86 "2008-09-12T05:30:05Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Like I said upthread, it works when you guys have the playing field all to yourselves, but it only took Limbaugh and Fox to even things up. Why do you think that is? It’s because your ideology can’t stand the light of day, that’s why…and once people begin to hear the other side of the story, they realize just how much damage 40 years of liberal influence on this society has had. :dubious: I’m afraid you’re half a delusion and two unfounded assertions away from being a full fledged conspiracy theorist. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/87 "2008-09-12T05:42:46Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > :dubious: > > I’m afraid you’re half a delusion and two unfounded assertions away from being a full fledged conspiracy theorist. Okay, I’ll see if I can take it the rest of the way: You guys mentioned Reagan and Gopher and Fred Thomson, so I’ll toss in another: Arnold Schwarzenegger. Have you noticed that it seems to be our guys who are willing to put in the hours and the effort to get elected and then work full-time to support their beliefs, where your guys are content to go on t.v. or to rallys and rabble-rouse, then return to the comfort of their Bel Air and Malibu mansions to hang out by the pool and snort cocaine? I’ve disliked Al Franken for years, but at least he seems willing to put some effort where his mouth is. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/88 "2008-09-12T06:29:03Z")
Anyone see Chuck Norris on Larry King last night? He combated Arianna Huffington’s comments on his contradictory “let’s cut the budget and cut taxes while continuing the war in Iraq” by 1=first pointing out- brilliantly- that Arianna’s rich (unlike Norris, who gives all of his money to orphans and lives on a pension and the money his wife gets selling homemade NASCAR coasters and potholders) 2= she doesn’t know how many pages the tax code is (66,000+ evidently) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzD84QQv\_6g](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzD84QQv_6g) then discussing 2=his military expertise as a result of his two tours in Iraq (? I assume he means “visits”, not tours) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M\_Rb4W54JnI&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_Rb4W54JnI&feature=related) So, you needn’t be liberal to be an uninformed bloviating actor. And in fact compared to Norris, Matt Damon looks pretty much like James Madison. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/89 "2008-09-12T08:45:49Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Didn’t Damon confess that he’d never actually voted? Cite? I haven’t watched the video that SA is gibbering about. Did he say it in that? > [@ralph124c](#): > > he makes lousy movies. Either you’re letting Damon’s politics cloud your judgment, you haven’t seen any of his best movies, or you have shit/no taste in movies. I would rate his movies thusly (all IMHO, of course)… **Excellent:** The Good Shepherd The Departed Syriana Confessions of a Dangerous Mind The Talented Mr. Ripley Saving Private Ryan (why do you hate America, **ralph124c**?) Good Will Hunting **Good to Very good:** The Bourne Ultimatum The Bourne Supremacy The Bourne Identity All the Pretty Horses Dogma Rounders Courage Under Fire Chasing Amy Mystic Pizza **Decent to good:** The Brothers Grimm Ocean’s Thirteen Ocean’s Twelve Ocean’s Eleven Jersey Girl The Good Mother I haven’t seen any of these so I can’t judge. Some do seem really iffy, but his good work makes up for anything else: Youth Without Youth (uncredited) Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D (voice) EuroTrip Stuck on You The Third Wheel (uncredited) Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (voice) Gerry The Majestic (voice) Finding Forrester Titan A.E. (voice) The Legend of Bagger Vance The Rainmaker Glory Daze Geronimo: An American Legend School Ties Field of Dreams (uncredited, extra) I mean really. Ragging on someone’s movies because of their politics (or religion or whatever), when the actor in question, Matt Damon, is fairly highly-regarded (not to mention Academy Award-nominated as an actor) is inane, and so utterly predictable. Rag on Pam Anderson for her “work” all you want. Not Damon. Hell, I dislike Arnold Schwarzenegger as a politician, but thoroughly enjoy quite a few of his movies (Stay Hungry, Terminator, Terminator 2, Commando, Predator, Last Action Hero, Total Recall and The Running Man, specifically). It pains me like crazy that Bruce Willis is a deluded Republican, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying the hell out of just about everything he’s ever done on the big screen (small screen too, with Moonlighting). I think Tom Cruise is a sad moronic cult dupe, but I think he’s a fine actor who’s been in several great movies and has given several great performances. I feel almost the same way about John Travolta (though Cruise is the much better actor). I just roll my eyes at such silly blanket statements (“he makes lousy movies”). ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/90 "2008-09-12T09:46:52Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Cite? I haven’t watched the video that SA is gibbering about. _cups hand around mouth_ You better be nice to me or I’ll burn my Happy Rhodes CD (_Many Worlds Are Born Tonight_) and mail you the ashes! I keed, I keed. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/91 "2008-09-12T10:19:44Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > _cups hand around mouth_ You better be nice to me or I’ll burn my Happy Rhodes CD (_Many Worlds Are Born Tonight_) and mail you the ashes! Oh, you have no idea how nice I’ve been to you. I have eyestrain from rolling my eyes so often at your posts in the past week+. I’ve just kept my mouth shut for the most part because there are plenty of far more intelligent, articulate people posting my thoughts much better than I ever could. You’re a very strange person. > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I keed, I keed. 😃 Glad you like it and all, it is a brilliant album, but you’d despise her politics. She’s way left of me even. Nice to know you don’t let violent disagreement get in the way of liking great music. 😃 back atcha. And btw, I don’t hate Palin because she’s a Republican. I hate her because she’s a right-wing, fundie Creationist whackjob. Maybe Damon feels the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/92 "2008-09-12T11:20:07Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Like I said upthread, it works when you guys have the playing field all to yourselves, but it only took Limbaugh and Fox to even things up. Why do you think that is? It’s because your ideology can’t stand the light of day, that’s why…and once people begin to hear the other side of the story, they realize just how much damage 40 years of liberal influence on this society has had. You keep saying this, but out of the last 40 years, only 12 of them had a liberal in the White House. I remember the entire 1980’s as being dominated by conservatives, and this past decade as well. And who exactly do you think is controlling the media? Is someone like Rupert Murdoch a liberal in your mind? And this gave me a chuckle: > [@SA](#): > > Have you noticed that it seems to be our guys who are willing to put in the hours and the effort to get elected and then work full-time to support their beliefs, where your guys are content to go on t.v. or to rallys and rabble-rouse, then return to the comfort of their Bel Air and Malibu mansions to hang out by the pool and snort cocaine? Right. Couldn’t be that liberal actors realize that they should leave running the country to those who are educated and experienced enough to do so, while conservatives will vote for whatever pretty face happens to have enough money to mount a campaign? Couldn’t be that liberals have opinions but stick to what they know, while conservatives don’t have any respect for our government and are arrogant enough to think that it doesn’t take brains, or know-how, to run the most powerful country in the free world? No, must be that liberals are lazy and drug-addled. Wow. You’ll just say anything, won’t you? You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say that actors shouldn’t meddle in politics, and then praise only the ones on your side who do and chastise those who don’t and characterize them as degenerates. But you will anyway, because fairminded, evenhanded discourse is not something you’re interested in. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/93 "2008-09-12T11:23:06Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > the actor in question, Matt Damon, is fairly highly-regarded (not to mention Academy Award-nominated as an actor). And let’s not forget AA-_winning_ as a writer. ---
**Author:** ![Mellivora\_capensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mellivora\_capensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mellivora_capensis)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/94 "2008-09-12T15:03:46Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > … > The Bourne Ultimatum > The Bourne Supremacy > The Bourne Identity > … You know, when they made Supremacy, I thought: “Damn, I hope they don’t go all Matrix on us and fuck it up with a trilogy.” And then when Ultimatum arrived, I was pissed, and refused to see it on principle. Until someone told me what I was missing. The Ultimatum was absolutely fucking brilliant, the best of the three. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/95 "2008-09-12T15:05:44Z")
If I was female, I’d shag him… hell, I’d consider it now, if the money was right. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/96 "2008-09-12T18:49:04Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > Right. Couldn’t be that liberal actors realize that they should leave running the country to those who are educated and experienced enough to do so, while conservatives will vote for whatever pretty face happens to have enough money to mount a campaign? Reagan, Gopher, Thompson & Schwarzenegger are pretty faces? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/97 "2008-09-12T18:57:06Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Oh, you have no idea how nice I’ve been to you. I have eyestrain from rolling my eyes so often at your posts in the past week+. I’ve just kept my mouth shut for the most part because there are plenty of far more intelligent, articulate people posting my thoughts much better than I ever could. You’re a very strange person. What you don’t understand is that the crap I read around here every day is just as offensive to me as the things I say are offensive to you…and they probably make about as much sense. So every few months or so I have to blow off steam. The alternative is to become a right-wing **Der Trihs**. 😃 > [@Equipoise](#): > > Glad you like it and all, it is a brilliant album, but you’d despise her politics. She’s way left of me even. Nice to know you don’t let violent disagreement get in the way of liking great music. 😃 back atcha. Well, she’s a true artist, and just like one shouldn’t expect PCness out of old people, one shouldn’t expect conservatism out of people who are true artists. (Though there are exceptions on both sides.) ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/98 "2008-09-12T19:16:52Z")
As far as conservative Hollywood stars, I’d be interested in hearing what James Woods and Ron Silver have to say, and believe their opinions would be reasonably well thought out. But on the other hand, the Bush years have seen several of the Republicans I respect [abandoning the party for the Libertarians](http://www.cato.org/people/pj-orourke). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/99 "2008-09-12T20:11:46Z")
I once thought Ben Stein’s views were well reasoned (I disagreed with him, but thought he’d actually given them thought). That was before Xpelled and other ventures. Now I’m just waiting for his column on his wife catching him masturbating to Palin (“I keep imagining we’re in the Garden of Eden at the beginning of the Earth 6,000 years ago…”). ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064/100 "2008-09-12T20:34:33Z")
I don’t mind stars talking about politics (especially when they’re answering direct questions – what, you don’t think they’ll be asked them so close to the election? And on the same day, I believe, he appeared at a fundraiser for impoverished children at home and abroad), but I wish **Entertainment Tonight** would cram it with their political coverage. Worse than Fox News. But as a certain politically active celeb recently said to me, it’s all part of politics being ‘cool,’ and overall, I think that’s a positive thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matt-damon-stfu/463064.md?page=6)