So, if you’re an actor, you’re not supposed to have political opinions? What about a sports star? Lawyer? Doctor? I’m just trying to name those who can pay for the “six-figure tax attorney.”
How about you? What do you do for a living? What are your qualifications to make pronouncements on the war or on others’ opinions on the war? Are you a member of the UN or the Joint Chiefs of Staff? If not, why the fuck do you think that Michael Moore has any less right to express his opinion in a national forum than the average Dittohead?
I realize from your previous postings that independent thought is beyond your capabilities, but from now on, when you have the desire to post some knee-jerk ultra-conservative diarrhetic/logorrhetic garbage, please sit on your hands.
I suspect I’m with Shodan on this one, I’m afraid. Not that I think that celebrities shouldn’t have opinions about the world situation; in fact, I’d prefer they had stronger, better informed ones. What I’m not sure about is whether the Academy Awards should provide a pulpit from which political opinions should be espoused to the world. I don’t like sound bite politics from politicians, and I like them less from people who know substantially less than the politicians do about what they’re talking about.
Talk about the film, tell us what the award means to you, thank the Academy, your friends, family and the rest of the Western hemisphere if you want, but spare us the fifty-seventh variation on the theme of “War is bad, mmkay?”
I wholeheartedly agree. I really honestly believe that if these same actors weren’t saying anything at all about perhaps the biggest issue in the world right now, many of the same people who are deriding them for daring to have an opinion and express it would be calling them ‘shallow’ and talking about how it’s proof that they only care about themselves. Yeah, they’re human beings, and many of them have strong opinions on the current world situation. Yeah, they’re in the public spotlight. Yeah, they’re going to talk about it. I’d be willing to put money on it that so would you or I.
Yeah, I suspect that the others posting in that thread weren’t real likely to hate their parents or actually advocate sleeping their way to the top, either.
Did you notice the title on the thread to which you objected? In particular, did you notice the words “Hugely Inappropriate”?
The OP requested a speech that would be inappropriate to the forum. My speech was meant to be an example of something that was inappropriate to the Academy Awards. It isn’t having the opinions that is wrong, it would be the place and time in which they were expressed that is the problem. My parody was not aimed at one side of the debate or the other - if you read carefully, you will note that I say nothing either for or against the war.
I myself make no claims to special expertise. I post on a messageboard that is open to anyone with an Internet connection. My opinions are my own, and they have to stand or fall on their own merits. Very especially, I do not claim any special insight based on my success in show business, or in any other area of life.
So I will have to decline your invitation to list my qualifications. I don’t pretend to be an authority, and I decline to recognize the starlet du jour as an authority either, especially as her qualifications are even more scanty than her dress.
Which is what I was trying (apparently unsuccessfully) to parody.
Sorry I whooshed you. The “diarrhetic/logorrhetic” thing had a certain rhythm, though - congratulations.
I usually disagree with just about everything Shodan says, but this time is an exception. When I go to a restaurant, I don’t want to hear the waiter’s opinion on the International Monetary Fund. When I get my car tuned up, I don’t want to listen to the mechanic rant about OPEC price fixing. And when I’m watching the Academy Awards, I don’t want to hear about the Gulf War, the legitimacy of the Bush administration, or anything else that doesn’t directly relate to the film industry or entertainment in general. If I want to hear ignorant, unqualified, wildly biased opinions on world affairs, I’ll just sit here in the dark and talk to myself.
Anyway, I love the irony of people saying “I don’t care what that actress/the cab driver who took me to the airport/my FIL’s opinion is, because they’re stupid and they have no qualifications. Now MY opinion is blah blah blah…”
(Not applying that to anyone in particular; just saying.)
I’m with Shodan here. They have a right to their opinion, and no one is stopping them from expressing it. Just don’t pretend you have cornered the market on the fucking truth and have taken it upon yourself to eradicate the ignorance of the masses. These folks sometimes pretend to have authority.
Mike Moore is an expert on the wants and desires of Mike Moore, and little else. He was recognized for his work on a film, and nothing else. Now, I would welcome the opportunity to sit and talk with him, and exchange views. That would probably be a lot of fun. I sat and listened to his views in his film (some of which were crackpot, some almost lucid) because they were entertaining.
