"If you wanna protest, protest the DNC, protest Hillary, protest whatever. But what you’re protesting here is an elected president. I think the protest is aiding this divisiveness, social media is aiding this, celebrity culture, the worst, is aiding it.... It is all about image and how people are swayed by surfaces and Trump disgusts people.... They see this big orange lump, angry, big puffy face and it really is quite a different step from the celebrity hep-cat, glamour of Obama.... People love celebrities, I love celebrities, I’m obsessed with celebrities, I’ve written books about celebrities, so I love that celebrity culture exists. But when celebrities become these kind of strident, political advisers, wagging their finger, really people don’t buy it. I do think there has been an overreaction to what’s going on. But that’s just endemic in the culture. It did not help Hillary Clinton at all having this mountain of celebrities on her side. Rejection, rejection."
Said Bret Easton Ellis. I'm totally with him on this. Exactly right. I'd say it myself, except the part about having written books about celebrities. But I have been blogging about celebrities for 13 years. I've been watching these characters as they interface with politics. They're just awful. Of course, BEE — great initials — is himself a celebrity and he's doing politics so... whatever. I love celebrities, I’m obsessed with celebrities....
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13 years! Time to hangin' 'em up! You and the Meadester can set up that yurt in Wyoming, and ne'er concern yourself a celebrity again!
Actors are trained monkeys paid to be entertaining. Lately, too many of them are not entertaining.
"People love celebrities, I love celebrities, I’m obsessed with celebrities, I’ve written books about celebrities, so I love that celebrity culture exists."
I, too, am feeble minded.
As Stern pointed out, Trump cares what celebrities say.
Wait, Trump wasn't a celebrity? He was certainly treated like one for decades.
But Obama was such a great celebrity. His wife was such a wonderful celebrity!
I can't imagine conflating celebrity culture/pop culture adulation and national politics could ever lead to a bad result. It's not like some boorish reality TV star could ever parlay that celebrity into political power, right?
I've always liked Ellis. His cynicism and humor make up for his liberalism.
In college, I hated "Less Than Zero". Then, I really hated "American Psycho," which was far too gruesome, although in today's world it might be seen as quaint.
But BEE has matured - at least politically. He makes sense here. These airhead celebrities should either read many more books or consider piping down. The sheer stupidity of their public proclamations (i.e. Meryl Streep, Sarah Silverman, Lena Dunham) is often breathtaking.
It's always struck me as a little odd that any regular person should care about what celebrities, and Hollywood actors in particular, would think about anything beyond whatever their sphere of expertise is. Essentially an actor is a professional pretender, a liar. These are people who naturally have to be extremely concerned with image, but not so much with real world consequences, especially when your talking about the fabulously successful Hollywood stars. As members of the wealthy elite, these are people who don't have to live with the consequences of whatever policies they're moralizing to the lumpenprole about. Why would any sane person put their political opinion above say, a garbage mans opinion? The only thing they have is popularity that affords them a larger blowhorn.
IIR John Wilkes Booth was the first of the celebrity actors putting his hand to effect political change.
To shoot innocent people or not to shoot innocent people , that is the question. And we all know how sane actors are today. Booth had them beat.
Hunh. I completely agree with BEE EXCEPT about celebrities. I have always been completely bored by celebrities, don't even know most of their names. I am much more interested in my own sex life, attractiveness, income, relationships, living space, and personal experiences. Why in the world should I care about their utterly fake, plastic, manufactured, superficial versions of a self?
There's so much protest it's tough to keep track of it. Over doing it inoculates people who casually follow the news, which is most people.
He is exactly right. I hope they keep protesting everything, all the time. It's counterproductive to their goal of swaying public opinion. It emboldens everyone who voted for Trump (or against Hillary in my case).
"As Stern pointed out, Trump cares what celebrities say."
Getting roasted on Comedy Central is verification literally but figuratively more a conundrum.
And, The Situation even back then could hardly qualify as a celebrity. Cruel to put someone in that position, but the dude was begging for comeuppance.
Dad had a 23' Celebrity boat. Had previous but latent damage from salt water even though he never used it outside of fresh. Only time I drive it in years it starts leaking inside the cabin (essentially wooden motor mounts that the salt had slowly disintegrated finally gave way it was discovered) and I have to say, three times, "I swear to God I did not hit anything" before the coincidence is seen as just that.
Presumably other folks that like celebrities feel as though it will help them survive or thrive somehow, by helping the fawners be more like the fawned it seems. It doesn't work that way but that still may be why folks buy People or Vanity Fair.
How long till the student body at Madison feels inadequate or jealous of the Berkeley protests and feels the need to do something about it? It seems like a status thing lately to show your Trump rage and out rage the previous outrage.
i'll never understand how some conservatives tend to hate putting celebrities in poltics, yet are always electing celebrities into office.
"Always" = "Twice", apparently.
Yeah all the cool hepcats wear mom jeans and play golf.
i can think of 3: regan, schwarzenegger and trump. it makes their gripes about celebrity culture seem insincere.
Vicari, why would Don Regan care about celebrities?
"I do think there has been an overreaction to what’s going on. But that’s just endemic in the culture." I agree with the sentiment but not the argument. The "overreaction" is deliberate; the fight from the left is a deliberate attack rather than an "endemic" feature of "the culture." They are fighting the culture war by other means, attempting to delegitimate Trump while shaming the rest of America into silence and submission. That BEE sees it as "overreaction" is encouraging, but won't stop them.
Drago said...
Vicari, why would Don Regan care about celebrities?
lol
i can think of 3: regan, schwarzenegger and trump. it makes their gripes about celebrity culture seem insincere.
Republican celebrities put their money where their mouth is, (You left off Sonny Bono and Clint Eastwood among others) and run for office and actually accomplish things.
Democratic celebrities just mouth platitudes and idiocy, and never actually accomplish anything.
you're absolutely right. there have been more than 3. those were just the first 3 i thought of.
i guess sarah palin counts too. another reality tv star.
They can keep protesting. That's how you get more Trump.
I strongly urge all speakers at the upcoming Academy Awards show to outdo all previous awards shows in anti-Trump rhetoric. Go all out. Threaten his life, at a minimum. Please. Please. Please. Show America how much you really care.
...the celebrity hep-cat, glamour of Obama.... LOL
Never have understood celebrity-love and certainly not celebrity-obsession. I left fan mags behind in junior high.
i'll never understand how some conservatives tend to hate putting celebrities in poltics, yet are always electing celebrities into office.
Oh, for the good old days in California when Ronald Reagan was governor and George Murphy senator.
Gusty Winds said...
How long till the student body at Madison feels inadequate or jealous of the Berkeley protests and feels the need to do something about it? It seems like a status thing lately to show your Trump rage and out rage the previous outrage.
Temperature in Madison WI (today): 20 degrees F
Temperature in Berkeley CA: 57 degrees F
Wait until Spring.
Al Frankenstein.....
"Wait until Spring."
-- God, I hope this isn't still a thing in Spring.
Reagan was President, Regan was chief of staff or something. Why celebrities, they are good at communicating and messaging in a way that will break through the professional nay sayers.
Do Trump's tweets read like someone who cares what people think about him? Trump doesn't care what you say about him as long as you are talking about him. The left keeps playing into his trap like mosquitoes around a bug-zapper.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_sMfpylYUyH8TpkZy9nJCX1VpHCnmp4k0H6zGf7FEio/edit
link
Here's a riot handbook.
I have always believed you could draw a line between the riots of 1968 and Nixon's election.
So by all means, leftists, riot away. Pace yourselves, though - the next election isn't for four long years.
Celebrity is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. By any objective measure, Trump is twice the celebrity Obama is. Of course, one thing they have in common is that the beautiful people are obsessed with believing lies about both.
Only those wedded to the ever-multiplying social media platforms even notice the celebrity silliness. Why bother? Just turn the damn thing off and forget ever to turn it back on. It's what you tell your kids at dinner. Added bonus: not wasting time on reading that stuff leaves more time for reading something worth the effort.
A lot of issues are contentious and debatable, but not among celebrities. There's a herd mind there, and it subverts their image and their message. Doesn't anyone in Hollywood think that fracking is a good idea, sex change operations a bad idea, Obama's Mid East policies flawed. Is there any politician in America with a weight problem besides Chris Christie? Their views are so uniformly and consistently liberal that one doubts their sincerity. .....There were a lot of Republicans who voiced misgivings about Trump. Not much skepticism was aimed at Hillary, and Obama got eight years of adulation. Truth to power--like fun. Bleats to the herd, and no lost sheep........When Meryl Streep won an award for playing Margaret Thatcher, she couldn't find it in her heart to say one nice word about the woman she impersonated. There's a smallness about the grande dame.
I deal with Progs a lot.
No, few of them think there are any issues.
Hell, less than half think the riots in Berkeley were wrong.
Might be time to stop talking to them and to, instead, start stomping on them. Reason and logic are lost on them. But a boot to the face is easily understood.
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