Celebrities and Politics: Who Cares?

very morning I wake up and start to panic: what will I write about in my blog today? I am always afraid that a new topic will not come to me. Yet like the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the new topics come to me with invariable predictability, each and every day.

It starts with straightening the items on my dining room table. I've written about the positive effects of housework on the thinking process. Straightening tends to be my first household task of the day. Then I go and sort the laundry and start a load going, if necessary. The next task I perform is dish-washing.

We don't have a dishwasher. Or rather, we do, and its name is Varda. It just isn't practical in Israel to use a dishwasher. We are a water-poor, energy-poor country. So, most of us here just roll up our sleeves and get cracking. That's what I do, anyway.

I don't need a Feng Shui expert to tell me that a water feature is conducive to calm, productive thinking. The minute the water starts running, so my thoughts begin to flow. This morning over breakfast dishes dotted with bits of oatmeal I remembered a status I posted on Facebook last week: Who cares that Katy Perry split up with Russell Brand?

That's when it hit me that this is a topic that has always aggravated me: the intimate doings of celebrities shoved into my face. I don't care what brand of toilet paper Angelina Jolie purchases. I don't care about her relationships, either. I shouldn't care. Neither should you.

But even worse than that kind of drivel, went my brain's train of thinking, is being exposed to the political pronouncements of said celebrities. What do I care what Matt Damon thinks about Sarah Palin or President Obama, just for instance?


What makes people sit up and listen when Paris Hilton makes fun of McCain or comes up with the "Paris Hilton Energy Plan?"



But the public eats this stuff up. We just love to see those pretty faces spouting their opinions.

I tried to find a rationale for caring what actors THINK. I came up with money plus power equals influence. We listen to The Donald, for instance, because of his immense wealth. Regarding finances, at least, he possesses a genius we mere mortals do not. Anyone who is good at his craft is someone worthy of respect that extends beyond the specific sphere of that person's expertise (though I wouldn't want to imitate Trump's marital record).

All well and good. But what about beauty? Are you going to let Heidi Klum dictate your vote in the next election?

To be fair, I love to listen to Jon Voight speak about Israel and the Jews. The reason? He's well-informed and high-profile.



I could say the same about Gene Simmons.



So it's not about a knee-jerk reaction: I don't think that all celebrities are vapid. If a celebrity has something to say that is reasonably intelligent, I'm all ears. And I think that celebrities can play an important role in spreading factual information that the media would rather hide.

The bottom line? Don't expect me to listen to you just because you have a pretty face. It's not going to happen.

What do you think? Should celebrities stay out of politics? Do you care what they think?

Annoying Encounter

and I have known each other for years but are only friends on Facebook for a short time. In a recent thread, "L" proposed I create a blog, since I draw numerous comments on my Facebook threads. She is well-meaning and hoping to encourage my professional prospects.

I responded that I do have a blog, but friends prefer to comment ON Facebook, rather than on my blog, and no one clicks the Google Ads on my blog, either, so I just don't make any money writing there. When I ran into "L" at the local mom and pop store, we fell into a continuation of that Facebook discussion and she asked me, "Do you write about politics on your blog?"

I hedged the question by answering, "Sometimes," since my blog doesn't have much of a central focus. Some blogs are about food, other blogs are about politics, but my blog doesn't have any sort of cohesive narrative running through the entries other than that I write up things that are central to ME. Politics are a big part of my life, but so is food and genealogy and music. I'm a mishmash of a person and so my blog is a mishmash of a blog.

I've also been a mishmash of a blogger. Months can go by without a single new blog entry, even though I make resolutions now and again to write something, ANYTHING, each day. I can't seem to stick to the commitment entailed by a blog and here's why: It's hard writing into a vacuum.

The nature of writing a blog is different than that of writing a diary. A diary is for the diarist whereas, the blogger demands (or at least prays for or fervently desires) an audience. The lucky blogger attracts a wide audience and makes money. The other 99% do not. (I am smelling an Occupy Blogs movement on the horizon and its NOT a good smell. Nyuk.)

But back to "L" who continued, "Because if you write about politics it's better I don't follow you because I don't agree with your politics and if you write something political and I read it there, I won't like you anymore.

I mean, you're an intelligent person and I like a lot of what you write, but I don't like your political views and I'm afraid that if your blog is political, it will ruin my liking for you."

At that point, I shut up because--nu--she was already repeating herself.

By mutual unspoken agreement, we changed the subject, finished shopping, and went our separate ways.

But the exchange pissed me off.

"L" and I both live in a city where political beliefs are just about unanimous. We're all right wing. We live in Judea, in disputed territory the other side calls the Occupied West Bank. We both wear the settler label.

What made my politics so unpalatable to "L?" And do I really care?

I believe that "L's" real motive in this conversation was to get me to ask her to elaborate on her political views. But what she said made my hackles rise. I dug in my feet and refused to ask. "L" was letting me know she thought my political views inferior to her own. I was insulted and annoyed. Not in a major way. More like irked.

The good part of all this is that nobody reads what I write here and least of all, "L." So, I need not fear she'll read this and take offense :-)