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Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Politics: Fighting the Celebrity Elitists 

Celebrity Lefties make no secret of their disdain for President Bush, often using their heightened stats as a soapbox to bash the current administration. Some people, though, seem to have had enough.

Americans who aren't fans of politics-laced entertainment ... say they're responding the only way they know how: by boycotting, or threatening to boycott, products of celebs who speak out.
Without turning this into a partisan rant, I'll say this: there's absolutely nothing wrong with a celebrity getting involved in the political process. Hundreds of them donate money to campaigns and work to support candidates of their liking. That's ever American's right.

But force-feeding your political ideology to an unsuspecting crowd in a non-political setting is inappropriate. Celebs that choose to do so risk potentially career-damaging backlash. There's just a correct, and an incorrect, manner for addressing such issues.

Take Ben Affleck and Jon Voight, for instance. Affleck appeared on the O'Reilly Factor during last week's Democratic Convention, while Voight sat down with Joe Scarborough the previous week to discuss Michael Moore. Both engaged in a civilized discussion, voicing concerns and addressing problems that mattered to them. Now that's not to say that neither has ever climbed the celebrity soapbox, but at least in those two instances, personal politics were addressed in a proper setting.

Fellow celebs should take note.

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