Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Lessons Learned: Nobody cares what celebrities have to say about politics

Late in the election the Clinton campaign drug out a platoon of celebrities.

A television advertisement was run in some venues featuring them.

Miley Cyrus, Jay Z, and Beyonce all chipped in for Clinton.

It turns out that nobody cares what these people have to say.  Nor should they.

Now, so its clear, I also don't think anyone should care what Clint Eastwood, or other figures that people claim hold right wing views (I don't know if they really do or not) say about politics either.

I don't wish to cast aspersion on anyone personality (although I will below) but entertainers are entertainers.  That doesn't make them wise sages.

Indeed, as a class, entertainers are amongst the most screwed up people on the planet.  I sometimes wonder if the fact that their fame is based on performing, rather than on something deeper than that, is the reason why.  I don't know that, but I wonder that.  Indeed, as a rule, most modern performers aren't performing things they have directly created it, but interpreting something someone else has.  That is, truly, an art, but it isn't the same as creating it.  At the end of day, in other words, we tend to remember Shakespeare, not the Shakespearean actor.  I guess with singers its a bit different, as we tend to remember the performer rather than the author.  I.e, we associate Me and Bobby McGee with Janis Joplin, not with Kris Kristofferson. 

Anyhow, while not commenting on the candidates directly, yet, the fact that the electorate apparently doesn't care who Beyonce is going to vote for is a mighty good sign.  Indeed, the fact that the electorate doesn't care who Miley Cyrus supports, given as she's become the poster child for creepily pathetic, is a very good sign.

That doesn't, once again, amount to an endorsement of Trump or Clinton.  But, quite frankly, the image of a 69 year old woman appearing on stage with Beyonce and Jay Z is weird.  And awkward.

I guess if Janis Joplin were still alive, Clinton appearing with Joplin would have been less weird, as Joplin would be older than she is. But that's the point.  Appearing with the hip kidsters makes you look like an unhip oldster.


No comments: