Are you sick of celebrities for being political?

I think it’s good that celebrities are interested in politics because they are influential people and are using their power to spread awareness of political topics to the general public. It’s very important that the general public be aware of what’s going on in the world around them. If you’re not keeping a look out, authoritarianism can creep in.

no more or less annoyed than I am by any one of my friends or fellow flutherites when they do it. Everyone has a right to their opinions, it’s just that when a celebrity says it more people hear it, so naturally, more people think their opinions are wrong.

Celebrities have the right to their opinions and they have the right to voice them. I’m not sure the middle of a concert is the best time to do it. People paid for a show not a sermon. But at the same time, if that’s what they want to show, then so be it. Just don’t go next time.

If people like Bono and Sean Penn want to use their celebrity status to promote humanitarian causes, I don’t see any problem with that. I would much rather see them do that than see them acting like a drugged up ass hanging out at the club

They can be [political just as any of us can. Just because they act, sing, etc. for a living doesn’t mean they have fewer or more privileges than another of person.

Last time I checked, celebrities are still human beings and are affected by the government, law and war like other people. So I don’t think there’s any problem with them making their opinions known. Of course, I don’t think a concert is the right venue for that. People paid money to listen to them sing/act/whatever. Not to be told how to vote. It’s also a bad decision business-wise. If they want their opinion known, they can always go to political rallies, answer Qs about it on interviews, create special videos devoted to the subject, etc.

I personally really enjoyed this celebrity getting involved with politics during the last presidential election. One skill set never completes a person. Just like the computer technician that does his job daily, but then still has an opinion on health care and government, the actor shouldn’t only be involved in the latest gossip in Hollywood.

I also thought these celebrities did a good job getting out the word to GO VOTE

I don’t have any problems with celebrities expressioning their thoughts and opinions about politics, they have that right. In fact, I admire those who don’t mind staking their claim on important issues.

What I do get slightly annoyed by is people who can’t think for themselves, who take everything a celebrity says as the gospel. I noticed this during that last election when certain people – who could care less about actually researching political candidates or just weren’t educated – decided to vote for a candidate solely based off what some random celeb said. I mean, it’s great that a certain celeb caught your interest, but do yourself a favor and take time to actually research the candidate. Don’t go off of hype.

I’m sick of the ones that disagree with me.

They have a right to speak out about what they believe just like anyone else.
Don’t judge the entertIner for using their fame as a platform to raise awareness for things they are passionate about.
If there is a problem, it’s with the person who allows their opinion to be influenced by an actor without having done any homework to see if the facts are true as presented.
I do think it’s crazy that we actually elected the Govenator here in Calufornia. He has been a total disaster.

Sorry, on my iPhone and can’t edit to fix my spelling at the bottom! Oops!

That’s so weird that this topic has come up!

I went to a storytelling show last night and one of the storytellers was Janeane Garofalo. She told how on 1 September 2001, she realized she was a drunk and stopped drinking. Then 11 September happened. Then in 2002, a guy who’d produced a movie she was in asked her if she’d be willing to talk about her beliefs on TV and she said yes. She ended up needing bodyguards. People sent mutilated bodies of Barbies to her home. Her number was published on certain websites, people would call her and say I know where you live, I watch you walking your dogs, etc. Just a lot of evil stuff came about and she had had no idea what she’d been in for. The worst, she said, was when the campus conservatives at Drake University in Iowa stormed a Howard Dean rally in 2004 and one of these guys punched out Joan Jett. How the hell are you going to punch out Joan Jett???!!

After the show, I talked to her and she told me and my friends that now she gets the freepers and birthers and teabaggers coming to her shows. She said that she guessed it was easier for them to come to her show and bully a small female comedian than it would be to get in Obama’s face and try to bully him, but that it was OK; she also felt that she had been a silent witness for too long in her life and that she was obligated as a human being to speak up.

I respect anyone for standing up for what they believe in (for the most part anyway, Hitler should have stuck to art!!!) whether they are celebrities or just normal everyday folk.

When it’s an informed celebrity, I welcome their opinion because sadly, people tend to listen to famous people more readily than they do the news, or experts on the subject, or reason, or whatever. For example, I live in coal country where mountaintop removal mining is a huge issue, both in terms of health and environmental impact.

However, it seems most of the country is unaware of the issue. People in Appalachia have it hard when it comes to serious issues because government and regulation are controlled by big money in chemicals, coal, timber, etc. It’s a depressed area and it has no real advocates, which breaks my heart.. some of the things these companies get away with blow my mind.

Celebrities like Ben Affleck and Daryl Hannah have come here to protest mountaintop removal mining, knowing they would be arrested. I am deeply grateful for this, because these two famous faces have become advocates for a people that, due to class and financial disparities, have no power and are unable to stand up against injustice themselves. The press generated by a celebrity being arrested is enough to make the entire country (and potentially the world) aware of a particular issue.

Now, when it’s someone like crazy-ass Tom Cruise spewing verbal diarrhea about why he thinks medication doesn’t work… well, I do think he should shut his face. Or preface it with “in my opinion”, considering he is not a doctor or any sort of expert on the subject.

They have a right to their opinion as everyone, whats more troubling to me are the idiots who take a celebrities word over anyone elses, no matter how unqualified they are in that field.

For example, a who bunch of shitty dumb parents are now refusing to vaccinate their children simply because Jenny McCarthy claims it caused her sons autism. Never mind that she lacks any concrete proof, or that any doctor an the WHO will tell you it’s complete bullshit, if a celebrity says it, it must be true!

Same goes for politics. Im sure moron followers out their would change their opinion just to match that of their favorite celeb.

@hookecho While I do agree with your point about people mindlessly following celebrities I would argue the autism issue. I know many parents who have autistic children and immediately after the vaccination they began to act very very strange. Stopped talking, wouldn’t look anyone in the eye, basically they just stopped acting like they used to. And the vaccines all had high levels of toxic chemicals in them, no matter what the ridiculous WHO tells you. Now that is something to debate about. If you don’t think its right that a person should take a celebrities word for something then what about you taking the opinion of the WHO? There is a lot of evidence out there that doesn’t support their opinions. In my research and analysis of health issues the WHO can be very wrong about things and that includes vaccines. Why do you think they want to boost vaccine’s image? They can make money off of them and especially when there is or was an outbreak of something. I’d do my research if I was you. There is a lot of things that the WHO says that is utter crap.

so your saying theres a massive conspiracy involving literally thousands of doctors world wide to cover up the harmful effects of vaccines? sorry but thats retarded. Im more inclined to to believe sceintific evidence and doctors than anecdotal evidence and jenny fucking mcarthy.

@hookecho A “massive conspiracy involving literally thousands of doctors world wide to cover up the harmful effects of vaccines” is very possible.

@hookecho I don’t think they view it as harmful, although some do and cover it up to make money and you could definitely say theres something going on there, but the majority from my research don’t believe small levels of chemicals like mercury can cause autism and other disorders. But to me that just seems stupud. Why would you even consider giving any amount of toxic chemicals to very small children?? Their immune systems are not that strong as we all know and even though we may think we have their best interests at heart by “protecting” them from diseases.
I think its ludicrous that doctors and drug companies prescibe these dangerous vaccines to them. The real beneficiaries of these vaccines, and drugs especially, are the drug companies who make them. Ever heard of Vioxx? You know how many people it killed? Way more then 911 thats for sure. These companies only care about profit and will influence whoever they need to, especially the WHO and regular doctors, because people take advice from doctors and the WHO. So doesn’t it make sense for the companies to persuade the doctors and WHO that they have the silver bullet drug so the doctors can prescribe them to people? When you really take a birds eye view into the inner workings of these companies they’re practically evil.
Conspiracy? Maybe, it all depends on how you view it. In your case, you seem to accept doctors opinions and the WHO so it seems strange even ridiculous that they could be harming your health but it is what it is. Decide what you will. I can’t change your beliefs, but just try researching it a bit, and not just from the WHO and medical doctors but from a wide variety. See what you find. It might shock you.

sorry but I just don’t believe that thousands of people worldwide could cover something like that up for this long. You’re telling me that at no point, did any of them become disgruntled and reveal the truth? or made a deathbed confession? or slipped up and told someone who wasn’t supposed to know? It may work in a movie, it doesn’t work in real life. I’m not saying that all doctors are saints, but I find it hard to believe that someone whos chosen a profession dedicated to helping others would knowingly inject something harmful into children.

as for the fact that toxic metals are present in vaccines, Im not going to argue that because its the truth. But maybe you should do a little research yourself – just because something is toxic in certain ammounts, it can be beneficial in others. Radiation is incredibly poisonous to human health – however in very small doeses, it has been shown to have a benefit to human health. Look it up if you don’t believe me. In other words, the ammount of mercury in a vaccine is not enough to do someone harm.

Ovbviously there have been mistakes in the past, but we’re not talking about something like Thalidomide, which, by the way, the harmful effects of were first pointed out by -you guessed it – doctors.

As for giving toxic chemicals to small children, I would think its far more irresponsible to let your child die of a disease like the measels – but hey, maybe thats just me.

@hookecho Actually there have been people who have spoken up about this issue and they are and were doctors. The reason why you haven’t heard of them is because major drug companies like Merck that make some of these vaccines have shut them up. They’ve pretty much always found a way to discredit them by their own false data or give them hush money which unfortunately ends up with the drug companies continuing to be seen in a favorable light and for the doctors who continue to prescribe these medications and vaccines. Even some of the people who work for these companies have to lie about the actual data they record which is usually about the safety and ability of ther drugs and vaccines. The companies change the data to make themselves look good and since the government is pretty lax with their regulations the companies get away with it. Its a very sad story and what it ultimately does is keep people like you uninformed about what is really going on. And your point about doctors knowingly injecting something harmful into children even though their profession is dedicated to helping others is a good point except that not all doctors think like that and some don’t even care. Some probably know whats in them but are motivated by the money to continue, and a lot more are fooled by the drug companies and prescribe drugs and administer vaccines. They think small amounts are beneficial too. But even that can be debated. And what good effects does radiation bring about? Killing cancer cells, preventing E.Coli in certain foods, and Medical Diagnostics? Even the “benefits” of these forms of radiation can be debated. But what I find unsupportable in your argument is that since these forms of radiation can benefit us in other ways they can benefit us in vaccines. When you recieve an x-ray or something else that uses radiation, is it automatically going into your bloodstream? No. And its not just one chemical either, its a powerful toxic combination. And even if a vaccine’s very harmful effects are not widely known doesn’t mean there not there. So whats your explanation for the millions of children who recieve a vaccine and afterwards suddenly have autism?? What lie are the doctors and WHO telling everyone now?

with a little looking I found something interesting.

thimerosal, the mercury based preservative used in vaccines was phased out in Europe, the usa, and a few other affluent countries starting around 2000. It is no longer in use in Europe. In the USA it is only used in flu shots, rarely recommended vaccines for diphtheria and tetanus, and antidotes for a few snake venom’s and black widow venom. Reported rates of autism have either remained roughly the same in these countries or in some cases have actually risen since then.

sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thimerosal
http://www.parenting.com/article/Baby/Health/The-Truth-about-Vaccines-and-Autism-120
1713139792
http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/VaccineSafety/UCM096228
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/107/5/1147

thimerosal was removed due to concerns over its toxicity, but the autism link has never been proven.

@hookecho One of your sources is not even working and says the page is unavailable, secondly how does wikipedia count as a source? I think they’re too unreliable as a source and the FDA and pediatrics basically say the same thing. Trace amounts are “acceptable” and rarely do they cause harm. I think thats crazy as you just said it yourself the rates have stayed the same and some have even risen.
There appears to be a correlation here with something in the vaccine and it may not be mercury; and I still firmly believe there is a relation with autism here. If you were a parent or are one, what would you think if your child become autistic right after vaccination? Would you deny any kind of connection? Back to my other points; it may not be mercury it could just as well be any other chemical. If these rates pretty much stay the same, then why don’t they just take out all the chemicals and see if it helps any? Or what would be even better is to just get rid of vaccines and find other ways to strength our immune systems, like through eating right. A foreign concept in America it seems…

@Ailia How old were your friendss children when they had the vaccine? I only ask because Autism is not always something that you can tell if a child has straight away which is why I take the link with the vaccine with a pinch of salt. I have known children who for the first year or so of their life have appeared to be normal (for want of a better word you understand) but have turned out to be autistic:

“Although autism is probably present from birth, or very soon after, its nature means that the specific disorders of developmental progression will not necessarily be apparent for many months or even years.” – a quote from a pamphlet I have regarding autism in children.

It’s very sad that your friends children suddenly appeared to become autistic after recieving the vaccine but the sad truth is they PROBABLY already were autistic but their syptoms were only just starting to become apparent.

I’m not saying this is the absolute truth, I am always willing to do more research when it comes to autism, I am just saying what my research and personal experiences with children with or without autism has lead me to believe.

I also know plenty of children myself and my brother included who have had the vaccine and not a single one has shown any signs of autism.

One thing we probably should consider is that the vaccine may make the symptoms of autism more obvious earlier than if the child had gone without the vaccine but I don’t believe that it causes autism, chances are the child was always going to develop the symptoms the vaccine just brought it on sooner than nature would have done.

@Ailia First, I never trust Wikipedia on it’s own, which is why I found other, more reliable sources.

Second, although there are trace amounts of thimerosal left in some vaccines through the manufacturing process, there is a lot less in there than before 2000. Trace amounts are amounts too small to be reliably measured, so if there’s so little in there compared to vaccines pre-2000, I find it hard to believe that rates of autism wouldn’t have gone down during this period if there was a link.

Lastly, while it is very possible to strengthen your immune system through things like eating right, it’s not going to magically make you immune to disease.

I think when more parents who will end up loosing their children to preventable diseases for following what basically amounts to a fad, we’re going to see a backlash against this anti-vaccination doctrine.

@Leanne1986 One of the children was a year old and another was I think close to a year old or younger, and they were definitely not autistic before they got the vaccines. And you may be be partly right that that they could have had autism before the vaccine but consider Theresa Wrangham and Lee Grossman’s analysis.
Which can be found on these two pages of the article.

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/141451/what_really_causes_autism_thousands_of_parents_blame_vaccines,_and_are_taking_on_the_medical_establishment/?page=3

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/141451/what_really_causes_autism_thousands_of_parents_blame_vaccines,_and_are_taking_on_the_medical_establishment/?page=4

@hookecho Your only “reliable” sources were the FDA and a pediatrics website. Both controversal sources I would say. As for your other link, it never showed up it said it was broken or “lost”. And if you read the FDA article thoroughly, you would have noticed that they found some vaccines with levels of chemicals that are past what the EPA considers is a safe level. And this was for small children. Whats up that?

WTF was the question? Does Madonna give people autism? Maybe this discussion needs it’s own thread.

@Ailia I would consider the FDA and a pediatrics website to be more reliable then everyday people looking for something to blame for their childs autism who are unable to accept that it might be something to do with their genes. These are the types of people who think they are perfect and thus could never have an autistic child produced from their god-given genes, so it must be something elses fault.

The reason why the FDA has banned/restricted thimerosol, because the toxicity was in question. There has never been a proven autism link once again.

chiming in with my own anecdotal evidence, I was vaccinated in the late 80’s early 90’s back when all vaccines contained thimerosol as a perservative. Not only did I not get autism, I also didn’t die of any easily perventable childhood diseases.

@tinyfaery and @airowDee sorry this topic has been hijacked. This is the last post im going to make regarding this issue, as some people seem to be so in love with conspiracy they won’t accept reasonable evidence.

Bottom line, if thimerosol was indeed a cause of autism, rates would have began to go down around the year 2000. Since they have not (and according to some sources, are actually on the rise) its obvious that it doesn’t.

@hookecho This too will be my last post. But before I sign off I have some things to say. First of all not all parents think like that, and I think it is a prejudice thing to say. And there is strong evidence out there that supports that autism and vaccines are linked, and it is not hearsay. And I never said thimerosol caused autism. What I am saying is that vaccines are generally toxic and potentially a big factor in autism. I don’t love conspiracy, I like informing others. But apparently some people can’t accept things that are outside of their beliefs.
@airowDee, I too apologize for taking over your thread. If @hookecho and I were celebrities you can be sure everyone would be sick of us. :)

Don’t worry, Hookecho is my bf, and i don’t mind. I am sorry if anyone is annoyed about us getting off topic. :)

Why is there even a discussion on the thimerosal and autism link? It has been proven false. The only links are anecdotal evidence, nothing concrete from the scientific community. While there are a few complications from vaccines, not having your children vaccinated creates a threat to everyone else’s kids.

I’m waiting for them to find the cause of autism, because when they do, I am sure it has NOTHING to do with vaccines. probably has something to do with soy or tofu.~

They’ve already found the cause for migraines. Seems they are hereditary.

That’s weird. I’m the only one in my family that gets migraines…

@MissAnthrope yeah, me too. But the science does not lie. It was recently discovered that migraines are genetically predisposed. I suppose that’s some relief, though, since diabetes runs in my family; that doesn’t mean I am destined to get it.

True. I must have gotten some long-lost recessive gene. :\