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The Politics of Celebrity

Date: Sep 21 2005

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

In 2002, actor Sean Penn visited Iraq in an attempt to stop the coming war with Iraq. Ben Affleck rubs elbows in public with Democratic Party members. U2 frontman Bono has voiced his opinions on a smorgasbord of social and political issues. Actor Alec Baldwin threatened to leave the United States if George W. Bush won re-election. (Bush won; Alec’s still here. Hmm.)
Listen to Sarah and Dave talk about celebrities and politics.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Sarah

Dave

Sarah: So, how do you feel about celebrities who have really strong political views and who basically spew them all over the media?

Dave: I think they need to be responsible. Um, a lot of celebrities say things, make uninformed statements, um, and the public grasps onto it just because they like their celebrities.

Sarah: Yeah, because they’re famous…

Dave: Yeah.

Sarah: And they think that they know what they’re talking about.

Dave: Yeah.

Sarah: Yeah. And it seems like so many of them have just a smorgasbord of ideas, but yet they don’t have the research to back it up. So it seems like a lot of times they’re not really sure what they’re talking about.

Dave: Yeah, yeah. What’s interesting about celebrity opinions is, you know, in the U.S. in particular, there are two things that you don’t talk about in conversation: politics and religion.

Sarah: Right.

Dave: And celebrities, particularly with politics, seem very vocal about their opinions. And, you know, it leads to a lot of heated arguments between people.

Sarah: Yeah. And I think that one thing that bothered me, too, was, especially when Clinton was in office, there was so much going on between him and the celebrities and, like, Barbara Streisand staying at the White House and him being involved with all the Hollywood parties.

Dave: Yeah.

Sarah: It just seemed like it was blurring the lines a little bit too much.

Dave: Yeah. Was it Clinton who was renting out the Lincoln bedroom?

Sarah: Yes.

Dave: Yeah.

Sarah: That seems a little…

Dave: Controversial.

Sarah: Yeah, definitely.

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Discussion

A cardinal rule of casual conversation in the United States is that you can talk about anything but politics and religion. These two subjects are so hotly debated in America that, if brought up, you’re more likely to wind up in a heated argument than a friendly conversation.
Many celebrities use fame to promote their political opinions and bolster the positions of politicians who agree with them. In a famously controversial move, in 1972 actress Jane Fonda (later known as Hanoi Jane) toured North Vietnam, posing for photos with Communist soldiers and broadcasting anti-American propaganda over Radio Hanoi. Fonda’s reputation suffered and over thirty years later people still consider her behavior treasonous.