Flipping open the laptop this morning, it was really, really, really scary to see the headline on my server: “Bruce Springsteen Endorses Obama.” Why should we care? The frightening thing is that people do care and look to celebrity culture for guidance in political matters and questions of conscience.
The little old Cajun woman who lives down my road should be given the same bully pulpit, but it will never happen. Besides, regular folks aren’t narcissistic enough to even assume their opinions should matter in the political arena. Instead, the media jumps all over an aging singer as if his opinion should carry any weight at all.
Once again the media, and that includes progressive media, is attempting to ram critical choices down our throats in what feels like a rape of the mind.
OK, so maybe I am narcissistic when I assume my opinion should matter, but I am not self-absorbed enough to tell readers how to vote. Let’s get that issue out of the way immediately. Consider this.
The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California conducted a study in 2006 that examined narcissistic traits in celebrities. The study is considered to be the first systematic, scholarly study of celebrity personality. A standardized test that measures narcissistic personality traits was administered to 200 celebrities.
Look up any medical or popular description of a narcissist and you will find that their main personality traits include a craving for attention, lack of empathy, overconfidence in their abilities, erratic behavior, entitlement, and exploitive tendencies.
Are these the individuals that should influence the course of history? So many celebrities are making a mess out of Africa with their sophomoric interpretations of conflict there.
Can the progressive media, at least, call for a boycott of publicizing celebrity endorsements in politics?
After all, celebrities are only “legends in their own minds.”
Georgianne Nienaber is a writer, author, and investigative journalist. She lives in the world. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, SCOOP New Zealand, Glide Magazine, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Friends of the Congo, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction exposé of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse Sense, was re-released in early 2006. Gorilla Dreams: The Legacy of Dian Fossey was also released in 2006. Nienaber spent much of 2007 doing research in South Africa, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She was in DRC as a MONUC-accredited journalist, and recently spent six weeks in Southern Louisiana investigating hurricane reconstruction. She is currently developing a documentary on the Gulf of Mexico DEAD ZONE.
If this perspective comes from a progressive/Democrat, etc... it would give us better credibility. It absolutley needs to be brought to the attention of the masses that us liberals don't need or want celebrity help. I actually don't think it helps to have celebrities endorse candidates, anyway, look at 2004. I think it rallies the right to get out the vote. The same goes for Michael Moore movies that come out during the pre-election season - they just send out a bigger rallying cry to conservative voters.
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Suzanne Smith (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 20 comments)
on Friday, April 18, 2008 at 1:38:35 PM
Appreciate your comments. I think people know me by my work, but the point is that NO ONE needs to be force fed celebrity view-points...they have no business in the political discussion at all. Narcissism is a psychological disorder.
By your work you seem poised to speak out on this. Go for it.
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Georgianne Nienaber (145 articles, 46 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 338 comments)
on Friday, April 18, 2008 at 2:30:21 PM
