Using "celebrity" for something relevant
Juwon Ajayi
Issue date: 3/27/09 Section: Opinions
More importantly, celebrities often do what us regular folk' with opinions are incapable of doing: they get large amounts of people to listen. If not for George Clooney, Angelina Jolie and the involvement of many other public figures, how many Rollins students can honestly say they would have known about the crisis in Darfur? It is not like the area has not been in dire need of assistance for some time, yet most people only know of it because they were on Perez Hilton's Web site and saw a photo of Saint Angelina at one of the refugee camps.
Sean Penn's Academy Award acceptance speech was not my favorite of the night--it was a little long for my taste and the guy did not thank his wife - but he had every right to talk about Proposition 8. For one, the film he won an award for, "Milk," is about California's first openly gay elected official. And it being his Oscar, his speech and his time to shine, he sort of had the right to talk about whatever he wanted … within reason.
The world will probably always be obsessed with the rich and famous. I personally like knowing that the Sean Penn's of the world are socially aware. People allow celebrities to influence what they wear and what they eat; why not let them offer their opinions on politics? We do not have to agree with them, but if they are going to influence us, let it be on something that is actually worthy of being relevant.
Sean Penn's Academy Award acceptance speech was not my favorite of the night--it was a little long for my taste and the guy did not thank his wife - but he had every right to talk about Proposition 8. For one, the film he won an award for, "Milk," is about California's first openly gay elected official. And it being his Oscar, his speech and his time to shine, he sort of had the right to talk about whatever he wanted … within reason.
The world will probably always be obsessed with the rich and famous. I personally like knowing that the Sean Penn's of the world are socially aware. People allow celebrities to influence what they wear and what they eat; why not let them offer their opinions on politics? We do not have to agree with them, but if they are going to influence us, let it be on something that is actually worthy of being relevant.
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