Why quote celebrities?
Don Surber
The last time Sean Penn made news, he was interviewing the gangster El Chapo for a documentary. But Penn said something and Breitbart felt dutybound to devote a story to him, " Sean Penn Compares Trump Supporters to al-Qaeda, Says Trump Is Bin Laden."
Oh gosh. Someone in Hollywood insulted President Donald John Trump. That's only happened every hour on the hour for 4 years.
And it is Sean Penn. Unless your are a relative or someone seeking a job from him, no normal person really cares what Sean Penn thinks about them because the man does not seem to be a good judge of character.
He also is not much of a sailor. In 2005, he went to Louisiana to rescue people trapped in waters from Hurricane Katrina.
The Guardian reported, "Sean Penn was so frustrated by the search and rescue efforts in the inundated streets of New Orleans that he launched his own personal rescue mission, only for his boat to spring technical difficulties, ie a leak.
"According to Australia's Melbourne Herald Sun, he was forced to bail out with a red plastic cup when the vessel started filling with water. Then the motor didn't start, forcing him and his crew to paddle by hand."
At least he tried.
I have no problem with celebrities voicing their opinions. I voice mine 6 days a week on a blog. It is technically still a free country, at least until January 20.
What I don't like are these inane tattle-tale stories about celebrities calling President Trump and his supporters names. The stories are lazy. Rob Reiner tweeted something insulting? Who cares? Why give him the power to insult you? Ignore him. Enjoy his work because he is a very versatile filmmaker. Spinal Tap. The Princess Bride. A Few Good Men. But when he is not working, he gets bored and says mean things about the president.
Get over it.
The Celebrity Said Mean Things genre of stories is tiresome. And annoying. I don't know half these people. Breitbart reported, "Actor Bradley Whitford took to Twitter on Tuesday to proclaim that President Donald Trump is a 'terrorist.' "
Who?
They ran a picture of him. I thought wow, Dennis Hopper's hair sure turned white. Then I realized Hopper died 10 years ago. So it is not him.
The story said, "The Get Out actor... "
OK, that description did not help either because I don't know what a Get Out is, and I am too lazy to look it up. Old journalism habits die hard.
In another story, Breitbart said, "Stars including Debra Messing, Rob Reiner, Alec Baldwin, Kerry Washington, and The View‘s Sunny Hostin are whipping up impeachment fever on social media, hoping to build up pressure against the president and send an unambiguous message to conservatives around the country."
I don't want to pick on Breitbart. They do good work. But the impeachment was already cast. They were lobbying Congress to do what Congress planned to do all along.
When Penn calls us Al Qaeda, I realize they have run out of insults. I mean, they called us Nazis 5 years ago (in National Review, no less). There is nothing worse. |
