If I were to seek political advice, Madonna isn't the first individual who comes to mind. OTOH, there's Britney.
Britney Spears Likes George Bush
Many actors and entertainers have been outspoken critics of President George Bush, but especially of his policies in the Middle East. Quite a few have openly condemned his invasion of Iraq and the subsequent occupation. That is not, however, true of all entertainers; Britney Spears, for example, has "faith" in him.
The Drudge Report recently carried a short exchange between Britney Spears and Tucker Carlson on CNN from Wednesday, September 3, 2003:
CARLSON: A lot of entertainers have come out against the war in Iraq. Have you?
SPEARS: Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens.
CARLSON: Do you trust this president?
SPEARS: Yes, I do.
CARLSON: Excellent.
Now, I don't wish to either condemn George Bush or Britney Spears' support of Bush - that isn't what I consider most relevant and interesting here. What is interesting is Britney Spears reason for supporting Bush. I don't believe it unreasonable to support him because of agreement with his policies or agreement with the idea of fostering democracy in the Middle East - such reasons might ultimately prove mistaken, but at least one can construct a rational argument around them.
But that's not the case with Britney Spears. No, she argues that we must have faith in our president. Whatever decision he makes, we "should just support that." Is that reasonable? No, it's not. One can argue that we should have a certain amount of trust in elected officials and not succumb constantly to cynicism, but simply having faith in whatever they do is another matter entirely.
We should be skeptical of political leaders - we shouldn't have faith in every salesman who comes along, we shouldn't have faith in every politician who comes along, and we shouldn't have faith in every religious figure who comes along. We should think for ourselves and it is irresponsible of Britney Spears to tell young people that it is better to be faithful than to be skeptical.
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