Weird News

[Happy Monkey]

IMHO, if you have a soapbox, you have some obligation to use it for things you believe in. For most celebrities, the desire to maximize profit by avoiding alienating some of their audience overrides that. On the pure subject of whether they should talk politics, I put the ones who do on the moral high ground, over those who try to avoid saying what they think (ones who don't have any thoughts to share aren't on this axis at all).

Of course, while they may be on the moral high ground on that subject, they may be exposing their moral altitude on many other subjects. The ones who keep silent do have a point; they have little, financially, to gain, and much to lose. I'm not likely to seek out a show starring an actor whose politics I like, but I am more likely to factor in my views on an actor whose politics I don't like. Not a huge factor, but it's there. I don't go to live shows, but if I did, and I thought they would talk politics, it would be magnified (still not much draw for someone I agree with, but a big turn-off for someone I don't).

So, while I can be disappointed with, or even repelled by, what a celebrity says from their soapbox, I admire them for doing it, and support them doing it, though I may not support them FOR doing it.