Does Clooney Matter?
Posted on December 12, 2006
Filed Under For Argument's Sake |
News that George is headed off to China to discuss Darfur issues there with political leaders is one of those lump-swallow moments. Another celebrity, another world issue. To the tune of, If I were a Soldier, A Soldier: If I were a Clooney, a Clooney, A Clooney Was I… I’d probably keep out of global political issues. But then I’m a man with a weak backbone.
As this is a media blog, though I wish it were not, sir, it is a distraction to be writing about Darfur but as I posted about religion only a few hours back Darfur could be more of the same, a place, a mind, a person, a generation wrecked by conflict over religious belief. Not so says Wikipedia which also says most combattants are Muslim and implies that the underlying causes are economic.
The insertion of celebrity into these issues is still troubling. Sat in a chemo ward a couple of months back with my wife I couldn’t help but notice that all the magazines were of the celeb varietyand universally they brought the celebrity lifestyle to the cancer patient: beautiful shiny home, V8 motor, glittering future, hourglass figure, yes and that was just the men.
To square the circle I wonder if media innovations like Second Life aren’t also a bit of what we don’t want - hiding from reality in a virtual world. My point is make-up fellars like Clooney are not just doing the work of politicians, they’re doing the work of the concerned citizen and that too is weird. Too weird.
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