Shannen W. Coffin, writing for National review online, makes some interesting points in his discussion of the increasing phenomena of rock stars and actors jumping into the political discourse. Coffin suggests that this is really irrelevant because Americans don't care what these people say. If only that were true....
I work with a woman, a devout Democrat, that has more than once started one of our political conversations with "Howard Stern said..." Huh? Why in the world would one use Howard Stern's opinion to validate their own opinion? I would think that having Howard Stern agreeing with me would be cause to reexamine my beliefs on that subject! But unfortunately, because these people are famous and entertaining, American pop culture has elevated them to the level of experts on public policy. Never mind that most of them likely couldn't find Iraq on a world map with both hands, or tell you what the basis of supply side economics is or describe Manifest Destiny. They are famous and we recognize their faces so they must know what they are talking about.
Don't get me wrong, stars and celebrities are welcome to have whatever political beliefs they want to and are free to express them publicly. What irks me is that so many otherwise intelligent people take a fact value whatever they say as Gospel truth. Justin Timberlake is not somebody I look to when I am in need of information of environmental policy. It is bad enough these people make enormous sums of money and embrace every crackpot religion that comes down the pike (khaballah, Scientology, etc.). Let's not compound it by equating a talent for acting or a skill in playing guitar with political savvy...
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