Staff Reports
In the not-too-distant past, Hollywood and its band of glittering celebrities seemed to hold sway over public opinion with ease. It was as if every red carpet appearance or auto-tuned anthem could sway the masses in whichever direction the elite deemed fit. But times, it seems, are changing faster than Bruce Springsteen’s latest stance on international diplomacy. Once again, it looks like the entertainment industry’s golden luster is turning into fool’s gold.
Take Springsteen, for example. The man born to run apparently felt the need to sprint over to Europe just to toss some mud at the President. Isn’t it always the case that these stars, yearning for the company of their own kind on sprawling yachts, think they know what’s best for everyone else? The boss’s recent foray into global commentary seems to have done little but mess up his own setlist. It’s a bit like criticizing the chef’s cooking after you’ve left the restaurant; everyone hears about it, and few take it seriously.
The last big splash we saw was when Hollywood’s pantheon of stars rallied behind a cause, only for it to fall flat on its well-coiffed face. For the first time in what might be a lifetime for some, that glitzy parade of endorsements backfired, exposing a depth of inauthenticity that was clearer than ever. People aren’t fooled anymore. The public’s got a backstage pass now, and what they’re seeing isn’t exactly pretty.
What’s more, with a little help from some cultural tides, politics is no longer the exclusive playground of the Hollywood elite. More and more people are waking up to the idea that perhaps, maybe, entertainers should stick to entertaining and leave the politics to the politicians.
As the dust settles, one can’t help but notice the bandwagon of celebrity voices starting to thin out. It might be that they’re tired of singing the same old song and dance. And frankly, that’s okay. The country doesn’t need more adversaries; it needs allies in the cultural battlefields. More and more, folks seem to be realizing that sometimes, just sometimes, the best fireworks don’t come from tinseltown, but from the heartland where authenticity is less about wearing a brand and more about being true to oneself.
