Useful Fools

Sean Penn like a feminine Hygiene product? That’s just part of the story. Read on…

Today we have “celebrities” who believe their special status gives them great knowledge about all sorts of controversial matters - about which they feel a “duty” to influence us. Mosquito hoards of Hollywood celebrities and news “stars” hum and buzz all around us.

The celebrity as expert is especially dangerous when these preening royals are in the news media. The latest example is Dan Rather, who refuses to stay buried, haunting the blather-sphere in search of re-incarnation.

We need to understand that the fame of these narcissistic “personalities” is often a result of mere marketing branding. The popularity of an anchor or star comes from the development of that person’s name as a brand. An actor becomes a “celebrity” as a result of being a valuable “property” - a name that leads to movie ticket sales. A newsman becomes a “celebrity” by having millions of viewers.

In these areas, becoming a brand is a combination of mostly luck, a little skill, and often a willingness for back-stabbing. CNN’s almost hiring of a high-school dropout as an anchor should make it obvious that expertise is not high on the list of criteria.

That Dan Rather’s unraveling was caused not by trained journalists, but diligent bloggers, further exposes the fallacy of the famous journalist as a reliable, omniscient source. “And that’s the way it is

Do we really believe there are only a few people in this country of 300,000,000 with the ability to be a Dan Rather? I’m sure Dan Rather thinks he is special, but I see Dan Rather as no different from Crest toothpaste: he is a brand, and as such, doesn’t have any special insight into the world or greater logical abilities or intelligence than the rest of us. I am not interested in being lectured on how I should think by a Crest toothpaste tube.

Likewise, I really resent it when a Feminine Hygiene Brand like Sean Penn does it.

One of the most famous of these “experts,” who personally decided that the Vietnam War was lost after the great US victory in the Tet Offensive, and used his post as “thie most trusted man in America” to assure our loss, provides in his branded phrase, the best end of this article:

“And that’s the way it is. “

[This article is a follow-up to an earlier post here.]