The other day I was walking by some businesspeople downtown - they appeared to be the usual lot, you know accountants, lawyers, bank managers etc and I heard a couple of them remark on the current political situation and the Iraqi civil war.
I immediately thought, where do these "Wall Street" conservatives get off talking about politics. They have no right. I mean really, they should know their place, shut up and do business.
This is because Wall Street conservatives are "largely, out of touch with reality and on the extreme fringe of politics. They seldom have anything of substance to say on an issue and seem interested in donning the mantel of "interested participant" more for the sake of looking intelligent than anything else."
On the odd chance that a wingnut is visiting this site the above was satire. What I actually heard this morning was some huckleberry on a local sports radio station note that while he feels Bush is a complete disaster (who sane wouldn't) he repeated that oft-stated nonsense of wishing Hollywood liberals would shut up.
I am so tired of this garbage. (btw googling "hollywood liberals" and "shut up" returns 11, 800 hits.) If you don't like what someone has to say, attack what they say. Don't give me this crap that some people are not entitled to speak out. In a celebrity obsessed culture like the United States one could certainly argue that for Hollywood personalities not to speak up could be deemed as shirking their societal obligations as rich and powerful citizens not beholden to the political status quo .
Perhaps Americans expect their famous people to be good little celebrities like Michael Jordan, make millions pimping for Nike while Nike exploited child labour throughout Asia. Now there is someone you can admire (I mean, could he light it up or what?).
This was from a report from 1999 (long after Jordan began making his millions promoting Nike)
Nike went into Pakistan, having full knowledge of the favorable conditions prevailing in terms of child labor and has taken no precautions whatsoever to prevent the use of child labor in the production of its soccer balls. Instead Nike has made a profit from its Pakistani contractors who inturn has used bonded child labor in the production process. Critically analyzing the situation, "Why Nike always land up in places having cheap or bonded labors or in places where it can easily get away with illegal labor practices?" Examples incude: Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. Nike simply bases its operations on finding the lowest-cost labor to make its products.Twelve-year-old girls work in Indonesian sweatshops 70 hours a week making Nike shoes in unhealthy plants.
And as the report rightly concludes:
The basic truth about Nike is that its only real strength is its good name. Nike rules because of all the good things people associate with the company: sharp ads, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, little Penny, and Michael Jordan again. If "beaten workers" and "child labor" get added to that list, then Nike's greatest asset will be lost.
So I guess in the United States it is more admirable to be like Mike and make your millions quietly than to express concern where your country and where the world is headed. Yes I realize all of this is unfair. In today's world I really should be focusing on Tiger Woods, shouldn't I?
(And what a surprise. It turns out that Sarandon, Robbins, Penn and the like were right about Iraq. Today the UPI is officially calling it a civil war - like there was any doubt)
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