Useful Idiots

What is it that possesses famous people - actors, actresses, playwrights and musicians - to spout off about politics and expect people to take them seriously? Sean Penn - a mediocre actor - appears in Baghdad and issues a press release stating "I would hope that all Americans will embrace information available to them outside conventional channels. As a father, an actor, a filmmaker, and a patriot, my visit to Iraq is for me a natural extension of my obligation (at least attempt) to find my own voice on matters of conscience." Or take this editorial by Harold Pinter (Never heard of him? Neither had I - until this bit of Chomsky-esque bit of frothing-at-the-mouth forced me to google him). Steven Den Beste has an interesting take on this character here.

As a writer who once acted, I may be more qualified than many to judge the quality of Penn's or Pinter's work. However, I know little about the process of acting compared to Mr. Penn or as much about scripting a play as Mr. Pinter. Should I then issue a press release criticizing Penn's acting ability in "I Am Sam"? Will the Daily Telegraph allow me to write an editorial on how Pinter hasn't written a play that can keep his audience awake since Johnson held the White House?

"Fungible" is a term thrown around a lot in political science and economics courses. It is a synonym for "interchangeable" although the word has a quality of transformation about it that isn't found in Roget's Thesaurus. In politics, money is fungible because it can be turned into power and vice-versa relatively easily. While the outright buying of elections are rare in this country, there are more millionaires at high levels of public service (House of Representatives, governships and above) than in the population as a whole. Given the salaries of public officials, the fortunes are made before going into public service. On the other side, a sort of American "amakudari" - what the Japanese call "descent from heaven" occurs - where officials leave public life for lucrative careers in the private sector as high paid consultants, attorneys or corporate board members.

Fame is much less fungible than money, though both Reagan and Jesse Ventura were able to transform their fame into political success at the polls. People may vote for you because they like your pile-driver, but it's interesting to note that they won't vote for you again if you suck at being a politician - as Jesse Ventura has discovered.

The problem is expertise is not fungible. I cannot study to be a brain-surgeon and then expect to fix my car. Just because I play the piano doesn't mean that I can play the drums. I may be a decent writer, an above average programmer, and someone who has spent the better part of his life studying politics but I am not skilled enough to be a diplomat (as my interview for the Foreign Service proved). My expertise within my discipline of IT has limited fungibility. I can code all night in Java, but put C code in front of me and it's all hunt and peck.

Sinead O'Connor has one of the best voices of the last century. She also is incredibly naive when it comes to politics, having supported the Sandinista's in Nicaragua during the 1980s (calling for MTV viewers to send donations to the regime) and ripped up a photo of the pope as well as her career in the USA on Saturday Night Live in 1992. While her point was to protest the papal cover-up of child abuse by priests in Ireland, she did not understand that news of the scandals had not reached her American audience. To American eyes circa 1992, her action was seen as blasphemous and petulant. Had she done a similar thing today, after the mishandling of abuse cases in the US by the Church, her actions would have been seen for what she had intended: an act of protest against the silence of Rome. In the end her lack of political skills cost her the fame in the United States she had enjoyed since the mid 1980s.

The most egregious example of the naiveté of entertainers must be the 1972 visit to Hanoi, North Vietnam by Jane Fonda - earning her the sobriquet "Hanoi Jane". Her actions during her visit were unforgivable in the eyes of many, and she was criticized for giving aid an comfort to an enemy hell-bent on killing her fellow countrymen. Over the years Ms. Fonda has attempted to apologize for her actions, but judging by the plethora of sites devoted to criticizing her visit, it is clear that her apology has not been accepted by Vietnam veterans or their families.

Entertainers who use their fame to make political statements make about as much sense as, say, President Bush offering music criticism of Eminem. The difference is that such comments would do little to affect Eminem's appeal to his fans while Penn's visit to Baghdad could have the effect of emboldening an enemy that will soon be facing American soldiers. My naiveté over writing and producing a play may at worse create a sense of superiority in those who are experts in those fields - while Penn's actions - as Ms. Fonda's actions did 30 years ago - will result in more dead Americans.

So why do they do it? Did Ms. Fonda intend to help kill more Americans? Is Sean Penn a fan of Saddam Hussein - a man responsible for two wars, the use of rape as a tool of intimidation, and of poison gas on a civilian populace? Most likely, in both cases, no. Instead they and those like them fall prey to their own egos: they truly believe that they understand a situation better than others and feel conscience-bound to do something about it. Unfortunately their egos rarely tell them to learn more about a complex issue before attempting to resolve it, and hide the fact that such actions are more egotistical than humanitarian.

Critics might state that in free societies everyone has the freedom to express his or her beliefs - which is true to a degree, but there are limits of course. If I think I smell smoke when I'm in a crowded auditorium, I had better not yell "Fire!" until I see flames. In fact, a better solution would be to notify authorities who were more experienced at carrying out orderly evacuations. In such an instance my good intentions could kill people instead of helping them.

Additionally, being a public figure should make entertainers think twice before commenting on an issue since they have the public's attention in a way that many experts on a subject lack. They should must consider how their comments may be used to support positions that they themselves may not support, as well as unintended consequences of their statements. It's a lesson that even hardened politicians like Trent Lott often forget but one which the public never does.