Posted on 11/22/2019 5:34:39 AM PST by Kaslin
Celebrity testimony is an age-old political stunt on Capitol Hill. If you want the press at your hearing, you lunge at the chance to have a star athlete, or a famous singer or actor, bring some zing to your issue. Democrats do this better because they have a lot more friends in Hollywood and they're always more willing to push the envelope with silliness. When you want to push your agenda on agriculture to the left and you need attention, you get Jane Fonda, Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek to testify. Their credentials? They all starred in movies about agriculture.
Another example of this happened on Nov. 19 when the House Oversight and Reform subcommittee on environment, chaired by Rep. Harley Rouda, D-Calif., called upon the Bernie Sanders-backing actor Mark Ruffalo to testify on perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, or "PFAS."
These chemicals are used for many everyday uses. "(T)hey keep food from sticking to cookware, make clothes and carpets resistant to stains, and create firefighting foam," the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences reports. But these chemicals have leached into soil and water and air, and they show up in the bloodstream. So there's a real policy debate there.
But Ruffalo doesn't have a college degree in chemistry. He doesn't have a college degree in anything. He has only played scientist Dr. Bruce Banner ("The Hulk") in the "Avengers" movies.
At least those actresses were honored in the '80s as experts for movies that had already come and gone in theatres. Ruffalo is starring in a movie about evil chemical companies called "Dark Waters," which opens in limited release three days after his star appearance on the Hill. Distributed by NBCUniversal's Focus Features brand, it's based on the real-life lawsuits against DuPont by an activist lawyer named Rob Bilott.
Rep. Fred Keller of Pennsylvania underlined this stunt. "The majority has called as their star witness an actor. That's right, an actor," he said. "An actor with no medical, no scientific or research expertise except for a few scenes as Dr. Bruce Banner. An actor that has a record of anti-business activism. More importantly to Mr. Ruffalo ... an actor with a movie premiering this week that attacks private-sector job creators with loose facts and hyped-up emotional rhetoric."
Loose facts? Emotional rhetoric?
Consider this: In 2016, Virginia Tech professor Dr. Marc Edwards ripped Ruffalo as an "A-List actor but F-List scientist" for the "fear and misinformation" created by Ruffalo's activist group, Water Defense. The subject was the water quality in Flint, Michigan. Dr. Edwards is credited for helping to expose the lead contamination problem in Flint. Then-President Obama reassured Flint residents that the water was safe to drink after they switched back to Detroit-sourced water, but Ruffalo and his leftist group shamelessly continued to claim that the water was unsafe for showering or bathing.
Ruffalo's real credential for the House Democrats is his socialist ideology. He has publicly endorsed Jeremy Corbyn, the nut who called Karl Marx a "great economist," for British prime minister. Radical Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib were gushing over Ruffalo in this committee hearing. Tlaib told the movie star: "I think what you said is exactly what we need to do in Congress. ... Corporate greed is tainting our democracy."
This actor has an estimated net worth of $30 million. Corporate greed has been very good to him.
Another supporter of Ruffalo in the hearing was Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former head of the Democratic National Committee. But on Nov. 14, in a different hearing, Schultz decried pro-life activist Allie Beth Stuckey's being allowed to testify on the brutality of abortion. "I just want to clarify that Ms. Stuckey is expressing her own opinion exclusively, and has no scientific or particular expertise in this subject matter whatsoever," she said.
Stuckey didn't cling to leftist orthodoxy. So she was unqualified to testify.
“... They all starred in movies about agriculture...”
Heh, given the sorry state of the Repulsican Party (except for Trump), the spineless Repubs can always get someone who “stayed at the Holiday Inn Express”. :-)
Ruffalo is one of those guys where I can sit through his movies, but if I ever saw him on the street I would straight up call him an a—hole straight to his face.
And news readers play doctor, psychiatrist in evaluating Trump’s health.
I’d take medical advice from my trash hauler, before I’d take any advice from an actor.
When it comes to "celebrities" -- entertain me, amuse me, but don't try to pretend you're anything special when it comes to the real world. A pretty face or figure, the ability to memorize lines, some skill with an instrument or playing with a ball... Yay {slow clap} and that means exactly what?
I have watched My Cousin Vinny many times so if you need any legal advice I’m your guy.
Celebrities - Is there anything they don’t know?
“”””””””Celebrities - Is there anything they don’t know?””
AOC is a bartender and she knows way more than celebrities so maybe bartenders are the most smartest or something.
When it comes to celebrities in the entertainment world, I would say they are less connected with everyday reality than almost anyone else, so why would anyone want their opinion on anything of a scientific nature? Uness they’d had a background in some scientific field,which is highly unlikely, they are doing the country a disservice by even speaking up on such things.
If I ever sat through one of his movies, I have no idea. If I ever saw him on the street, it would be after you pointed him out.
Does this mean we shouldn’t pay much attention to a bunch of people that Live in Make Believe World and Play Pretend for a Living??
“an age old political stunt”
Really? Which Republican Senator or Congressman asked an actor to come speak for a conservative cause?
The only conservative actor I know of who spoke before Congress was Clint Eastwood, but since he was head of the NRA, I figured he actually knew what he was talking about.
Sally Fields was the worst by any stretch of the imagination.
Remember when Meryl Streep testified about pesticides in apples? Barbra Streisand never stops running her ample mouth about every subject under the sun. Martin Sheen used to be a champion of homeless people ... from his mansion in Hollywood.
The list of sickening celebpocrisy is endless.
“I’m not a brain surgeon, but I did play one on TV, so when can I schedule your operation?” I am truly living in the era of comedy in Government. The left side of the bell curve is controlling our Government via their representatives. we as a nation are doomed.
These people make a living pretending to be someone else, most that I have met are in their own bubble of reality and have no depth, even more need to remove a mitten to count to three...
I especially like it when the celebs don either horn rim or clunky black framed glasses to bolster their non-credentials.
This is a good point. We tend to think artists and actors should shut up and sing. And, in general, they should.
But let's consider us FReepers for a moment. Can't the same argument be applied to us, e.g. I'm not a scientist so shouldn't I shut up when it comes to global warming? What are MY credentials?
Let's say my hobby was global warming and I've read tons of books etc. Maybe I am well-read on the subject...wouldn't that give me SOME standing to speak on the topic?
If that is true, then by extension any artist/Hollywood person should also have some standing to speak on the topic.
What you have said, is that you have to be connected to everyday reality AND have knowledge on a topic to speak with authority.
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