Celebrity Politics

Today, celebrities and political figures are publicly portrayed in nearly the same light. They both get the same amount of exposure when they do something scandalous, and they both have to watch their every word in order to avoid a public debate over their credibility. Many celebrities have crossed over into the world of politics, including Bono, Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn and many others. Politicians typically are not actors, yet they receive the same publicity that celebrities do, and this is creating a problem, because politicians are constantly being watched and many are being forced to resign over affairs and scandals. Opinions of the state of our nation are being formed on gossip blogs with pictures of shirtless senators and cheating congressman. This makes people think they know what is going when they really only know the publicized version of what is happening in the United States and abroad. Making celebrities out of politicians most likely started back when the first televised presidential debate was aired. Politics became about looks, not who is a better suited leader for our country. And now politicians are forced to hide from paparazzi because they might end up on TMZ. There is a place for celebrity in our culture, but politicians do not belong there. Our media system has made it possible for people to access everything about a politician, which makes the career all about what they do in their personal time, rather than what they can do to serve their community. This blurs the line between professional and personal lives, which makes the decision of who to vote for a lot harder for the average voter.

Overall, I think that creating a celebrity culture for politics is wrong and makes it a lot harder to see clearly when thinking about the positive aspects of a politicians career, and so politicians should be kept out of the limelight.