My Thoughts This Morning [Actors, Athletes & Politicians]

I can easily compare actors and athletes to politicians.

Quite often, people voice their disappointments with a particular professional athlete or movie star. This tends to happen even more around election time.

Actors spend their lives pretending to be someone else, but their fans are always surprised to find out that he or she had been concealing something about their viewpoints.

Professional athletes spend their lives being groomed in the art of manipulation of their fans and the media. However, people still gasp when they learn that their favorite star is not the individual he or she was pretending to be.

And politicians, these people are masters of bullshit! Every syllable that slips from between their lips has been carefully crafted to manipulate all of us.

It’s easy for me to compare athletes and actors to politicians. All three spend their lives pretending to be someone else. What I do not understand is why anyone would spend one moment listening to the opinion of a person whom they know almost nothing. Actors are not the people they pretend to be. Athletes are not the people they pretend to be. We know almost nothing about these people whose lives are not connected to our own in any way except for a screen.

I promise you, your favorite movie star is not interested in our opinions. Why would anyone be interested in their political views? Why would anyone care whether or not a professional quarterback agrees with their political views? The last thing I want to hear is a professional athlete saying anything except something related to their sport. They should keep that babble to themselves!

As a society, we have misplaced our faith and loyalties. Being a fan is one thing, but at the end of the day, we do not know these people. They’re not our friends, family, or even associates.

Furthermore, our favorite actors and sports figures do not know we exist. They have their own lives, and so does everyone else. And . . . that’s perfectly okay.

Joseph Shanklin

October 15, 2020