Well, If REM Thinks It's A Bad Idea...

So yesterday it was announced that the members of REM, Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails are joining an existing coalition to push for the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where the United States are keeping all sorts of suspected terrorists. Perhaps this explains why none of those bands have put out a good album in years. Really, if it was 1997 and I was still in high school then this would have been major news. As it is, it's a bunch of bands that no longer put out good music joining together to stick their collective noses into politics. And, it's not even the prison that they're most concerned about, it's more that their music is being used as a form of torture to keep prisoners sleep-deprived. They are also allegedly using the Barney theme, but no one wants to step up and defend that song.

I'm pretty torn on this one. Now on the one hand, I'm with them that the prison should be closed and we shouldn't be torturing people to begin with. On the other hand, this goes into the territory of one of my biggest pet peeves. I've always had a problem with celebrities giving their opinions on politics. Most of them have no idea what they are talking about and don't bother to do the research to make an informed opinion. They just say whatever comes to mind. And while I don't usually mind people who do that but, in addition to being uninformed, these celebrities are full of themselves enough to think that society is waiting on what they say. It's their ego that drives me nuts. If you're willing to vote for something just because Sean Penn thinks it's a good idea then maybe you should be sitting out the next election. Penn has his own agenda and I highly doubt that it jives with yours, unless you also make $15 million a movie. How about instead of telling other people what to do with their lives you just do your thing and leave the politics to the politicians?

-Now, onto something I'm much more passionate about: balloon boy. Now that it has come out that the family staged the whole stunt and it was all in an effort to get a reality show I need the television network executives to stay strong: do not cave in and give this family a show. I know that most of you are unoriginal people and that giving them a show seems a quick and easy way to grab some ratings, but you need to think about the rest of us. If you reward these people with their own TV show then we will be inundated with people doing stupid stunts in an effort to catch national attention, even if it's just for a day. If you want to send Barbara Walters to their house to make them cry in an 'exclusive' interview then that's cool, but after that I never want to see these people on my TV ever again.