I found it interesting that both the Weekend Australian, and Sun Herald published articles about celebrities who speak out about contemporary social and political issues.
Janet Albrechtsen argued in the Australian 'why would [should] the opinion of many of those who are high school drop outs, who sleep all day, party all night and do drugs in the hours left over, merit attention?'.
The Sun Herald article was perhaps a little more balanced.
I've often heard Bono speak about the 'currency' he has, that is because of his position he is able to speak out about issues he is passionate about, and he does also tend to do his research. In a recent interview Brad Pitt was quoted saying "the world needs more celebrities who put their fame to good use when it comes to facing the globe's problems".
Like any citizen, 'celebrities' have a right to speak on issues they are passionate about, the advantage (for Charity and other NGOs) is that celebrities have a 'louder voice' because of our (and the media's) fascination with them. Which is not to say that their voice is weighter (but it does put pressure on them to know what they are talking about).
When our elected representatives are deaf; and dumb to our arguments, they are another welcome voice.
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Aside: I'm hoping that the 'psuedo-election' campaign (running for all of 2007) is almost over with Howard tipped to call a poll for as early as mid-October.
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