tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292779897842782575.post4334301196582135979..comments2022-03-02T14:01:21.624-06:00Comments on The Godless Skeptic: Huckabee: Natalie Portman 'Glorifies' Unwed PregnancyTaylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11500412975833428045noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292779897842782575.post-10105277142804541072011-03-04T20:10:58.061-06:002011-03-04T20:10:58.061-06:00The idea that celebrities should be role models is...The idea that celebrities should be role models is quite common among conservative pundits and politicians, and it strikes me how they want American celebrities to uphold Christian values while they often disregard them when this suits their conservative goals. Bill O'Reilly's interview with Marilyn Manson and Sean Hannity's open support of torture come to mind.<br />Conservative ideology embodies three different and irreconcilable traits: free market (all-for-profit, with no intervention to help the poor or the environment), nationalism (systematic xenophobia, to the point of sociopathy) and Christianity (which teaches to love your enemies and help the poor).<br />It's nasty to see how these three traits have been put together to benefit a particular group: the owners of oil/gun industries, who appeal to the religiosity of the American lower class to legitimize the unfettered trade of their dangerous merchandise.<br />Role-model celebrities help to sustain the part of the American southern/heartland identity (christian, free-market nationalist) that makes the support of an otherwise unsupportable enterprise possible.Damian Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05750536797587567430noreply@blogger.com