Wasteful Celebrities
Global Warming Hypocrisy
By Daniel Muniz

When it comes to global warming activists and Hollywood, there is an enormous hypocrisy that is quietly ignored. The lifestyles of Hollywood movie stars and also that of the rock stars of the music industry aren’t exactly the pristine role models that the activists envision. Although celebrities are more than happy to do the talk, they are unable to do the walk when it comes to reducing their overall carbon footprint because of their luxurious lifestyles.

Many in Hollywood and in the music industry simply see global warming activism as another trendy crusade to be a part of. Perhaps making a handful of small donations to green organizations, purchasing a Toyota Prius, and a few cosmetic changes is about the extent that these rich celebrities are going to make in their lives. Other than that, they are going to continue with their gas guzzling polluting extravagance.

But for the most part, the activists don’t mind the hypocrisy.

The truth of the matter is that the global warming crowd needs Hollywood and the musicians more than Hollywood and the rock stars need them. The celebrities have the ability to help generate enormous publicity to their cause for practically free of charge. And it is totally irrelevant that these superstars don’t know much about science as long as they willing to talk about the environment and about saving the planet.

It is the glitz and the glamour of the celebrities that provides the buzz and the media sensation that makes this crusade hip and trendy which also attracts the attention of millions of people as well as the attention of the major news sources. In all reality, the activists could never have attained such a massive global notoriety and achieve this kind of awareness if it were not for the movie stars and rock stars. It would have required hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising and marketing to accomplish what was done for just about free.

As a result, it is actually easy for the global warming crowd to overlook the polluting indulgences that the celebrities partake in. The activists are not going to make war against Hollywood since that is their goose that is laying their golden egg (other than the government). And it doesn’t bother the activists one bit that they are demanding that governments around the world create laws that force ordinary people to give up their creature comforts and conveniences in order to halt further CO2 emissions while at the same time Hollywood is enjoying a lavish and wasteful lifestyle.

As long as their famous messengers are able to articulate the message, they don’t care how the celebrities are polluting the planet with their jet setting lifestyles.

And the press doesn’t care either.

A staple of the media is to report hypocrisy and they have made a fortune out of it. But the press is also caught up in tabloid journalism because that too has also made them a fortune. The newswires know that the public craves the tawdry seamy exploits and antics of celebrity icons and they are not about to make war against them. The colossal hypocrisy could have provided plenty of ammunition for the press to report but that is not going to happen because the media also needs Hollywood more than Hollywood needs the press.

So what is the hypocrisy?

One example would be Madonna. Just like nearly all the other pop and rock stars that are pushing the climate change message, she always travels with a huge entourage of people on numerous private jets. Unlike small time outfits, Madonna doesn’t ride a bus or fly commercial when she performs on a multiple city concert tour. The Material Girl also lives up to her moniker by maintaining quite an assortment of gas guzzling vehicles and her expensive estates consumes huge amounts of electricity and water.

Madonna might purchase carbon offsets in which a tree is planted in a tropical rain forest but she and many other celebrities are not exactly going to give up their opulence and lavishness so that they can live like the ordinary people who are being asked to make painful sacrifices.

Instead, the movie stars and rock stars will be preaching a gospel of using less electricity by hand washing your clothes and drying them outside, taking cold showers, and exclusively using public transportation. Preaching the gospel of reducing your carbon footprint is great for the masses but the celebrities are not about to embark on a radical lifestyle change for themselves even though they are demanding that everyone else do so.

It is kind of like Al Gore expecting us to cut our electricity usage to save the planet even though his estate consumes twenty times the monthly average of the ordinary person in his state. Although Al Gore wants us to live an ordinary simple life, he is not about to give up his heated swimming pool and his other wasteful luxuries.

But the global warming activists and the press doesn’t care about minor details like that.

Legislating their morality on to us is far more important than their messengers practicing what they preach in their daily lives.

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