Saturday, March 01, 2003

Don't be shy, tell us what you really think!
Once again, Julie Burchill puts the hammer down in the Guardian:
Working on the law of averages, I'm sure that there must have been a whole lot of decent, intelligent people among the three-quarters of a million souls who marched in favour of the unchallenged continuation of Saddam Hussein's reign of terror over the people of Iraq the other weekend. Though, as ever, Christopher Hitchens pretty much hit the nail on the head when he summed it up as "the silly... led by the sinister".
...
But what really brought a tear (of mirth) to the eye, and a tide of vomit to the throat, was the en masse presence of professional entertainers. And for every thespian, hoofer, crooner, dressmaker, TV doctor, ex-boxer, presenting prannet and It Girl who turned up for the march, a dozen more have added their voices to the "anti-war" chorus.
...
But now, it seems the testimony of a jester is automatically worth twice that of what Liz Hurley so charmingly called "civilians" (ie, people who do something other than raiding the dressing-up box for a living).

What is most extraordinary about this unique level of celebrity bum-sucking in a global conflict - as opposed to a haircut - scenario is that it's being most frantically touted by the Mirror, a newspaper that only last year declared war on the cult of, um, celebrity. So, to sum up, their position would seem to be: Celebrities = silly show-offs when going about their usual business of attending premieres and getting on the telly. But, on the other hand, Celebrities = seers and sages who must be listened to when pronouncing on war and peace.
Nice to know that Liz thinks of the rest of us as "civilians". One can only hope that her "service" wasn't too arduous.