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A lot of celebrities have been taking a lot of flack lately about their stance on the impending war with Iraq? Whether or not you agree with the war, please share your views ... personally, just because someone has a public persona does not mean they are no longer able to voice their opinion; but, do you think their opinions shape those of others?

I have no problem with celebrities voicing an opinion. I have a great deal of respect for Martin Sheen because his activism has been constant and consistent.

I do not care for celebrities who set themselves up as "experts" without any expert level of knowledge.

I also do not like celebrities who take cheap shots. A prime example is the incident at the Dixie Chicks concert in London. Not appropriate. Those concert gowers didn't attend a rally, then went to a concert.

I think that ANYONE who is in the public eye, needs to be very very careful about what they say about any subject. Yes I believe they have honest valid opinions but sadly everything a public figure says (or does) will be blown out of proportion unless they word it very very carefully!! A good example would be the Dixie Chick incident....If I would of said that everyone would of probably laughed and repeated it to anyone who would listen but since I didn't say it and a public figure did....well I rest my case!!

I did not watch the Oscars but what a shame that some of them used the Thank You speech to voice their opinions on our country and the War. And I was even more shocked when they (Oscars) gave a Rapist who isn't even Man enough to take his punishement an Oscar. All this is certainly confirming my opinions on "If you have money you can get a way with anything". Shame on you Oscar whoever you are.

As long as the First Amendment still works in this country, I believe that everyone has the right to exercise it. There are individuals with whom I do not share beliefs that I do not listen to because they differ from me, and some people I do listen to for that exact reason.

However, if a giant corporation is paying your salary and owns the tv network that your opinions are going to be broadcast on, sadly, you will most likely find your rights to free expression stepped on.

to the woman who posted so unhappily about Roman Polanski getting the Best Directing award for "The Pianist," how do you feel about the statements made recently by the woman who was that child all those years ago, that Polanski's movies should be judged on his artistic talents and not on his personal past?

- Rae

I think she is very forgiving <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> But I guess it was the way I was raised.....Be a moral person and if you do wrong say so and take your lumps. I stand by my opinion, Roman Polanski is a child rapist and in my opinion ANYONE who commits a crime to a child should have some HUGE LUMPS !!!!! He is a disgrace to the film industry, there are alot of people who are currently in jail serving time and they too are great artist, painters, writers etc.

I think that if you are a celebrity, and are going to make a statement about war, you should probably make sure it is something that everyone can understand. Martin sheen just attended a protest rally... where he had duct tape across his mouth with the word peace written across it. The only problem was every news station that covered it said "I'm not sure what the signifigance of the tape is, but he means it!" how silly is that? So he was making a point that most of the people were not getting. I do agree that just because you are a celebrity doesn't mean you've lost your own opinion, but I htink that they should make a special effort to be clear and concise in their meaning.

Everyone has a right to voice their opinion, celebrity or not. However, celebrities have so much visibility that they can do much more damage with their voice.
There are many people who will believe everything they hear from a star (I don't know why, they get their info from CNN like the rest of us) and not believe the officials who have access to military intelligence and who have spent their lives studying terrorism,etc.

The problem is that so many celebs don't seem to knwo what they're talking about. On top of that the ones that speak the loudest also seem to be the dumbest. What makes it worse is that they end up making intelligent liberals look bad by speaking without thinking. They do a real disservice to our cause.

r.

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