Should celebrities get involved with political campaigns?

[-:Undertaker:-]

This is the main reason I saw against it. I've been following JK Rowling on this (well cos its JK Rowling, duh) and she's talked a lot about how it's the poor that'll suffer the most from a Yes vote and it wouldn't hurt her. She's using her experience when she was in poverty to inform her opinions now, even though she is no longer in that situation. I suppose the question is are you more forgiving of it if their past experience means they wouldn't be out of touch.

Actually to be fair on JK Rowling, I can sort of see where she is coming from... even though i'm probably the opposite of her in many of my opinion. It's also worth noting that whenever she does get involved in politics, she refers back to her experiences (which were genuine) and she does get involved in a way that is actually relatable because she isn't a typical celebrity. The type I hate are the Islington or Notting Hill types who got where they are because of mummy and daddy, and who write endless left wing drivel in the Guardian/Independent which is supposed to make you believe as though they've had it hard. Most of them just suffer from personal guilt.

edit: totally unrelated but you don't believe in gay sex? are you going to stay celibate?

Yes and yes, been the same for what is coming up to six years now (22 this autumn).

[Aiden]

i think they should if they're interesting. i only follow people that i agree with anyway, so if one of my fav celebs wanted something i didnt agree with id just stop following their career lol

[The Don]

Sure. Celebrities have an audience they can highlight issues to, groups of people who otherwise wouldn't care about particular topics. If celebrities can get the younger generations involved with important issues then surely that's beneficial to society.

[benzoberzerk]

Since when are "celebrities" an unanimous group of people? "They" are humans with the same rights and responsibilities as everyone else. The problem here isn't that famous people are sharing their views, the problem is that not enough people are familiar with critical thinking. It's quite insane that people let themselves be influenced to such an extent that they would buy practically anything someone else is saying, but unfortunately we live in a society where idol-worshiping is the norm. THAT is the actual problem.

[Joe]

Since when are "celebrities" an unanimous group of people? "They" are humans with the same rights and responsibilities as everyone else. The problem here isn't that famous people are sharing their views, the problem is that not enough people are familiar with critical thinking. It's quite insane that people let themselves be influenced to such an extent that they would buy practically anything someone else is saying, but unfortunately we live in a society where idol-worshiping is the norm. THAT is the actual problem.

Totally, literally took the words straight from my mouth. Celebrities have every right to get involved in politics, exactly the same as every single one of us in this forum have, it's just whether or not they're in politics because they know they'll get a public following or because they have the views and ambitions to change things for the better.