Animal smuggler, Johnny Depp threatens to boycott Oz.

I am afraid that it is just another example of "celebrity news" Check out the news stands, supermarket checkouts and doctors waiting rooms. What do you see:

No Idea
Who
Woman Day
Vague
OK
New Weekly

Mindless drivel of the worst kind and at the risk of being caned by the fairer sex, it is them that promulgate this nonsense and the media and publishing machines just keep churning it out.

In what universe would Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton become role models and influence the lives of young women????

Just watch the morning news programmes like Today and Sunrise, half the bloody programme is "celebrity news". Who is rooting who and we are all paying for it.

The laughable juxtaposition is them getting publicity about them complaining when a papparazzi takes a photo of them without their make-up on.

Then there is William and Kate.........................................Don't get me started on the royals PPPLEEAASSSSEEEEE

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Originally Posted by Tombie

Heres the rub and it always annoys me..

And Actor, Singer, Performer is a profession....

They are NOT celebrities - they are employed to do a job (make a movie, sing a song, perform for the benefit of the people).

They are NOT there to be worshipped or above any laws or better than the people who pay their salary..

So why is it that we, the public, give them the status of celebrity?

Goes to show the ridiculousness of the general public....


Another example in Australia is the Prime status given to bloody Football...
I watched an educational and quite serious broadcast interrupted by the "newsroom" to bring an important announcement regarding some dickhead football coach and his drug use... You have got to be ****ing joking!!!!

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I had similar thoughts earlier this week while scanning the sports section of the Courier Mail. There was page after page of rugby league nonsense, of no real benefit to the world at all, and of little significance. Then, buried back in about 7-8 pages, was a fairly short story about the Matildas beating Brazil in the World Cup.
I though to myself, the Matildas are real world-beaters, they've done better than the Socceroos have ever done, and they get buried because the paper thinks we want to read endless drivel about league players wetting their pants or whatever. I mean, seriously?
The Matildas win should have been the entire first page of the sports section, to reflect its importance.

We should all be very careful not to do anything that might make us famous.

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Originally Posted by cuppabillytea

We should all be very careful not to do anything that might make us famous.

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I'm not sure if it is still the case, but recently when children were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, a significant number said they wanted to be famous.

It seems they had no idea of what they wanted to be famous for; they just wanted to be famous.

Maybe it is because there is so much media attention devoted to people (like Paris Hilton or bogans who appear on Big Brother) who have little or no talent and who really haven't done anything to deserve recognition, that children get the idea that fame is a worthwhile goal.

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Originally Posted by vnx205

I'm not sure if it is still the case, but recently when children were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, a significant number said they wanted to be famous.

It seems they had no idea of what they wanted to be famous for; they just wanted to be famous.

Maybe it is because there is so much media attention devoted to people (like Paris Hilton or bogans who appear on Big Brother) who have little or no talent and who really haven't done anything to deserve recognition, that children get the idea that fame is a worthwhile goal.

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That's my 13yo niece :(

I was an extra in a film made and directed by a famous Hollywood actress (don't worry, my scenes ended up on the cutting room floor after three long days of filming alongside and right in front of the leads ! :D) and my niece wanted to meet her.

Why ?

"Because she's famous"

Yet she had no idea who she was, or what she was famous for.

Famous people get a lot of attention. Many kids crave attention not understanding the price for all that attention is a great loss of privacy and endless criticism.

Yet those truly worthy of recognition quietly get on with being Police, Fire, Ambo, SES, CFS, SAS etc.

They are people to aspire to..

Not someone who is nothing more than the modern equivalent of the court jester...

Yep. They don't have the giant egos the famous have. They have humility and humanity. Kids learn that as they grow.

This was a routine quarantine matter, and as it affected a public figure the Minister was briefed. Unfortunately it was decided to be extremely lenient ... I say unfortunately because AQIS has stated that no preferential treatment was made - so the precedent has been set for ANYONE who brings in animals illegally. If AQIS impound an illegally imported animal the owner or guardian can (and i'm sure will) sight Depp's treatment as precedent.

Why did Barnaby make such a big deal about it? (note: it wasn't the Department who did!) It was simply to play politics and distract form the changes to the Paid Parental Leave Scheme that were being discussed at the time. That is why he was deliberately using language that the media would consider amusing.

And it worked.

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Originally Posted by Tombie

Yet those truly worthy of recognition quietly get on with being Police, Fire, Ambo, SES, CFS, SAS etc.

They are people to aspire to..

Not someone who is nothing more than the modern equivalent of the court jester...

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I agree with what you are saying about the people who just do a great job without looking for recognition. I love most of Depp's movies, although he's getting in too many (like Tom Hanks).
However, historically the court jester was a very powerful figure. They could publicly ridicule the king and get them to think about and change their course of action. And sometimes manipulate the king to do their bidding. If they went too far they paid for this with their lives. It's only in the movies that they are shown to be silly.