Al Franken is now a US Senator (or Why I hate Sean Penn)

Congratulations Minnesota...

... this is your new Senator.

Politics aside, I suppose Al Franken is perfectly suitable to serve as a United States Senator. He graduated cum laude from Harvard with a degree in political science and has been a best selling author and political pundit for over a decade. He acquired fame as a successful comedian on Saturday Night Live and was able to parlay that fame into a successful career post comedy. (Although the fact that he is a liberal blow hard with his head jammed up his ass when it comes to polite political discourse is pretty comical.) But I have to say that I am disappointed in Minnesotans for electing someone with no actual policy making experience to represent them. I mean, we should be able to expect better from... oh... right.

Of course I don't mean to imply that just because someone does not have a background in politics per se does not mean that they can't be effective leaders and become successful and helpful politicians. No, my concern is more so that we live in a society where fame is often times associated with intelligence and integrity. Just because someone is capable of reading lines off of a script or can sell a million copies of an album, does not mean that they are any more capable of forming an opinion than you or me. Unfortunately, the status that society bestows on these individuals gives them a false sense of entitlement to share these opinions.

Now, I happen to be of a conservative mindset so this may seem biased, but for the sake of example I have to use a liberal, elitist, Hollywood type to make my point. He has no one to blame but himself, however, because like most hypocritical Hollywood douchebags, he happens to identify as, shall we say, a mind numbingly retarded narcissist who possesses no real grip on reality which could afford him even remotely relateable experiences before speaking out on policies affecting the rest of this and other countries.

Sean Penn thinks that he is (conservatively) a billion times more important than he actually is. Penn epitomizes the "I'm rich, and people know my name, therefore I am important" attitude that permeates our country. Let's take a look at some of the more ridiculous stunts that Penn has pulled over the course of the last several years.

In an appallingly ironic and hypocritical appearance in 2008, Penn spoke at a rally for Ralph Nader and decried the fact that third parties in the United States are largely ignored in the political process. He is apparently not self aware enough to realize that the only real reason he gets to spout his ridiculous political agenda is because he has been afforded privilege after privilege specifically because of his celebrity status. I don't hear him offering up support for conservative America when their voice is overshadowed by pompous douchebags from Hollywood screaming about the evil Republican Party. Face it, the disenfranchised in America are really those poor Hollywood stars who can only do so much.

Apparently living in a country that elected a president like George W. Bush was just too much for Penn to bear. He took his considerable resources in 2002 and posted a full page ad in the (where else) Washington Post taking the Bush administration to task for basically having a different political philosophy than him. That's right, Sean Penn: actor/activist, took a full page ad out in a newspaper to bitch about the Bush administration's policies and the president himself because he just knew in his heart that they were criminals and needed to be held accountable. He then returned a call to Nader and cried about how it's not fair that everyone's voice in America does not get to be heard. (That may or may not be true, of course.)

My "favorite" part about the whole newspaper ad is how it has been used to promote anti-American sentiment around the globe. Penn's tirade was used by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to ferment this sentiment in his own country. Oh yeah, then Penn went and visited with him giving him the type of acceptance and approval that only a self absorbed douchebag like Penn could provide. You see, Chavez's political leaning are socialist and, like those of most liberals in the United States, are really only practical in theory. To them it is much better to seem better than to actually be better.

I started off writing this to lament the fact that Al Franken is going to represent Minnesota as a United States Senator. I quickly realized, however, that the reason I was so pissed that he's going to be a Senator is because he has a drastically different political philosophy than I. There's nothing wrong with disagreeing with someone, and it would unfair to suggest that just because he happens to be famous somehow disqualifies him from making what he considers to be sound, intelligent decisions thus becoming an effective United States Senator. What I realized that I resented was what Penn embodies: the ability for a celebrity to use their considerable resources and influence over the weak minded to jam a poorly conceived political philosophy down the throats of anyone who will listen.