Celebrity Appeal and Propaganda

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen

The other day, Stormie Waters was frustrated with her gold prospecting efforts and ventured up past Stinking Lake (which is not as bad as the name implies) and up into Deception Pass. Somehow she avoided the Winkie Guards and drew near to the Darwin Ranch. Then she overheard Rusty Swingset telling the hands that they need to step up their propaganda game — using celebrities.

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I'll allow that we gravitate toward people who think like us (and Christians are commanded to have teaching and fellowship with other believers, but it seems that we seek out celebrity endorsements a bit less than other people.) Having someone famous who is on your side has a greater impact. You can find listings of famous atheists in history and the media, and lists of creation scientists and other scientists who disagree with Darwinism can be found. People of varied interests find influential people who share their interests.

Propaganda and Persuasion

The word propaganda is not necessarily a dirty word, but it has strong negative connotations. Advertising is a kind of propaganda to persuade people to use a product or service. Propaganda has been used during wars to help improve the morale of the populace and the military, and is used to discourage the enemy. 

Unfortunately, a great deal of propaganda for leftist political purposes, global climate change, evolutionism, and other things is deceptive. Misquotes are used with impunity and pertinent information is omitted in order to deceive people. I reckon that propagandists know that people are unable or unwilling to think critically, preferring to "think" with their emotions, so they swallow the lies and succumb to manipulation — all the while believing they were reaching their own conclusions through reason.

Celebrity Influence — It Should Not Matter

Really, who cares? Thinking people should not be influenced by the opinions of people in the arts. (Ever notice that movie and rock stars as well as others in arts-related fields are usually leftists and others who reject biblical authority?) Rock star Alice Cooper (Vincent Furnier) bluntly said, "f you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal."

Like rockers, film stars are not exactly known for being experts in foreign policy, climatology, or economics. To use a phrase from Chris Plante, they "play dress up and make believe". Actors generally do not have time for more intellectual pursuits. A well-known advertisement for a cough syrup used an actor who played a doctor on a soap opera telling us to use that product, but he was not a real doctor. This was an implied appeal to authority. Just stop and think when you're influenced by that actor in the latest hit movie about comic book heroes brought to life.

Celebrities are not exactly known as role models for morality, and a presuppositional apologist would like to ask someone making declarations, "What makes this policy or person you're condemning bad (or good) according to your hedonistic worldview? What is your ultimate standard of morality?"' What we all could do (when we get a notion to using our think bones) is consider those questions ourselves when a celebrity is pontificating.

Making the Stars

While many celebrities get attention the usual way (film attendance, album sales, and so on), others have their status inflated. Atheists have their "rock stars" that owe their popularity to the web, and others are poor philosophers that sell books to other atheists who seek support for their existing anti-Christian bigotry. It baffles me why Clinton Richard Dawkins is an "expert" on religion when he is a materialistic scientist and has no formal training in theology. Celebrity atheists sell books, give lectures, and make big money hating God, though, experts or not.

Evolutionary and atheistic icons receive hero worship that is largely undeserved. Charles Darwin is touted as a "great scientist", but when we point out that his only formal education was in theology, not science, his disciples get a mite obstreperous. In the same way, Bill Nye is sought after for his views on atheism, evolutionism, and climate change. When shown that he is a former comedian that became a television actor, not a scientist, and a propagandist for leftist causes (like abortion, global warming, evolution, etc.), his admirers tend to go ballistic. Indeed, Nye used fake, outdated science and bad logic in his debate with Ken Ham, and Answers in Genesis provided many articles refuting his ignorance. 

If you read about propaganda used by Nazis, Mao, the Soviet Union, and so on, you will see the cult of personality approach is used to inflate the celebrity status of those in power. People were persuaded by posters, leaflets, broadcasts, and testimonies of how wonderful their leaders were. You do want to please Our Leader, don't you? Think of how badly you would feel if you let him down, boy howdy! Fear was a big part of this because people who displeased those in power were made to go away, which also helped the propaganda.

Christians tend to get a few sensational claims from celebrities to prove their points. It puts a burr under my saddle when people misquote Uncle Albert (Einstein), for instance, when as a student he puts an atheistic teacher in his place. The account is fictional, and Einstein did not hold to any semblance of Christianity. Some of us have passed around things without checking on their validity, presumably with some sort of celebrity appeal. This only gives misotheists additional excuses to ridicule us.

The basis for our thinking is the Word of God, not sensationalism or the opinions of famous people who ride for the secularist brand. God gave us minds and expects us to use them. People are not converted to Christ through celebrities, that is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Thinking for Ourselves

Don't get me wrong, it's interesting and even fun when a famous person shows up in the studio or at a gathering to lend support to a cause. It's even better when they have knowledge of the subject they are supporting. But be very careful about being swayed by emotional appeal. "Fiona Famousgirl supports this, so I should too because I adore Fiona". Wrong.

I may write an article on this sometime, but I believe that we are ripe for a dictatorship. Study on it a bit and see that people do not think logically, are easily manipulated by celebrities and false authority figures, and are driven by their emotions. (The Antichrist could easily harness all that, but I'm not going to turn this into an eschatology article.) What can we do?

For one thing, take Mr. Newhart's advice and stop it. Get up on the hill for the bigger picture and reason things through. Is there any reason to care what some famous person thinks about a subject, especially if they are opposed to our values? Not hardly!

This article was inspired by another that I am going to recommend. I'd be obliged if you'd read "Can evolutionists use celebrities to brainwash the public?"