Is it wise or foolish for an entertainer to express personal political views or philosophies to their audience during their show acts?
It depends. In some instances, it helped Late Night Show Entertainers to temporarily increase their viewership audiences. In the future though, it may server to decrease viewership as a Variety article appears to indicate.
One thing for certain though, there is a risk that by doing so, there may occur a negative psychology association that may never be forgotten in time by an audience viewer.
Many people pay to watch r entertainment to forget their daily routines, anxiety’s, and relax and not want to be reminded about divisive politics. The viewer may resent listening or being reminded about divisive politics especially if they do not agree with the entertainer’s view.
Psychology of Association
Association in psychology refers to a mental connection between concepts, events, or mental states that usually stems from specific experiences.
King Solomon
2:22 What does a man acquire from all his labor and from the anxiety that accompanies his toil on earth?
2:23 For all day long his work produces pain and frustration, and even at night his mind cannot relax! This also is futile!
3:1 For everything there is an appointed time, and an appropriate time for every activity on earth:
3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
3:5 A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
3:12 I have concluded that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to enjoy themselves as long as they live,
3:13 and also that everyone should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in all his toil, for these things are a gift from God.
What’s My Point?
My daughter enjoys Billy Joel and goes to his concerts. Out of curiosity, I read up on Billy Joel and enjoyed his viewpoint that he “makes a conscious effort to avoid discussingpolitics in public because he sees himself as an entertainer, first andforemost, and doesn’t think it’s appropriate to tell people what to think.”
In My Opinion,
Based on King Solomon’s above proverbs, Billy Joel is wise not to express his personal political opinions during his entertainment acts.
Entertainers have First Amendment Rights, but as the proverb advises, there is “an appropriate time for everything under the sun.”
Offending any member in an audience who pays to see a performer, is not wise in the long run, in my opinion.
If Interested
Read the Articles in the Source Links Below.
You Decide
Performers who express their personal political opinions during a non-related entertainment performance, wise or foolish?
If you became a “victim” of their interjected political views when you paid or invested your time to see them perform, will you be offended, and/or will they lose a fan, because of your “negative psychological association.”
Regards and good will blogging.
Source Links
Psychology Association
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_(psychology)
Billy Joel
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jun/15/billy-joel-on-staying-out-of-politics-were-more-li/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_time
Late Night Shows Changing, Variety
Humor tends to reflect society and that includes a measure of politics because politics is typically the “shroud” of government that’s common to all of us. Trump had managed to foment the nation’s divisiveness and this has indeed manifested itself in humor.. especially late night humor. I will admit, in my life of watching late night personages of all types the anti-Trump being presented by all the late nighters is pretty amazing. Now, whether they are “foolish” or not in recognizing some social change in what TV viewers want to see as humor on late night TV is up to their networks in reviewing the viewer demographics. Late night will adapt as it always has.
In the same vein, comedians should simply just do what makes them successful and continue to get a paycheck. If Billy Joel chooses not to be political, then that works for him or not. Seth, Colbert, etc. will change their routines if viewers begin to shift. It’s more like a “so what” thing to me.
Now.. this idea that “people want escapism from reality” for their comedy… well, some do. They will feed the comics who choose not to be political. I can only answer for myself. I am passionate about the damage Trump is doing to the country because of his wide range of incompetence. This bothers me 24/7… of course not that I can’t function in life…. but it’s very much a part of me on a daily basis because I’m an American. I personally do not want to for one moment to presume I need some “escapism” to mask what Trump is doing. But political humor does allow me to keep my bearings. I relish the late night guys. But.. that’s just me.
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Interesting. I guess Shakesphere saying, Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. It’s your time and money to use, or waste, depending on your eyes.
Frankly, I enjoyed Johnny Carson for 35 years and turned off Colbert in 35 seconds.
Will be interesting to see how long Colbert lasts.
Regards and goodwill blogging
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I never watched Colbert.. his old show,,, until he started in on Trump. 🙂
The thing to remember about Carson is that his show spanned decades of politics and most of that the network censures had control of regarding content that was specific against a sitting president. Exactly was the case when CBS (Johnson?) forced the Smother Brothers off the air because of being so anti-war and anti-Johnson… and it’s exactly the reason Laugh-In was so popular.. it was anti-war and very political in its day.
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I’ve seen Billy Joel live twice… He is a great entertainer! Keeping politics out of it… Smart. Another reason to love the amazing Billy Joel!
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Thanks for your comment. In my opinion, there is a lot more to life and entertainment than politics.
Regards and good will blogging,
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Thanks for your comment. In my opinion, there is a lot more to life and entertainment than politics.
Regards and good will blogging,
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