Fame allows other voices to be heard

Theodore Dalrymple’s “Guided by the stars” (Opinion, May 20) is just one more tired rant against the evils of the entertainment industry. Dalrymple is dead wrong when he asserts, “Fame confers authority.” No, fame confirms a platform from which a celebrity like Bono can be heard. That doesn’t mean his audience has to agree with his “eminently disputable and deeply hypocritical” solutions to Africa’s problems. The point is, Bono helped make the world aware of Africa’s problems. Dalrymple is wrong when he says satire such as “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” “destroys the capacity or willingness for serious thought.” Satire encourages investigation and open dialogue about the world’s problems. Dalrymple should give more credit to a discriminating culture that can listen to celebrities and make its own decisions about how to react.

MICHAEL DUFFY

Simi Valley

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Dalrymple overlooks the fact that there are only two U.S. political parties that try to keep all other opinions out of the news. Recall that both parties refused to permit Ralph Nader to attend the presidential debates in 2000, and George W. Bush had few bona fides to recommend him in 2000. So when Bono says pain and suffering could be avoided by doing the right thing, he points out the obvious, but at least it’s news for a few seconds. If celebrity trivializes everything it touches, remember that you can’t get elected unless you have “good hair.”

KEVIN H. PARK

Woodland Hills

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Only someone who doesn’t watch “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” would think that Stewart doesn’t “take anything too seriously.” Behind the satire and wry smirk is a man who is deeply disturbed by what has happened in the last six years. It eases the pain a little to hear biting sarcasm from someone who shares my sense of outrage. In an age when the mainstream news outlets’ corporate ownership has rendered them toothless, political satire is more important than ever.

SHEA WOLFENDEN

Sherman Oaks

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Dalrymple writes that Bono’s authority on global poverty and Africa “arises from his celebrity, not from his knowledge.” I don’t think economist Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University professor with a doctorate from Harvard, asked Bono to write the foreword to his book, “The End of Poverty,” because he thought the rock star would take the wonkish edge off his academic credentials.

Dalrymple’s biggest mistake is his belief that knowledge is defined by whatever lofty information pundits such as himself have crammed into their minds. Bono has spent time in Africa with real people. He has heart knowledge. When we all use our heart as a guide, we will have found our way.

KAREN LINDELL

Camarillo