An Open Letter to Madonna

Citizen

http://cit-i-zen.blogspot.com

October 9, 2008

Madonna Louise Ciccone-Ritchie

Somewhere in the UK

Or on tour in America

via the Internets

Dear Ms. Ciccone-Ritchie,

I read with dismay today about your recent on-stage diatribe, in which you used an extremely vulgar word to identify Alaska Governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. In the same article, I learned that you also recently compared Senator John McCain, the GOP presidential candidate, to Adolf Hitler.  

This is not easy to say. I know that a little piece of you dies for every moment you are not the center of global attention, and that it's hard for a onetime megacelebrity to watch the world pass her by, rendering her irrelevant despite failed attempt after failed attempt to maintain her clutch on notoriety. I have Jesse Jackson's cell number if you want someone to empathize with.  

But here is the truth: you are not helping. In fact, you're hurting the cause you seek to bolster with your hateful, ignorant words. In the real world, which you ceased to inhabit sometime around 1984, citizens do not look to entertainers for political wisdom. And there's good reason for that: for the most part they are wholly unqualified to be spouting off publicly about world affairs, despite the irresistible urge that must come from people constantly sticking microphones and tape recorders in their faces. 

Occasionally celebrities can devote themselves to public affairs enough to be regarded as voices of reason and even leaders. The late, great Paul Newman is one example. And, of course, Ronald Reagan parlayed his B-movie acting career into the presidency. But I feel bound to inform you, ma'am, that your quarter-century of doing little more than parading around in your underwear does not put you in this league. For you, publicly commenting on politics is about as laughable and desperate as the time you tried passing yourself off as a guitar playing singer-songwriter in the 90s, or that ridiculous British accent you've affected in the past few years.

So many of us wish you would stop. There are plenty more productive things you could be doing with your time and money. Take your kids on a nice vacation. Enjoy the English countryside. Meditate. Read books. Lecture about the significance of giant, metallic, cone-shaped bras to 20th Century feminism. If you simply can't relieve that creative itch, perhaps you could re-make that 80s film you did with Rosanna Arquette, but this time call it Desperately Seeking Anyone Who Will Pay Attention to Me.

Oh, yeah, and tell A-Rod no talking politics, either. 

Sincerely, 

Citizen