There we are marveling at the terrible floods in the Midwest, when Madonna springs onto the screen and forces us to consider her latest foray into exhibitionism. Ellen DeGeneres and Kathie Lee Gifford have also commandeered the news shows of late. Celebrities love to jump into moral and political debates to which they were not invited. Cher, Jack Nicholson and other stars believed their example had kept skiers out of the state. That illusion was shattered after the first decent snowfall created excellent conditions on the slopes.
Celebrities intrude on our democracy.
Some 40 percent of 1992 Grammy Award winners were invited to the inauguration. Intellectual institutions no longer offer asylum from celebrity attention seekers. Universities now invite TV news personalities, such as Connie Chung, to give their commencement addresses. Citizens wishing to evade celebrity pests have limited recourse. Go home, lock the door, pull down the shades.