The Fault In Our Stars?
Or is their desire to change the world utterly admirable? Allow me to run the rule over a few examples...
Jane Fonda
Bee in bonnet: America’s military involvement in Vietnam.
Plan of action: Fonda visited Hanoi and was photographed manning US plane-destroying anti-aircraft artillery. Panned by the press and the military back home, ‘Hanoi Jane’ later publically apologised for her visit claiming, “It was the most horrible thing I could have done.”
Charlton Heston
Bee in bonnet: Too few US citizens having access to battlefield weaponry.
Plan of action: Believing in the ‘God-given right’ to own firearms, Heston was elected Vice-President of the National Rifle Association in 1997, and was re-elected in 1998. Shortly after the Columbine High School massacre, Chuck reaffirmed that “an armed society is a polite society.”
Ronald Reagan
Bee in bonnet: His non-occupancy of the White House.
Plan of action: The Bedtime For Bonzo star became president in 1980, then proved it wasn’t a fluke by getting re-elected in 1984. His additional ambition of beginning World War Three was thwarted by the dastardly Mikhail Gorbachev.
Brigitte Bardot
Bee in bonnet: Man’s cruelty towards our furry and feathered friends.
Plan of action: Setting up the Foundation Brigitte Bardot to promote animal rights - good. Becoming mates with the French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen - bad.
Audrey Hepburn
Bee in bonnet: The starving children of the world.
Plan of action: Quit acting in 1989 to serve as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations’ Children’s Fund. Her charitable endeavours further extended to playing a supporting role in Steven Spielberg’s Always.
Richard Gere
Bee in bonnet: China’s occupation of Tibet.
Plan of action: To make the Academy Awards ceremony (aka the world’s longest television show) that little bit longer by urging the audience to send “positive thoughts” to China.
Marlon Brando
Bee in bonnet: The high rates of infant mortality and alcoholism among Native American communities.
Plan of action: To send Sacheen Littlefeather - whose claims of Apache heritage continue to be questioned - on stage to refuse his Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather.
Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon
Bee in bonnet: The US government’s refusal to help AIDS-infected Haitian refugees.
Plan of action: Once again forcing the captive Oscar audience to listen to a passionate appeal when they’d rather be finding out who won Best Animated Short. Amazingly, the pair did make a difference.