Response to Ben Stein Online Column: Is Ben Holding His Telescope Backwards?

My brother-in-law provoked me. He pointed to an online column by former White House political speech writer turned comedian and commentator, Ben Stein. Ben was complaining that stars didn't deserve such adulation, they weren't, after all, true heroes. That point of view was so antitetical to my own opinions on the subject it prompted the following response.

And I thought I was either going to sleep or going back to work tsk, tsk, tsk.

Ah, well, you struck a chord with me.

I have GREAT respect for Ben Stein and his accomplishments.

I consider HIM a star. Indeed I chuckled quietly to myself as I heard his voice coming from my living room just this afternoon.

Maggie, my wife, was watching Ferris Beuller's Day Off on some movie channel, and Ben had his great turn as the boring high school teacher in it.

The man is a very bright guy. I assume he has a much better memory than I do, because in the few times I watched him on "Win Ben Stein's Money" he beat me pretty consistently with the final set of answers, and I could tell that a lot of it was him figuring out what the right answer was, not just always dredging it up from his memories.

He's a very quick wit, and has often made me laugh.

I tend not to agree with his political thinking most of the time, but that doesn't mean I don't maintain him in high esteem and continue to have great respect for him.

Still, in this instance, I think he has missed the point.

Stars aren't the same as "heroes" and he seems to want them to be both. Now, somewhere back in the back of Ben's mind that may mean that he wants his movie starts to fulfill more of the role that Marion ... er, I mean John Wayne, did for him in his youth. A combination of hero image along with the "importance" of a movie star. But I think he is wrong to discount the accomplishments of himself and others who have become famous for their work in the movies. It is still work. The quality of that work is usually exceptionally good work to be paid like and thus get treated like a "star". And the service it performs for the world in general is perhaps not as life and death crucial to the moment as one who prevents an accident or performs a life saving operation, but it is a service that is just as vital to society. That small contribution of a smile, a laugh, opening eyes to a new perspective, prying open reluctant minds to accept opposing points of view, are multiplied by the thousands, or hundreds of thousands, or in some cases, like television and movie stars, millions and even billions of people. Sometimes that starlet appearing on Bob Hope's stage in front of the troops in Afghanistan may be the only glimpse of home and beauty that those thousand of young man may see all month, or even all year. It may not seem like much but it means the world to them. I am not all that fond of Bob Hope's "my country right or righter" kind of attitude, and his comparitive glorification of war through his unflagging support of "our troops", but that's not to say I don't appreciate that both he and the troops are doing their best to do what they believe is "right" for all of us back home too.

The contribution to society made by a "star" also doesn't have to be the only ray of hope for miles or months either. Someone who stumbles upon a re-broadcast of "It's a Wonderful Life" a few days after her brother has died within a year of her father having died, could very well "see the light" to go forth another day, to make a positive difference in her world rather than turn from morose to suicidal thus ending it all. It may not be that plainly inspirational either. The tiny twinkle of starlight that serves as an beacon might even just be the memory (as one of mine is) of a terrible play in Hollywood (yes, live theatre in Hollywood, it does exist) that was simply TERRIBLE yet it was the best work she could manage to produce at the time, and if it wasn't for her dogged persistence, we might never have had the award winning caliber of her performance in My Cousin Vinnie from Marisa Tomei. That awful play and Marisa's "best work" still inspires me to keep writing and working on my "craft" when prospects of my ever achieving the recognition or success I am striving for seem bleak indeed.

I know that sometimes I seem like my own worst enemy in the field of writing. I have allowed myself to become distracted from pursuing a publisher (and/or agent) for my children's book, to create what was supposed to be a "treatment" or a proposal for a book on physics. I got the proposal stuff done, but now I've become obsessed with getting the book done (it should be short, hey, how much can I contribute to the field of physics) but I am now on Chapter 5 and flying low and slow. I am, however making real progress.

So, anyway, I think you should drop old Ben a note. Tell him "stars" are important, and keeping up with them is important to us who care about them. Oh, and by the way, didn't he see the recent extended interview with Brad Pitt, and how he was all excited about the eye-opening, life-changing things that Angelina Jolie showed him in Africa (get your mind out of the gutter). She was showing him some of the "micro-credit" miracles that got me so excited a few years back. How communities of women become a sort of "ad hoc" credit union for their neighbors and co-sponsor borrowing to establish family enterprises that transform families from starving refugees to prosperous small business people. She showed him some of the straight charitable work, and work on water development projects to help create more sustainable agriculture. Let Ben do a little more of that himself, and more prominent promotion for those like Brad and Angelina who are doing this save the world stuff, and he'll be far more useful than just trying to set up a small one-on-one small scale chartible organization of his own.

And I promise this will NOT be my last online column or commentary. I'm going to keep shooting my mouth off until someone else shoots it off to shut me up. So there.

Love,

Stafford "Doc" Williamson