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"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners and if we kick them all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts … This instinct to humiliate when it's modeled by someone in the public ... by someone powerful, it filters down into everyone's life because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same." Actor Meryl Streep
(A bit of a double standard when she did same thing? And for the record Scott Coker, an MMA promoter and fighter, invited Streep to an upcoming event in Los Angeles so she can see "that Mixed Martial Arts is truly artistic.")
 

“Why do actors think they're so God damn important? They're not. Acting is not an important job in the scheme of things. Plumbing is.” – Actor Spencer Tracey
(Old Hollywood vs New Hollywood?)
 

"The attention we get (as actors) is completely disproportionate to our importance. But we're not getting attention because we are important. We're getting attention because what we happen to do is widely broadcast." – Actor Colin Firth
(Bingo! The platform is everything)
 

“Why would I ever get cocky? I'm not saving anybody's life. There are doctors who save lives and firemen who run into burning buildings. I'm making movies. It's stupid.” - Actor Jennifer Lawrence
(Well, perhaps not stupid but a honed perspective on service to society.)

A diversity of “opinions” – so, who is right or righteous and who is wrong?

It is perspective time. When it comes down to actors and politics, they certainly have the right just like everyone else to express their political/social opinions. Depending upon which side of the political fence you sit, you might feel supported and uplifted by what they say OR totally disgusted and revolted that they would be spouting such arrogant accolades.  In most cases, differences of opinion are accepted and not given much after-thought but, these are exceptional times when change is not an easy pill to swallow.

If you are finding yourself overwhelmed by the everyday surprises that have accompanied politics of late, you might want to step back, take a breath and consider:

• Defining the actual situation (as it really is with no fluff)
• Your mood and temperament in response to the situation (be honest as this is between you and you!)
• How other people involved affect you. This includes your family, friends and social circles such as Facebook and any outsiders such as commentators on news programs and the media.

Here is a good view of why change affects us from http://lifehacker.com presented by Adam Dachis – quoted:

“Any time we are confronted by an event that is inconsistent with our core beliefs, we will likely feel some level of stress. In fact, a long-used psychometric for measuring stress is the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale. Most of the items on this scale represent a change in a person's life that is known to lead to some amount of stress … The important thing to keep in mind is that there is a continuum between "positive" and "negative" so not all changes are easily codified as good or bad. In fact, other psychological factors (such as one's temperament, mood, and global IQ) can affect how a person codifies a change along the positive-negative continuum … Because new information bothers our brains, we tend to find friends and form groups that reinforce our beliefs—whether they're correct or not. When many people agree, it's easy to discount the opinions of others in the face of undeniable logic. This occurs because of a phenomenon known as the illusion of asymmetric insight.”

Further, according to writer David McRainey:

“The illusion of asymmetric insight makes it seem as though you know everyone else far better than they know you, and not only that, but you know them better than they know themselves. You believe the same thing about groups of which you are a member. As a whole, your group understands outsiders better than outsiders understand your group, and you understand the group better than its members know the group to which they belong.”

And on and on it goes. The bottom line is that each of us is responsible for our own selves. We can choose to be gullible and lazy or we can embrace the new changes that are upon us and use discernment when choosing our battles. It is very unlikely we could really “change” anyone else for, “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” – Benjamin Franklin

Our public words tend to live after us. Choose them wisely and that includes Hollywood.