Table of Contents
Introduction vii
Chapter 1 When the Best of Intentions Go Horribly Wrong 1
Live Aid: The Disaster Relief That Was Itself a Disaster 7
Chapter 2 How Celebrities Made a Natural Disaster Worse 13
Money Pitt 14
When Oprah Met Katrina 16
You Get a House! 19
I'll Be There for You 22
Chapter 3 The Rise of Conservatism and the Fall of Empathy 24
Liberal Politics Is Built on Empathy, Conservative Politics Is Built on Logic 27
Conservatives in Hollywood: Who Are They? 30
Some That Will Surprise You 32
Conservatives Hiding in Plain Sight 35
Chapter 4 When Celebrities Fail, Do Their Causes and Products Follow? 40
Lance Armstrong 45
Bill Cosby 48
Britney Spears 51
Chapter 5 Why We Treat Celebrities as Experts 54
The Celebrity Pseudo-Expert 56
Tom Cruise and Psychiatry 59
Katy Perry 62
Gwyneth Paltrow 63
So…Why Do We Think Celebrities Are Experts? 67
Chapter 6 The Loudest Tweets 69
Paid to Post 72
Celebrity Tweeters, Who Are You? 72
Do Celebrities Influence Us on Twitter or Not? 76
Decision Dominators vs. Logic Annihilators 79
Chapter 7 The Celebrity Politician 83
The Celebrity Senators, Governors, Mayors, and Presidents 83
Why Republican Celebrities Are Better at Getting Votes 86
A Face for Television 90
Chapter 8 How Celebrities Are Setting the Global Humanitarian Agenda 94
How Robin Wright Was Wrong 97
Did Sting Ever Save the Rainforest? 101
Why Celebrity Activism Rarely Changes the World 104
Chapter 9 The Education of Kim Kardashian 108
Kim's Multimillion-Dollar Business Is Now Her Advocacy 113
Kim Kardashian Goes to Washington…Again 116
Second Chance Hiring and Reentry Event 118
Kanye West, His MAGA Hat, and Star Wars 119
Her Ever-Changing Views 122
The Science of Kim Kardashian 124
Conclusion 126
About the Author 132
