Celebs yet to unleash
avalanche of outrage
 BONNIE ERBE
 
 
 

It's not the media megamouth reaction (most of it unflatter- ing) to Linda Ronstadt's uncer- emonious escort from the stage in Las Vegas for praising Michael Moore's film and dissing the prez that got me started.     It's not comedian Whoopi Gold- berg's vulgar onstage rant against the commander in chief that beck- oned (vulgarity is a sign of inartic- ulateness, as far as I'm concerned --if you're angry and you can't think, curse).     It was instead, this tiding from Business Week Online that pro- voked unanswered questions:    "Not since the height of the  Vietnam War have so many actors, writers, artists, and musicians mo- bilized politically during an elec- tion year -- the vast majority of them against Bush. It's not just the usual liberal Hollywoodites, ei- ther, like Goldberg, Susan Saran- don, and Rob Reiner. Artists of every type are speaking out, from the hip-hoppers... to literary li- ons such as novelists Joyce Carol Oates and Jonathan Franzen to re- spected visual artists such as Matthew Barney and Cecily Brown."     Then the New York Times chimed in. Elton John recently	lamented what he called the loss of American protest music, saying, "People like Bob Dylan, Nina Si- mone, the Beatles and Pete Seeger were constantly writing and talk- ing about what was going on... that's not happening now." The Times shot back, saying there's no dearth of political protests among musicians these days. Instead, "artists are seeking reforms rather than radicalism out of a career- conscious fear." In other words, they are protesting, but quietly, in a more sophisticated, perhaps ef- fective way, online rather than out loud.     As a child of 1970's protests, I have been wondering for more than a year: Where is the outrage? That would be the outrage that spilled from our thoughts, onto our toungues, into our music and films and finally out into the streets 30 years ago spurred by pointless death in Vietnam. Today's outrage should have been conjured by al- most 1,000 American war dead in Iraq, tens of thousands seriously injured and a world arguably much less stable -- and more vulnerable ______________ They are protesting, but quietly, in more  sophisticated way. to terror strikes -- than before we invade Iraq for WMD that never existed.     An invasion that we were lied to about, and which has been horribly mishandled since its inception.     "Hanoi Jane" (a k a  Jane Fonda) and John Lennon and	. . . . . . . . .       . . . . Yoko Ono (with their honeymoon Bed-In for peace), Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, et al., may not have led the anti-war charge--like most social movements, its filtered up from the street, not down from the micro- phones and silver screens.  But they and all artist-politicians (shall we call them "parliticians"?) of the time were among the first ones over the fence. Are Ronstadt, Goldberg, Sir Elton, et al., about to lead a similar charge today? Not if it's up to the pro-war politicians who predictably tar parliticians with the label "unpatriotic." Then the hawks complain to corporate sponsors and try to whip them into submission by cutting off the	lifeblood: money.     Lastly, they resort to the usual charge: "Artists have no business in politics."     These days (as opposed to 30 years ago), artists have three words to shoot back: Schwarzenegger, Regan and Heston. In the 70's, artists were uniformly liberal, and artistas pursuits were considered poor training grounds for would-be politicians. Now both rules are passe.     Arnold Schwarzenegger not only broke all the the rules, he nuked them.     Is this artistic tidal wave (as confirmed by Business Week and the Times) the beginning of the tsunami of outrage I've been an-	ticipating? Will it spill onto the streets or is it the 21st century form more refined and visible only online (as in, moveon.org) and via check of money order (as in, the inundation of money De- mocrats have received this elec- tion cycle)?     President Bush will be the de- termining factor. If he and his handlers can somehow succeed in an election year transformation (into the unifier he promised to be instead of the deep divider he has become), he might be able to quell the foment. If not, that mini-riot in Vegas earlier this month may be mimicked and magnified many times over by the other side.