It’s that time again.
Time for me to get a little bit miffed at all the self-congratulatory smuggishness coming from certain circles. I wrote a week and a half ago about how irritated I was with Pat Robertson’s semi-senile ravings about how God called down wrath upon Haiti and those poor people were wallowing in their just desserts.
Well, with every major tragedy there is always a flip side to the Robertson Raving. And that flipside is the Celebrity Help Me Help Them Self-Celebration. It always drives me just as nuts as Robertson’s craziness, but I always feel more alone. Because while Robertson has everyone point and laugh and say “look at the silly old man/stupid Christian”, the various Glamourshots crowd gets the warm love of general acclaim. I can’t turn around in my web browser today without reading praise for Clooney, praise for other celebrities and praise for the generous people who gave to Clooney’s telethon.
Now I know non-Christians are not bound by the same command from Jesus I am. It doesn’t matter if they do their works of righteousness publicly to be admired by others, because I don’t think they were necessarily expecting to receive a reward from the Heavenly Father later. But it still always rings creepily false to me when I see someone send out a press release for how awesome their telethon was and how much it raised. Especially when they are also a contender for an Acadamy Award and want to get their name out there in front of the voters.
Yes, I’m cynical. But 30 years of watching self-congratulation will do that to a person.
Just Another Pretty Farce 
you aren’t alone in this line of thinking. I refuse to watch self-congratulatory television programming too. When someone cures AIDS or Cancer, they’ll deserve a statuette & a pat on the back.
I tend to be more of the mindset that the live saved by a donation made during self-congratulatory tv program doesn’t really care where the money saved it came from, nor who gets the credit.
Ya know, I also have personal and religious discomfort with someone (for example) putting out a press release about how much money s/he has raised for charity. But I am not a fundraiser. And I understand that fundraisers consider this kind of publicity a part of the fundraising process — the more the amounts already given are publicized, the more some people will give even more. So I’m willing to cut people some slack over it, though it grates.