Ben Affleck, 'Nightline' correspondent
If global charity is the hot trend for celebrities these days, then I'm glad Ben Affleck is in with the In Crowd. He came across as likable, apolitical, serious-minded, and wholly sincere on a special "Nightline" episode last night, in which he headlined a survey of atrocities in the war-ravaged Congo.
Yes, it's weird, in a faux-superhero sense, for celebrities to act as freelance peace ambassadors, but if the United Nations and the NGOs can't do much to help these people, why shouldn't a movie star give it a try? Affleck seemed hopelessly naive at times; he declared at one point that he was going to ask the country's most fearsome militia to just give up. But he was also well aware of the actual power he holds as a glittery spotlight-holder. If people "might not tune into this unless there was some celebrity involved in it," he said, "either because they're interested in the celebrity or because they want to see the celebrity kind of make a fool of themselves, you know, then so be it."
That's the wisdom of a man who has emerged intact from his not-so-distant J-Lo publicity nightmare, and chosen to use the forces of absurdity for international good. "Nightline" played it fairly cool, with the exception of Terry Moran's overexuberant introduction ("Now the people of the Congo have a surprising new advocate!"). The Affleck-led survey of the Congo was journalistic and heart-wrenching, and it's hard not to appreciate a guy who will play Kung Fu fighter with kids in a refugee camp. If he goes home in the comfort of his private jet and compares notes with Brad and Angelina by the pool, who are we to complain?
I am absolutely thrilled to be a witness to this heart touching active expression of true interest in others less fortunate, by someone whom has realized that he has all the means and the guts to make a real difference inside the hearts of people he cares about. Thank you Ben. Your surely working with Spirit.:-)
Where did he find the time in his burgeoning career to do this?
"He came across as likable, apolitical, serious-minded, and wholly sincere". Of course he did. But was he?
One has to remember that for a person to be successful in Mister Affleck's profession he or she must learn to show convincing emotions whether they actually feel those emotions or not. Actors and actresses are professional liars. They are well-paid by us, their audience, to make us respond to the pretended emotions of the character they are pretending to be on the screen or on the stage.
So how can we ever know when an actor or actress, Mister Affleck or any other, is showing us what they as human beings honestly feel or showing us the made-up emotions of a person they are pretending to be?
Journalistic members of the Infotainment Industry should show a more citicial eye when reporting on what Hollywood professional liars seem to feeling during a photo op.
God bless him for his charitable works, but to call him apolitical is bending the truth just a bit. I do like him and now admire him more for doing work such as he has done with Nightline, but with him I am now waiting for the other shoe to drop where he will embarrass himself by making this a political opportunity for himself and which ever candidate he is backing.
Thank you Mr. Affleck for your caring and support. God Bless You.
Umm.....do they even know who he is? He's a B list celeb. Like the effort, but I think he knows he will get nothing accomplished over there. So I think he's doing it for his own PR.
LOL. Where does he get the time to do this? That's all these stars have is TIME. Hello?
Ron Polubinski you are a twit! Ben Affleck is from Cambridge!
Knock it off with the sarcastic backhanded slaps. With these simple acts, Ben Affleck has done more to help a noble cause than many here will do over the course of their entire lives, sad to say. He is to be commended for his good work here and save the back biting comments for another venue.
Well done Ben - this is a great thing that you should be proud of.
And Mark - no one said that he was apolitical. Read it again - he CAME ACROSS as apolotical (ie - in this venue and in this instance - NOT overall).
Ben is a good guy with a good heart..............
I doubt if agenda had any roll in this....
I met him on the set of Gone Baby Gone and he was a sincere, decent human being.....
not a Hollywood [redacted] like the majority of his peers....
sometimes I think that people do things and say things.......,and type things,.... to belittle a person because they are renowned.....I say that as long as it is righteous and heading in a positive direction.............more power to you....Go Ben Go!
Go Ben Go!
I say....as long as it is righteous
Dear Ron,
As an actor, I must say that your assumptions about "what actors do" are really pretty far off base. Any good modern acting text (Adler, Meisner, Stanislavsky, etc.) will tell you that good actors are rarely being "professional liars" (possible exception with the hamming ploys of Shatner, etc.) - in fact, they're doing quite the opposite. Actors try their best to bring as much of themselves and their genuine personalities and emotions to their characters, so that the work comes off as genuine. And audiences, for the most part, see when this is done well.
Though this is by no means an assessment of Affleck's acting chops, I find it completely honorable and praiseworthy that he would make use of his influence as a celebrity to help others whose lot is life is so severely disproportioned to his. I mean, regardless of whether or not he was actually "feeling" the emotion captured on the camera (and I didn't see the special, so can't comment on his "believability"), in a sense, who cares? The man was there in the first place.
Ad I don't know why the assumption that all celebrities are concerned solely with their public image is so popular - allegedly, shouldn't those who dedicate their lives to creativity be even MORE attuned to compassion than others? Not all artists subscribe to this, certainly, but for those who do - please, let's congratulate them, not try to knock them down. Wouldn't we all be over there helping out the less fortunate if we had the opportunity to do some good?
Cheers!
Ben is from Cambridge! Ben is our homeboy! Ben is genuine, a talented actor, writer, director. Ben can't & will never ever be like some of the hollywood superficials even though he may come across othewise to many. Great work Ben and Good Luck! and when you have a break do stop by at 412917N 711845W / 41.488002, -71.312622 and we'll have a lobstah feast for yah. God Bless.
What a stoy last night. It pulled on my heart strings, how can people be treated like that. We need to get envolved, we just needed someone like Ben to open our eyes and see what's happening there. Truely ,Truely, heart breaking!!
The cynical reactions are common for famous people committing acts of kindness. Why always attach suspicions? Ben is a sincere actor who was, however temporarily, wrapped up in a J-Lo frenzy. Give it up. He has done good work, continues to challenge himself in new ways, and has demonstrated a real desire to explore new avenues. Give him credit. Let's play nice, people. Encourage positive change in whatever way each one of us might contribute.
I thought the reporting was well done and sincere. This is use of celebrity for a good reason.
i think its good what ben does
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