One side of the face: “Who cares what Sheryl Crow says? She’s just a singer going around expressing her opinions in public, and nothing she says matters.”
The other side of the face: “Hey, did you hear what Sheryl Crow said? We have to pay attention to it, make a big deal out of it, and punish her for saying it!”
One other quick story about this.
I was talking to a friend about the Burke-Crow-Costas controversy, and how the Archibishop didn’t specifically tell Catholics they shouldn’t go to the Gala on Saturday night. Instead, he said he would leave it to “their conscience” to make that decision.
My friend (who is Catholic) said that’s the old Catholic guilt thing, essentially a message of “let it be on your head.” I told her that guilt is a little different in my upbringing. Being the son of a Jewish mother, I was more likely to hear, “Oh, you’re going to see Sheryl Crow, but you won’t come see me? Did Sheryl Crow carry you for nine months? Did Sheryl Crow ever cook you a nice dinner?”