Do You Really Care What Bruce Springsteen Thinks? [POLL]

When the George Zimmerman verdict was announced, many celebrities and athletes took to Twitter to voice their opinions. Some like Victor Cruz, tried to take them back. Others like Bruce Springsteen took to the stage to not only voice their displeasure, but sing about it.

I think when a celebrity goes public with an opinion, it’s not only to let you know how they feel but to try to influence you as well. I also think some do it to enhance their brand which makes them money. Some, like Springsteen believe so much in their views that they write songs about them. Bruce comes from an era where rock stars influenced their generation. John Lennon, in a Rolling Stone interview, talked about how getting involved with various causes affected his music.

"It almost ruined it, in a way. It became journalism and not poetry. And I basically feel that I'm a poet. Even if it does go ba-deeble, eedle, eedle, it, da-deedle, deedle, it. I'm not a formalized poet, I have no education, so I have to write in the simplest forms usually. And I realized that over a period of time - and not just 'cause I met Jerry Rubin off the plane - but that was like a culmination. I realized that we were poets but we were really folk poets, and rock & roll was folk poetry - I've always felt that. Rock & roll was folk music. Then I began to take it seriously on another level, saying, "Well, I am reflecting what is going on, right?" And then I was making an effort to reflect what was going on. Well, it doesn't work like that. It doesn't work as pop music or what I want to do. It just doesn't make sense. You get into that bit where you can't talk about trees, 'cause, y'know, y'gotta talk about 'Corruption on Fifty-fourth Street'! It's nothing to do with that. It's a bit larger than that.”

When a singer gives his opinion, it’s either in their music which comes out every couple of years or an interview which comes out to promote the music. Today, thanks to social media we’re influenced by everyone every minute of the day. We get opinions coming at us left and right from everybody everywhere. Which ones do we listen to?

This brings up a chicken egg question that I’d like to run by you because it came up at a dinner I had with a close friend last Sunday. I argued that people, like sheep, will butt into the opinion of those they are fans of. I argued the experience of working with different hosts and having listeners spit back the hosts opinions to me when we’d meet. He argued that people form their own opinions, then gravitate to the celebrity who agrees with them.

Which do you think it is?