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SOCIETY AND LIFESTYLE 

Some of the American women who are highly respected worldwide based upon their published work, literary value, courage and sociological endeavors

    

M                             Margaret Mitchell      Margaret Mead                  Emma Lazarus                             Sarah Bernhardt                   Amelia Earhart

In 1984, while still living in the United States, I wrote a book :”The Best of Washington: The Social Register of the Most Influential People and Establishments in the United States” after having conducted polls, interviewed approximately 20, 000 people from all walks of life and religiously observed and followed major social, cultural and political events in America. One of the major findings of the research ascertained that social status in America is deeply and profoundly established upon the magnitude and “elasticity” of the financial power of an individual. Academic credentials and lineage did not necessarily play a major role in adhering social prestige to the persona and social rank of a citizen. Money came first! Today in 2004, the name of the game remained virtually unchanged.

Photo: The late Imperial Majesty Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiary, former Empress of Iran. After divorcing the Shah and loosing her throne, she starred in a motion picture directed by the Italian filmmaker Franco Indovina who died in a plane crash in 1972. Soraya herself died at her flat in Paris in 2001. She was considered by many as one of the prettiest women in the world. From an Empress to an actress.

 

 

Foreigners are astonished and confused to see, for example, a former judge, a former prosecutor, a former speaker of the house, a former senator advertising a product on TV, working as a TV anchor or a radio/TV talk show host. To them, those Americans have lowered the social and intellectual level of prominence and respectability in a civilized society. Foreigners are strongly convinced that Americans “will do anything for a buck”. In Europe and almost 98% of the world, it is unconceivable that a former judge will leave the bench to become a TV show host such as Fox News judge Napolitano and TV Court Catherine Crier, or a former prosecutor and noted lawyer such as Nancy Grace who became a TV commentator and the host of a talk show. Equally astonishing to them is to see the former speaker of the house, Tip O’Neil advertising a product on TV, doing commercials and allowing the commercial director to take pictures of him, getting out of a buried trunk and flashing the endorsed product!! The worst illustrative and living example is Ron Reagan Jr., who instead of embarking on a meaningful profession in politics and public service, he is doing dog shows on Animal Planet!