Natalie Portman

[speciousreasoning]

I have no actual opinion about Natalie Portman. I saw all the Star Wars movies she was in and thought she was scary wooden. But perhaps that was the plan.
However, I would like to jump into the Israel debate with gusto. She is avoiding her duty to her country. EVERYONE goes into the IDF at the age of 18 and men stay in for three years, women for two. Longer if they specialize into the Air Force, Intelligence, etc. Unless of course one is Hassidic. Hassidic Jews are normally ultra Orthodox therefore they refuse to serve in any army. And yes, anyone who can prove a little Jewish blood can become an Israeli citizen. Interestingly in a lot of cases, one can keep their citizenship in the US and some other countries.
I have been to Israel and have several contacts there. Most Israeli citizens whether they claim pacifism or whatever still serve in the IDF because it is simply their duty to their country. Someone like Natalie Portman would be considered completely useless by pretty much every single person I know over there.

(By the way, if you want to have an absolute fun vacation, go over to Israel. Talk about a bunch of fun people, Palestinian and Israeli both. Makes one look at the spin every news station uses in a completely different way. But avoid the Palestinian run areas - talk about total shitholes and a way to risk your life in a really stupid way.)

[loulou]

ETA This pretty much has been posted before, I've read the thread but it's been a while.


I found these conflicting mentions about her dodging the draft:

"The interview is not fake"

But then the host of the show read the following response from the Israeli Army Press Secretary - "Since Miss Portman left Israel before the age of 15 with her family, she is exempt from the draft. Any summons she might have received is void."

"The interview is fake"

The actress Natalie Portman was recently quoted in Yediot Achronot, Israel’s largest daily paper, as saying that she had ignored a call-up she received last year from the Israeli army. Ms. Portman, who was born in Israel and visits there frequently, is further quoted as saying that after an "inner battle," she decided not to report for duty.

But according to the New York Post’s Page Six on March 17, a spokeswoman for the actress is denying that the interview ever took place and calling the quotes a fabrication. The spokeswoman, Kelly Bush, added that Ms. Portman never received a draft notice and is exempt from service.

In both cases they claim that she would not even be drafted because she left Israel so early. Well, the second one doesn't clarify why she would be exempt.

[spider]

Maybe a lot of her pretentious comments and annoyingly "impressive" vocabulary is her attempt to live up to her (publicist's) image as the Harvard genius.

Dude she majored in psychology/ I don't mean to bash any psychologists here but there's a reason you need a graduate degree to work in the field. It's a very general degree at the undergrad level and it's not like she published any papers on neuroscience while she was there. Now getting a degree in physics while having another career? that's impressive as hell. And time consuming.

As for the fame thing, I think Harvard would accept Britney Spears if she applied.

[queequeg]

It could have been worse though because at least psychology is a science (although some people may debate that) so it would have been more rigorous than doing something like english.

I definitely agree that she seems to be trying a little too hard to make everyone believe that she's actually some kind of genius.

[evicat]

It could have been worse though because at least psychology is a science (although some people may debate that) so it would have been more rigorous than doing something like english.

As someone with a BA in English, I'd like to point out that an English major is not less "rigorous" than a science major. The liberal arts and the hard sciences as two completely different fields of study that require completely different, yet equally difficult, sets of skills.

[Deleted]

I have a BA in English too, and I'm sorry that you don't find an English degree to be "rigorous," but you are completely wrong and that is very offensive.

[topher]

Getting any college degree is not easy and also no one degree is better than another so stop that conversation.

Unless of course, you have a Econ degree like me and that just trumps everything. ;D

[rosetta]

In general, I don't doubt she's pretty book-smart. But I also wouldn't classify her as anything higher than average/above-average in terms of intelligence levels. Pretension levels on the other hand....

[jen808]

For someone who's supposedly some kind of genius, she's pretty vacuous. Jodie Foster's pretty bright, too, but I don't hear her teeling everyone within earshot how smart she is.

[loulou]

An interesting picture from the set of V for Vendetta. Some of her male fans' dreams came true, I'm sure.