During his Academy Award acceptance speech in February, social activist and actor Sean Penn stood on his proverbial soapbox, pulled down his pants and dropped yet another self-righteous deuce on the American people.Fortunately, Americans have subconsciously learned to flush his verbal excrement.Penn’s controversial views first garnered scrutiny following the 9/11 attacks when he condemned former President George W. Bush for his aggressive foreign policy.On October 18, 2002, Penn placed a $56,000 advertisement in The Washington Post asking Bush to end a cycle of international violence.In the letter, Penn criticized the Bush administration for its “deconstruction of civil liberties” and its “simplistic and inflammatory view of good and evil.”Since then, Penn has placed himself at the forefront of Hollywood’s progressive movement.Penn visited Iraq briefly in December 2002 to present a journalistic view of the nation’s condition.On June 10, 2005, he also made a visit to Iran, guised as a journalist on an assignment for The San Francisco Chronicle.But Penn’s most incendiary exploit took place in October when he arranged a meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and shortly after, he said the regime was “much more positive for Venezuela than negative.”Penn isn’t the first notable celebrity to grovel beneath Chavez’s oppressive regime.Other Hollywood activists joined the pillory — including filmmaker Oliver Stone, who is filming a fulsome biopic of Chavez, authorized by the Venezuelan dictator himself.Stone was joined by fellow Hollywood elitist Danny Glover, who was given $18 million by Chavez in 2006 to finance an adulatory documentary about Haiti’s 19th-century revolutionary, Toussaint Louverture.Actor Benecio Del Toro visited Chavez earlier this month while promoting his recent film, “Che.” After meeting with Chavez, Del Toro was very complimentary. Singer Harry Belafonte also drew outrage two years ago when he appeared on a platform with Chavez to call Bush “the greatest terrorist in the world.”Criticism of American foreign policy may be well deserved.But celebrities who visit Venezuela don’t have to look far to find a true enemy of individual liberty.In the past few years, Chavez’s regime has progressively made strides toward nationalization by controlling media content and quelling internal cries of dissent.Recently Chavez managed to amend the Venezuelan constitution to allow him to serve as president for as many terms as he wishes. He also threatened to halt all oil exports to the U.S. and seize the assets of American petroleum firms with operations in Venezuela.Following Penn’s Oscar victory, Venezuelan actress Maria Conchita Alonso harangued her former co-star’s naive views.”He’s been praising Hugo Chavez, who is a dictator and a killer. He should shut up about what he doesn’t know,” Alonso said.Perhaps Penn and his fellow celebrity activists should listen to people who actually know what they are talking about.The same celebrities who admonished Bush’s assault on civil liberties have lionized Chavez, despite his totalitarian, despotic rule.All the while, foreign policy experts have warned Chavez presents as large of a threat to his citizens’ freedom than any other leader.Celebrities have the right to speak freely about their beliefs.But they can also be held accountable when their opinions are laughably misguided.What aggravates so many people isn’t so much the opinions these actors hold. It’s that they use their celebrity status for grandstanding on issues they don’t fully understand.Celebrities and politics have never been mutually exclusive. And, unfortunately, they never will be.Penn may enjoy the smell of his own shtick. But that doesn’t mean everyone else does.In the movie “Team America,” Gary Johnston posited there are three types of people in the world.Amazingly, Penn embodies all three.Scott Burns is a 19-year-old political science and business major from Baton Rouge.—-Contact Scott Burns at [email protected]