Kim > wrote:
> I often wonder, as do my friends, why Americans look to someone like
> Martha Stewart to instruct them about lifestyle fashions and interior
> decorating.

Do all Europeans think and act the same way? Of course not. So why
would you assume that all Americans look to Martha Steward for advise
about lifestyle fashions and interior decorating? The fact is that
Martha Steward is very good at those things, as well as cooking. She
is very good at showing people ways they can improve various aspects
of their lives. Some people find that information helpful; others do not.

> Has it ever dawned on this woman's devotees that she is purely and
> simply an entrepreneural businesswoman who has marketed herself very
> well? Now, I have no quarrel with this method of making money, but
> surely one would have to be very gullible to hang on her every word
> about what cushions are de rigeur, what dinner napkins to use when
> entertaining the Top Brass, and so on .....

Of course. I doubt most Americans "hang on her every word" for any
area that she deals with. I doubt that any American does.

> That M.S. committed fraud and is now really having one big bitch about
> how petty people are about her conviction and sentence is very very
> funny. Now that her bubble has well and truly burst, how many people
> will return to kneel at the altar of her somewhat flimsy and overtly
> commercial propaganda about how you all should decorate your homes,
> select the towels, choose the dinner service, etc. etc.

Martha Steward has not been convicted of fraud. Where did you get that
idea? She hasn't even been accused of fraud. Why also do you care what
Americans do with regard to how they look upon Martha Stewart? What's
the difference?