Last week Jessica Alba made the mistake of telling a reporter, “Be neutral! Be Sweden about it!”. I say she made a mistake not because she was technically incorrect, but because it’s started a whole e-feud over the accuracy of her comments. Which has expanded into an argument over what she likely meant by the comments, which is something only Jessica knows.
The common phrase is to be neutral like Switzerland – which hasn’t been involved in a war since 1815. Never have I heard someone say “like Sweden,” – though they were neutral during World War II. When I first heard the quote, I tried to give Jessica the benefit of the doubt and consider that she might have just chosen an unusual country for her example. And that’s what she’s still claiming.
Jessica Alba is disappointed in all of us for paying attention to her during what she blogs is “perhaps the most salient time in our country’s history.” (Don’t worry, Jess, we’re more disappointed in ourselves than you’ll ever know.)
She’s speaking, of course about the “a-hole” episode, when Jessica called out Bill O’Reilly and then harassed a reporter who didn’t want to answer her questions—taunting him with “Be neutral about it, be Sweden!” This, of course, gave TMZ a chance to call her a ditz for not saying Switzerland.
But Jess isn’t going to sit around and let people call her stupid, especially when Wikipedia and MySpace exist to clear her name. This is her defense of giving Sweden the neutral shout-out:
“Last week, Mr. Bill O’Reilly and some really classy sites (i.e.TMZ) insinuated I was dumb by claiming Sweden was a neutral country. I appreciate the fact that he is a news anchor and that gossip sites are inundated with intelligent reporting, but seriously people…it’s so sad to me that you think the only neutral country during WWII was Switzerland. Check out: [Wikipedia link] if you want to see what I was referring to. I appreciate the name calling and the accurate reporting. Keep it up!!”
Well, we can’t argue with Wikipedia. You win, Jess. You’re totally smarter than TMZ.
[From E! News via Jessica Alba’s MySpace blog]
However TMZ actually makes a really good argument against Jessica. And I hate to ever agree with TMZ… though I generally don’t like to agree with Jessica Alba either. And I really hate to give Bill O’Reilly any more fodder. Rock/hard place/me.
Jessica Alba is fuming at TMZ for calling her dumb when she called Sweden a “neutral” country last week … even though it currently has troops in Afghanistan.
She is absolutely correct. Sweden was a neutral country … 60 years ago.
Even though she was engaged in a debate about the current political situation in America when she advised a reporter to “Be Sweden … be neutral” — Alba is swinging back at critics, like TMZ, on her blog saying, “It’s so sad to me that you think the only neutral country during WWII was Switzerland.”
She is absolutely correct — when the Nazis were waging war on anyone who opposed Hitler’s evil rule, Sweden remained neutral and stayed out of the war. After the war, Winston Churchill referred to Sweden as “that small, coward country.”
We apologize for not considering the political climate of the world in 1942 when we suggested she may have meant, “Be Switzerland” — a country that is currently neutral.
Our sincerest apologies.
[From TMZ]
Damn you TMZ! Clearly they brought in one of their smarter people to write this argument, since it’s thought out much better than their usual drivel. I really can’t argue with it. If you want to talk about a country that’s been neutral for almost two hundred years – and that’s also the country that’s always referenced in the “neutral like…” comparison, then you’d say Switzerland. And it’s the country that’s still neutral.
If you want to reference a country that was neutral during World War II, then you could say Switzerland or Sweden. But Sweden still wouldn’t be your best bet, because they’re currently involved in the Middle East. And Jessica didn’t say anything about WWII in her comment.
Maybe she really did remember that Sweden was neutral during World War II, but that would easily be the greatest display of celebrity intelligence in the last ten years. Though she did use the word “salient”… so who knows. I think in all likelihood Jessica mixed up her countries, yet managed to do it well enough that she could still argue about it. Next time, I’d tell Fox News to keep on walking.
Here’s Jessica enjoying a day in the park in L.A. with daughter Honor on Sunday. Images thanks to WENN.
Not likely.
Ahh but JB, if you were paying attention to the online fued, you’d correct her and say that Sweden has been a neutral country since 1812!
I was on the “give Jessica the benefit of the doubt” until she referenced only WWII. That made me think that she was mistaken, weirdly enough.
Oh Jaybird, I’m just about to do a quick spot of googling which may restore your distate for TMZ. I’m going to doubt check why Swedish troops are in Afghanistan. If they are part of UN or have peace-keeping duties, then technically they are indeed still neutral.
And believe you me, no hackette from TMZ is going to win an arguement with me on this one. Also coming from a neutral country (only since WWII) where neutrality has been a hot topic in each EU referendum, I’ve heard most of the technical points about a zillion times….
She might be hot but she cant touch Megan Fox in Transformers… Looking forward to seeing Megan in the sequel this summer…
According to several sources though, the Sweden being in Afghanistan doesn’t technically count because it’s a part of a “peacekeeping” troupe. Hmm….
She still acts like a smug brat.
This woman is seriously in need of a brain transplant. Yet another Hollywood bimbo trying to pass herself as an “actress”. Whatevah.
Eeek – my last comment dissappeared!
AH-A!!
As I suspected Jaybird – even their cleverest journo isn’t very bright and knows about as much about world affairs as the ducks outside my front door!
(google swedish troops in afghanistan and click the first link for more info)
They are there on a peacekeeping mission. Neutral countries may send troops to UN or other such missions as their presence is to ostensibly protect the public, not engange in partisan battles for either side. When directly attacked the peacekeeping troops may retaliate in defense only. They generally do not have the remit to launch any offensive strikes. With the UN in particular, they also cannot get involved in civil wars or similar disputes.
The peacekeeping troops of countries, such as Sweden do have a vital role in areas of political and social strife, such as Cyprus, Lebanon or Chad for example, as they are there for the protection of the civilians and the securing of supply lines only and are not partisan in carrying this out.
Time to go and put some education on TMZ. Whatever about some random actress getting things wrong, no news agency should…
As it happens, Winston Churchill also lambasted Ireland’s neutrality during WWII because it wouldn’t hand over the 6 Atlantic sea-ports it deemed to be of strategic importance at the start of the war.
In the end they weren’t needed as the British could service the Atlantic fleet from Northern Ireland, but Churchill never let anything (such as the facts) get in the way of a good grudge. Or managing to forget the pigs-ear he made of Gallipoli 30 years before.
Churchill ALSO said that he would protect “dear Poland” from a foreign invader. He never bothered to mention the deal made with Stalin that this proviso was or Germans only and was willing to hand over whatever the hell Stalin wanted because Churchill distrusted Hitler more (he was closer).
Choose your quotes more wisely in future TMZ.
Bush made the same gaffe, but acknowledged it later. Not so terribly shocking coming from a 20 something who may not even have a h.s. diploma.
Is “Andy” working for the studio putting out Transformers?
i say she’s still an idiot. why? bc she sourced wikipedia for her answer. had she bothered to pay attention, she would have realized that any no talent assclown with access to the internet is able to edit wiki’s content. that’s why it’s not considered a reliable educational resource.
She is not even considered an actress.
She can’t act.
I mean, I guess everybody can make mistakes and mix thing up.
Especially, if you never gotten any education (I’m not even sure she finished high school).
She could have just laugh it off, and be sweet. It’s not like anyone has any expectation…
What’s up with all these actors (Matt, now Jessica) thinking so highly of themselves and taking themselves, oh, so seriously.
“Maybe she really did remember that Sweden was neutral during World War II, but that would easily be the greatest display of celebrity intelligence in the last ten years.”
Hahha… true.
Do you think she writes those blogs HERSELF? They are very well-written and use a wide vocabulary. If she writes them herself, I’m impressed.
Well Ned, thinking about Matt got me thinking about why we, Joe and Josephine Soap reckon that we’ve far more rights to spout off about anything we choose, but a celeb has to sit there and look pretty, just because they’re a celeb.
I mean, I know that I spout off (ad nauseam) on any given subject, regardless of my background in it – I enjoy having a godawful know-it-all attitude (which is a bonus for my job, where I have to be the go-to person for a wide range of subjects), so why shouldn’t Matt Damon or indeed Jessica Alba do likewise. So long as their information is correct, fire away say I. I tend to find these sorts of things informative as they’ll force me to do a modicum of research to back up my points.
It just played on my mind as something came up at work recently that reminded me that one of Ireland’s greatest heroes, Theobald Wolfe Tone actually started off as an actor. He was in a theatre company operated by Richard “Humanity Dick” Martin, who is remembered as the founder for the Royal Society for the Prevention for Cruelty to Animals.
Now I know that I’m being parochial in dragging Irish examples into everything, but it’s what I know best. My point is, if you do enough research into many historical figures, you’d be surprised what background they do have.
I think she messed up and is just trying to cover it up. I wonder how long it took her to write the response?
Jessica Alba needs to shut up. Honestly, I don’t understand why this talentless starlet seems to consider herself a political pundit in even the broadest sense of the term.
She takes herself way too seriously. Besides, who really cares what a no-talent actress has to say on the political state of a country at any given time. Stick to just looking good in a bikini, Jess, and you will be fine.
Allowing her publicist to “write” her blog was probably the smartest idea Jessica’s ever had. That being said, it was likely her PR team who insisted she stay as far away from the keyboard as possible until this little matter was “cleared up.”
people confuse switzerland and sweden all the time… our group does research in switzerland so i always get asked “are swedish girls really hot” or some such thing… i guess people can’t separate countries that have more than one letter in common :/
Amen to that, Lisa.
I dont care what she meant. It gives me joy thinking/knowing that Jessica Alba is smarter than Bill O.
Well face it, a great number of Americans are dumb as bricks when it comes to geography and history (even our own). Why should Jessica be any different? Obviously Jess isn’t as smart as a 5th grader. Which would account for the my favorite saying regarding the acting profession, It’s ain’t brain surgery! High IQ or not.
Good thing she’s pretty, cause she sure ain’t smart.
That phrase is tacky to begin with, whether you put Switzerland or not. I really hope this news item dies down soon cuz Jessica must be flaming with embarassment. I am anyway and I never even came up with it.
Oh Jessica…
Who gives a sh*t, who gives a F*ck
Ok, come on guys. I’m willing to bet that most of America doesn’t even know that saying much less that Switzerland is neutral and Sweden is technically not.
Geez, get off your high horses people. When celebrities make mistakes, people have a tendency to blow it up like celebrities aren’t human like us.
LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!!! Oh, excuse me, I mean…LEAVE JESSICA ALONE!!!
Irritated about this subject I feel that I have to clear some things up for you guys!
Sweden is alliance free in peace time and neutral in war time. So has it been since the days of Napoleon. The Swedish troops in Afghanistan is part of ISAF and are there for peace keeping duties only. Just like we have been in, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kongo and Cyprus etc.
The Truth, I dunno about you but my high horse is about TMZ and their absolute glee over “catching her out” whilst making a dumbass mistake themselves. Out of curiosity, considering that I carried out way more research in five minutes than TMZ , why do you choose to believe TMZ rather than the correct info that I’ve already posted?
(In defense of Americans, whilst we in Europe have all shaken our heads at video clips of random Americans (in Vegas) being asked to name three countries in Europe and coming out with classic answers like “What’s the one with the kangaroos?” There are plenty of Europeans, who have some odd ideas too. When I did the WWI trail in Belgium my dad asked me if Belgium was part of Germany… oh dear…
Then again, a friend told me about someone he met in the US who had Irish ancestry (yadda yadda) and always wanted to visit Ireland etc. It turned out though that she HAD spent a few days in Dublin, the capital of Ireland, during a trip to Europe. The mind boggles!
I wonder how many Europeans could explain the difference between Ohio, Iowa and Idaho, and locate all three on a map.
Sweden, by the way, may be neutral, but it is a HUGE exporter of weapons, often to some very dodgy countries. Sweden has nothing to be proud about when it comes to promoting world harmony.
It seems that we assume that once you become famous, you become stupid…
Mairead, why say in defence of Americans? You’re not surely suggesting that this – Alba’s & TMZ’s little pissing contest – is some reflection on Americans as a whole?
Leave Jessica alone
As a US expat living in Sweden for several years, I have to say I’m pretty amused by this whole brouhaha.
First, Ms. Alba probably meant Switzerland initially, since (as the post above notes) that is how that particular expression is most commonly worded. It’s a common error — so much so that there was a series of ads in the Stockholm subway last year making light of it (showing a schoolteacher pointing to a map of Switzerland that says “Sweden” on it).
Second, it looks like the prospect of getting publicly corrected by Mr. O’Reilly made her so defensive that she actually dug herself into a deeper hole. The very Wikipedia page she cites explicitly states that Sweden’s “neutrality” is considered rather disingenuous by many, particularly given their role in supplying the Nazi war machine with coal, as well as iron and other weapon-making raw materials.
From my expat perspective, that disingenuous proclamation of neutrality (all the while supplying one side but not the other) is quite typical of the culture here.
Oh, and Ms. Alba clearly appears to be out of her depth here.
I don’t know if this has been said before, but… wasn’t Alba wrong from the very beginning?
When the journalist refused to give her an answer due to his profession, he did it because he wanted to remain Switzerland/ Sweden a.k.a. neutral about political issues. So her right response should have been “Don’t be S or S. Don’t be neutral, take a point.”
Can we now all go back to agreeing that Miss Alba is indeed as dumb as they get?
Candykay, lovey, I can list all 50 states in the US and the 50-odd countries in Africa. Hopefully you can do the former, but how’s about the latter?
I know most of the capital cities of the US states, most of the capitals of African countries, and most if not all the capitals of Europe, Asia and South America. (I know all the Australian states too, but the list of my achievements is getting long, hey?)
insert wink here
For some reason the only benchmark you list is being able to “explain the difference between Ohio, Iowa and Idaho…” Sheesh…
I’m African, by the way. Maybe it helps a person’s view of the world when the place you live is not considered the centre of the universe!
insert another wink here
Good grief no geronimo – to quote an old housemate “I have nothing against Americans… some of my best friends like Americans!” *wink* (joke joke)I was more responding Giz’s comment than anything else. I’m just saying Europeans mightn’t be as great on geography as we assume. I admit I’d have trouble pinning all of the African countries on a map.
In reponse to Candykay, as a European I certainly couldn’t explain the difference between Ohio, Idhao and Iowa(if you could let us know that’d be great.. is it something to do with the Civil War?).
“Maybe it helps a person’s view of the world when the place you live is not considered the centre of the universe!
Very true. Plus having an interest in the world around you (and travelling) also helps. Ignorance is not bliss (but neither is it confined to one country or nationality.)
Yeah, what’s the deal with Ohio, Iowa & Idaho? What is it we need to know here?
its a commom mistake, not because people don´t know which is country is what but because both countries start with a Z, followed by a W! she should have just sticked to that! lol
i still sometimes get all messed up when saying swedish / swiss (Zweedse zwitser), even tho theres always time to correct myself!
Yeah, what’s the deal with Ohio, Iowa & Idaho? What is it we need to know here? (x3)
Geronimo: Ignorance is not bliss (but neither is it confined to one country or nationality.)
I agree, ignorance is extremely widespread — spreading, it seems! I work for a newspaper as a sub (checking copy basically) and it’s scary how many of my peers wear their ignorance like a badge of pride…
Jessica Alba is the epitome of “Body by Fisher Brains by Matel”. It so irks me that people become celebrities and think that automatically makes them a political pundit. Just because she knows a couple of words with more than 5 letters doesn’t make her smart. Jessica you’re pretty but please keep your mouth shut! And back away from the koolaid before it’s too late!
I think we should refer the matter to Sarah Palin. I believe she’s hot on world geography….
>>Yeah, what’s the deal with Ohio, Iowa & Idaho? What is it we need to know here? >>
What’s the deal with Sweden, Switzerland and Swaziland? What is it we need to know here?
If Jessica Alba said that, you’d never let her hear the end of it. The point is that ignorance is never attractive, no matter the source.
Incidentally, Ohio alone has a larger population than Sweden, Switzerland, or Swaziland.
Candykay, Swaziland is one of the smallest countries in Africa. So yeah, I can believe that Ohio has a larger population. That still doesn’t make US geography the holy friggen grail!
How exactly is she stupid when to date, she hasn’t said anything that’s inaccurate? TMZ has managed to say a ton of things that are inaccurate but they’re smart – I suppose because they’re calling a female celebrity stupid. Everyone loves when we call female celebrities stupid. And oh, how the commenters love to come out and call an attractive female celebrity stupid! Makes ’em feel good to tear people down, especially when it’s flavored with sexism and misogyny!
CandKay, the difference is that those are states within the US and Sweden and Switzerland are countries. That’s a pretty big freaking difference. Noone’s asking you to know all the provinces of France or Canada or, if Sweden has provinces or states, to know them too. You’re trying to defend the right to be ignorant which is just stupid.
@Candy Kay – what an odd response. Since you used my quote, I’ll respond on this. Firstly, I have no idea why this fuss is being made about Alba at all. To my mind, she’s hardly an example of ignorance, she just used a questionable point of reference. What I do find pointless and stupid is her getting into a ‘mine’s bigger than yours’ strop with TMZ over it.
Alba is a moot point as far as ignorance and this conversation is concerned. The ignorance I referred to earlier is to do with people not having enough interest in other places to bother looking them up or finding out about them. It’s not the not knowing about things, it’s the not caring about not knowing about them that bothers me.
“I dont care what she meant. It gives me joy thinking/knowing that Jessica Alba is smarter than Bill O.”
How on earth does her stupidity prove that she’s smarter than anyone?
Personally, I’m just giving her the benefit of the doubt is all – do unto others as you would have done unto yourself and all that. I just find TMZ’s attitude and blatant ignorance of the facts really annoying, and if I have to defend Jessica Alba because of it so be it.
Especially as she got lambasted by the gossip sites with information that’s just not factually correct, irregardless of what we think she meant the first time around. And unfortunately there are people who are believing TMZ’s nonsense verbatim.
People can’t know everything, they make mistakes or have slips of the tongue – but i agree that revelling in your ignorance is basically pathetic.
Candy – you never did explain the difference between those states.
Thank-you for saying it mike! somebody had to. The egocentrism of so many Americans never fails to astound.
When we decide to accept and defend stupidity because it’s attached to an attractive face then we’re not ourselves any favors. It’s not stupid, per se, to confuse Sweden with Switzerland (ignorant yes), but it is astoundingly stupid to exhibit your ignorance by making a statement to a reporter that you think is making you appear knowledgeable when it is actually doing the exact opposite. Pretending later that you actually were talking in terms of WWII is just pathetically arrogant. And stupid.
I can’t get over the story I read of this woman sitting in a chair after filming a scene in something, and informing a PA who happened to walk by that he “can remove my boots now.” Princess much?
while i can’t speak for candykay(?), i believe that reference revolves around mistaken identity. people in the states (even those born here), often confuse ohio, iowa, and idaho. usually ohio and iowa or iowa and idaho (idaho is actually further west, iowa is central midwest, ohio further east but still technically midwest). being from iowa, it’s slightly irritating but not worth gettin twisted over.
that being cleared up (i hope), i agree that celebs “are people too” and have just as much right to make asses out of themselves as the rest of us. so let her continue to talk out of her ass. more entertainment for me.
What makes this remotely amusing is that it seems she was trying to *appear intelligent* and bungled the expression.
Admit it – if you saw a little old lady fall on the street, you probably wouldn’t find it especially funny. (If you’re from Ohio, Iowa, or Idaho, you might even try to help her!) But if Posh Spice was strutting proudly down the road and took a tumble, you’d have to stifle a chuckle or two.
That’s why this is funny. If she had said, “What? I said Sweden? Blimey! I meant Switzerland!” It would not have been worth reporting.
But, to our delight she instead posts a defensive, tenuous blog response? It’s like Posh hopping up, striking a pose, and saying “I meant to do that!”