The good "genetic" news is that I am in my seventy eighth year, am healthy, and still have hair.
The bad "genetic" news is that I have spent a lifetime "tilting" at windmills, and I am still "tilting."
Dictionary.com defines "standing" as: rank or status, esp. with respect to social, economic, or personal position, reputation, etc.; He had little standing in the community; good position, reputation, or credit: He is a merchant of standing in the community; length of existence, continuance, residence, membership, experience, etc.
I have been educated and trained as an electrical engineer. That was over 50 years ago and I know absolutely nothing that is in any way meaningful about that technology today. Thus I have no standing as an engineer.
I have spent most of my life in the business of buying, selling, and acquiring entertainment "content." As an executive in the business I was deeply involved in the process of creating programs, but I was incapable of producing them.
I would often find myself at odds with my corporate superiors at CBS, Columbia Pictures, Polygram and MGM/UA who would take issue with any number of things that we were doing while acknowledging that they knew very little if anything about what I did.
To me they had no "standing" in the business yet they found themselves taking unreasonable positions on issues with me.
My criticism of these people as a rule ended up by my asking them if they were in charge of a hospital would they tell the surgeons how to perform cardiovascular surgery? They were not at all pleased with me when I did it.
In doing what I did professionally at a variety of places, I had "standing" yet that seemed to matter very little.
I was invited to lunch years ago by the agent of a major actress to discuss the possibilities of her doing a series in television syndication. Every suggestion I made was greeted with "No, that will never work," and when I asked about the agent about his history in selling television content he replied that while he had never done it he considered that he was an expert.
Why do the "personalities" who present whatever they present on CNN, Fox, or MSNBC have any "standing"? They are "critical" of those who "do it" yet they have rarely "done it" themselves.
I can understand that when a movie or television critic comments about movies or television they are reporting about their opinions, yet I have difficulty understanding those who "report" on television (like Bill O'Reilly) seem to believe that they do somehow have "standing" on issues that they are discussing.
On the other hand, Mike Chickadee was the Governor of Arkansas. While I abhor his politics, he does have "standing" as someone who has actually "done it."
I suggest that the poster boy for this is Glenn Beck who has no "standing," and who has become in some weird way famous for "being famous."
Beck is a self-described libertarian who disputes evidence suggesting human activity is the main cause of global warming.
As Peter O'Toole said in the movie My Favorite Year "Live? I can't go on live!!! I'm a movie star, not an actor!"
Beck can say: "I don't know exactly what I am, but I am a media star."
"The Jester", he aint
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_lAFDbnMLA