Tom Cruise’s erratic behavior on his recent worldwide publicity tour has been fodder for gossip columnists and late-night talk-show hosts for weeks, but now the movie star’s comments on mental-health issues last week are attracting serious criticism from members of Congress. [my emphasis]
Congress is not noted for serious criticism.
The term denotes a certain amount of disinterested analysis.
And how can something that on its face is non-serious, a movie star's notions about mental health, elicit serious criticism, particularly from those also somewhat lacking in specialized knowledge?
It might be proper to admonish Cruise for confusing the public on the issue without professional or scholarly qualifications. They could say:
Confusing the public about mental health is being done in a perfectly adequate manner by those who are professionally qualified.Therefore Cruise should butt out.
