Why do we feed into the 'Cult of Celebrity'?

It is a relatively new phenomenon, but since the advent of radio and film, we now have 'celebrities' amongst us. We have movie stars, TV stars, musicians and singers, dancers, sports stars, 'reality' TV stars (which requires zero talent, just need to be interesting and/or contraversial), and now political stars (Obama and Palin being the most noticable). Their personal lives are spread all over the tabloids, blogs, newspapers, and MSM outlets.

Are their jobs really important? Do they really make a difference in the world? Some do, but are their jobs more important to our daily lives than those of teachers, police officers, firemen, members of our military, doctors, nurses, etc.?

If Steve McNair had been a construction worker instead of a NFL football star, would you have heard word one about his murder? If Michael Jackson, instead of being a singer/songwriter, had been a stock clerk at Walmart who lived next door to you, and had the same criminal and civil court record, would you be so broken up by his death or would you sleep better knowing that your children were probably a little safer now? If Paris Hilton was not an heiress in the public eye, but instead was a stylist at Super Cuts, would we care what she thinks is 'hot', or that she video taped herself having sex (OK, maybe that one)? If the man, woman and child murdered in Chicago had not been Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew, would you had even heard of it? Would we even care about the countless celebrities who have abused drugs and gone into rehab or died of an overdose if they were just the common joe?

Is it their fault? NO! It's ours, as a society. We love to put them up on a pedestal and love to watch them fall off when they stumble. If we didn't watch the stories on TV, buy the tabloids, read the blogs, etc. then the 'cult of celebrity' would not exist! We, as a society, my dear friends, are the drinkers of the Kool-aid here! So I have to ask, WHY??? Are our own lives so lacking and uninteresting that we must live vicariously through these people? Does it make us feel better about ourselves when they frak up? I really don't understand this phenomenon! Do you?

Originally posted by JaxonRoberts

Is it their fault? NO! It's ours, as a society. We love to put them up on a pedestal and love to watch them fall off when they stumble.

Ok, this is where I get to tell you this does not describe me at all. I don't love to watch anyone fall no matter who they are.

I'd also ask you if it was your neighbor who was an alcoholic, would you care? If your local pastor was beating his wife? Would you care? And so on, and so on.........

Celebs are only human like the rest of us. I just seems that when they fall, they do fall harder because most people don't expect them to be just like the rest of us.

I really don't understand this phenomenon! Do you?

I don't understand the cult of celebs either.

Living vicariously through other peoples seemingly exciting lives helps us forget the mundane ones we generally live. Gossip thrives in every community, but celebrity gossip is universally understood, so therefore a more easily involving conversation.

Most sexually repressed, intellectually constipated societies seek outside stimulation thru hero worship and media voyeurism. What else you gonna do when you have so little free time from the grind.

Living vicariously by the masses as Brainbow so aptly described is all part of the master control plan. You don't want people actually looking at their banal, sad lives with any perception do you? They might start asking questions. We wouldn't want that!!

Bread and circus.

It's a brave new world; welcome to the monkey house.



[edit on 8-7-2009 by whaaa]

Originally posted by whaaa
It's a brave new world; welcome to the monkey house.

Well, I feel like I'm stuck in the monkey house and I'm a giraffe! I just don't get it! There are people who can tell you all about a celebrities life, but can't tell you the names of all of their child's teachers or what they are studying in school. Talk about screwed up priorities!!!

I think its more of a media thing. Did we ask for Fox, CNN and MSNBC to show non stop coverage of Michael Jackson for 2 weeks? The media loves to sensationalize these stories and keep us distracted. Just turn off the tube and you will feel smarter in 1 minute!

When MJ might just be a celebrity to you.

But to look at from another angle, he was an artist. And you can't demeane the meaning music has in our lives, every single day. Dance and music , and theater is a part of every person, every culture, in every corner of the world.
is there a day you don't hear music?

When someone who has affected that area of artistry significantly, it is a big thing when they die. Just like with Marylin Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald. What they contribute is forever imprinted on what we call music.

it is a reason to talk about, be sad, or miss.

Jaxon, I swear PICK AN AVATAR already lol

I'm really getting tired of having to check to see if it's you or not haha.

In any case I can tell you why we do this silly celebrity worship BS.

It's the main tool of the ones who pull the strings.

It's an illusion. A false reality to cover up the one that's really going on. We tend as humans to try and what's that word....associate ourselves with those who have gained fame and power.

We allow ourselves to be caught up in their world even though nothing they ever do will affect us in any way. They're opinions are treated as culture gold yet they are mostly ignorant and bigotted human beings.

Now mind you this isn't the case for all celebs, some have done some amazing things for this world and that's great.

But the bulk of them are just fame whores who just want the attention. They are the leaders of the this culture lie we've been spoon fed. They are the ones who decide what is cool and what isn't in this day and age, instead of relying on what we as individuals think is important and or "popular".

Without the celeb culture, they're whole plan would fall right to pieces unfortunetly.

~Keeper

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


Great post, well written.

IMHO, I think that if you repeat something often enough people will start to believe it. If you take that same concept and raise someone in an environment where the MSM praise celebrities in all formats (books, magazines, TV, movies) then it becomes subconsciously ingrained that it is a normal aspect of life; because it's all you've ever known. With each new generation exposed to this, it becomes more ingrained and accepted as the 'norm'.

This goes way beyond just the worship of celebrities and can be seen in all aspect of our society; scientific theories, politics, UFO disclosure, family values and consumerism to name a few.

Someday I'm gonna be famous, do I have talent, well no
These days you don't really need it thanks to reality shows
Can't wait to date a supermodel, can't wait to sue my dad
Can't wait to wreck a Ferrari on my way to rehab

I'll get to cry to Barbara Walters when things don't go my way
And I'll get community service no matter which law I break
I'll make the supermarket tabloids, they'll write some awful stuff
But the more they run my name down the more my price goes up

'Cause when you're a celebrity
It's adios reality
You can act just like a fool
People think you're cool
Just 'cause you're on TV
I can throw a major fit
When my latte isn't just how I like it
When they say I've gone insane
I'll blame it on the fame
And the pressures that go with
Being a celebrity

-Brad Paisley - Celebrity

I am not a huge country fan but I really like that song. Celebrity status makes me LOL! Have any of you seen the commercials for Intel? It shows the one guy walking through the Break room and everyone is going crazy over him. He is the co-inventor of the Universal Serial Bus. Really great commercial. I think I might get excited if I met Neil deGrasse Tyson in person. I would not camp outside his house and dig through his garbage for a souvenir though lol. Or S his D as a groupy.

reply to post by TurkeyBurgers


Not being a Country fan in the slightest, I've never heard the song before, but the lyrics kinda sum it up, don't they! So many are so unprepared for fame. You can tell the ones that are. They live very quiet lives out of the spotlight, with only their work to speak for them. I once waited on Kathleen Turner in Key West. A very private woman who just wanted to be treated like everyone else. That's exactly what I did, even thought I'm a huge fan of her work, and she very much appreciated it.

So many of us earthlings are of average and lesser intelligence. As a species it seems we are drawn to the trite goings on of the rich and successful. I appreciate an actor's or musician's talent, but to go so far as to obsess over their everyday lives is a symptom of a low IQ and a shallow personality. Just MHO.

Respectfully i would like to submit to you"

YOU are the one starting the most threads on Michael Jackson. You are very involved in this "celebrity" phenomenon, and YOU refuse to let it die.

Next.

reply to post by dgtempe


While I admit that it was the MJ threads that made me think of this topic (as well as a Palin thread), this is not a MJ thread at all, it is about a societal phenomenon. He was one of many examples in the OP. And I only started TWO MJ threads out of more than thirty threads on the subject. If you are going to state 'facts', make sure they are indeed facts! Shame on you!

[edit on 8-7-2009 by JaxonRoberts]

Originally posted by JaxonRoberts

Originally posted by whaaa
It's a brave new world; welcome to the monkey house.

Well, I feel like I'm stuck in the monkey house and I'm a giraffe! I just don't get it! There are people who can tell you all about a celebrities life, but can't tell you the names of all of their child's teachers or what they are studying in school. Talk about screwed up priorities!!!

you know.. what you'[re complaining about is like complaining that your fluoride / chlorine tainted tap water is too chemical tasting while you're chugging it.

"you know .. this stuff tastes too chemically glubglubglub::"

just turn it OFF .
stop participating in it.
throw out your tv and don't listen to radio programming that talks about it.
screw it.

leave that part of the world's chatter-sphere and never come back.
who cares about it? it's retarded, backwards and pointless.
there is nothing to gain from it.. and it is just a waste of time.

yet i feel you KNOW THIS..

so who cares about why "we feed it"??

how bout you stop feeding it and stop caring about why idiots feed it?

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reply to post by prevenge


I don't follow it, just observe others and their fascination with it. I usually have CNN on all the time, but for the last few weeks it's been the History Channel or Discovery, etc. With even politics being affected by this, it's hard to escape it! I don't watch reality TV, or ET or anything else 'celebrity' oriented. But what are people at work talking about most of the time? Not the wars, not global warming, etc. No it's the two idiots from 'The Hills' (I don't even know their names or what the blue hell 'The Hills' is!), or some sports star, or... well you get the picture! I love Nicholas Cage movies, but I could care less what he had for breakfast. If I could escape it or others who are obsessed with it I would, but I'm not ready to head off to a monestary just yet! Maybe it's because most of my co-workers are in their early twenties, and I'm just getting old!

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


Gotcha. I meant no disrespect.

Well to take the curve in another direction...
it doesnt matter if there are those who folow this cult of celebrity, because, there has and always be celebrity.. The important part is who is choosing who gets to be celebrities.

Well to take the curve in another direction...
it doesnt matter if there are those who folow this cult of celebrity, because, there has and always be celebrity.. The important part is who is choosing who gets to be celebrities.

what would be reasonable is if the people put on these pedestals and in the spotlight were done so because of their intriguing level of integrity, compassion and brutal honesty.. not whether they have huge inflatable balloons or if they can parrot what their voice trainers and songwriters tell them to belch out.

then i'd be all for it.
and i'm talking REAL upstanding people..

like..

real superheroes....

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