How does "celebrity" destroy people psychologically?

I was thinking of the whole concept of "celebrity" earlier, and the various types of damage it does to people.

First, I would define "celebrity" here in a pretty wide context: including all forms of entertainment, sports, academics/intellect, and even famous figures in, say, the business or military worlds. I would exclude "local celebrities" and the simple human desire for attention from this defininition. I'm basically thinking in terms of people that are well-known by numerous people they have never met or interacted with in any way, due to their work or talents. I'd also exclude politicians because that is a whole other kettle of fish, invovling different types of power and manipulation that bring their own issues.

Anyway, I was talking to an acquaintence who was childhood friends with a sort of semi-famous entertainment figure. Most Americans and and Europeans would probably recognize his name. According to this acquaintence, the guy never goes out now or does anything because he is terrified of how it will effect his "reputation" or "legacy." He basically deprives himself of contact with everyone but a few close friends and family because of this obsessive concern with his "image." The really funny and tragic thing is the guy doesn't seem to recognize he's already a has-been for most people anyway, and so the whole exercise is pointless. It struck me as really sad waste of opportunity and life in general for a really silly reason.

I am sure there are celebs who are comfortable with their status or whatever, but so many seem to flame out in various ways or suffer from bizzare lifestyles.

Also, the "lust for fame" seems particularly strong in the youngewr generations. When I was young I kind of wistfully longed for fame but I got over that pretty quick and these days I'm positively happy to be unknown. But it seems so many younger people are tormented by immersion in toxic media with the idea of "becoming famous." Just and impression, and I don't mean to lump in all young people together...of course plenty don't care. But it seems plenty do.

What is it about the "lust for fame" itself that drives peple and damgages them, whether they have it or don't have it? It seems different from a lust for money or power, although of course the three are interconnected on some level and share similar characteristics. But there are plenty of people who lust for money or power and hate the idea of fame, while others seem driven to achieve fame. Its a strange human quirk, don't you think?

we are behaviorial creatures.

the young and underdeveloped choose the alpha dominate of a species to model ones behavior after. without proper guidance, the first example we'll have is some terrible example. and this is how the powers like it.

its like a duck who sees a truck when she's hatched. and that truck is forever her mama.

we are the same way.

and this little biological quirk is exploited by the powers to manipulate and control our behavior.

blah, blah blah, i'm preaching to the choir really!

reply to post by silent thunder


You might be interested in hearing Chris Hedges take on this very subject, which I listened to recently, and now am a huge Chris Hedges fan

Enjoy

I think that celebrity destroys people because they think "here I am, famous, and what now?"

Everyone has to get through every day, and we all know that a lot of days are boring.

If you are suddenly a celebrity, you still have to face what to do every day and it is probably a bummer so they fall apart.

The rest of us plod on doing what we have to - honestly, look at your life and tell me I'm wrong.

Alas! till now I had not known,
My guide and fortune's guide are one.

All the toys that infatuate men, and which they play for, — houses, land, money, luxury, power, fame, are the selfsame thing, with a new gauze or two of illusion overlaid. And of all the drums and rattles by which men are made willing to have their heads broke, and are led out solemnly every morning to parade, — the most admirable is this by which we are brought to believe that events are arbitrary, and independent of actions. At the conjuror's, we detect the hair by which he moves his puppet, but we have not eyes sharp enough to descry the thread that ties cause and effect.

Frank W. Emerson, essay "Fate"

That's a thoughtful topic; I thought this suited the thread well.

Joan of arc was a heroine of mine growing up. She was also burnt alive.
If I let my power match my passion it could lead to fame but when people can see you it's alot harder to hide. It's not just about trading one kind of freedom for another.. there is always a price to be payed.

[edit on 4-5-2010 by riley]

It used to be the case that most 'celebs' would have to have a very special skill to become famous: exceptional skills in sport, acting, music, writing etc. So when they became famous, there was always working on the exceptional skill which they had already devoted a large portion of their life developing, to sustain them through their disillusionment.

But now celebrity seems to be an end in itself and many of these people are don't seem to have any special talent.

No wonder they feel miserable.

If you are incredibly wealthy AND you play Beethoven piano concertos to packed houses, have the highest home run record as a baseball player, or you are the fastest man/woman alive in the 100 meters, then perhaps life isn't so bad, after all.

Funny I was just talking to a friend about this a few days ago. The minute you become famous, from that point on you can`t trust anyone you meet. You can`t ever know if they really like you as a person or if they want to use you as a stepping stool or just to be able to hang out with you while you spend money and hang out with other famous people. Because its funny, EVERYBODY likes you it seems. It wasn`t ever like that before... but its easy to forget about it and just accept all those friendships. In fact, you probably got famous because of someone else and its all a part of the game. And as a celebrity in the public eye, you gotta get used to following strict orders from random people literally whispering things into your ear and then disappearing to attend to some other matter of importance. They will tell you alll kinds of things like: say this, don`t say that, don`t EVER say that, don`t do this, don`t make eye contact, dont scratch your ass, don`t laugh at the wrong things, don`t get upset at these certain things, don`t talk about your stepson in jail, don`t talk about this important guest`s recent scandal, dont make songs/speeches about this, make them about that, etc., etc., etc... And you get followed by people with cameras just trying to catch you in a human moment but you must not let that happen, you must keep up the appearance of a robotic zombie. And theres so much more... people trying to trick you so they can sue you, people trying to get prefnant by you or get you to have sex and videotape it, kidnappers looking for a ransom, stalkers... And people want to be a celebrity. Millions of people get depressed because of their normal lives. Why? Because being a celebrity means you can waste all kinds of money and people will idolize you? Are people`s self-confidense that low? I mean, self-esteem...so low that the only way you can be happy is to have all kinds of "fans" practically worship you and be able to use cash as toilet paper? I`ll pass. I like having normal ralations and I likeknowing that people only hang around me cause they like me since I have no money.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

The main thing is to like yourself, famous or not.

I think life is not about being famous, it is about liking yourself.

Even if you have grown up being told you are worth nothing - life is about asserting yourself, because who are those people to judge you?

There's a lot of unnecessary celebs (especially in the entertainment business) that have no skills or talent, but who just want to be famous. These people will be forgotten in a few months, and after that they're the laughingstock of the whole planet.

Then there's the geniuses, artists, who want to bring their art to the world and actually avoid the publicity, Stanley Kubrick and a few musicians comes to mind. Especially in the music biz, there are a lot of people who just ride the trend waves, and will be forgotten pretty quick, while all the great art is timeless and gets played/watched over and over throughout the years, probably decades.

Originally posted by darnext
If you are incredibly wealthy AND you play Beethoven piano concertos to packed houses, have the highest home run record as a baseball player, or you are the fastest man/woman alive in the 100 meters, then perhaps life isn't so bad, after all.

Not bad if that is all you want in life. Very bad if you just want to be left alone. I am an isolationist by nature. Have very few friends and keep to myself. The life of a public figure is the worst imaginable fate to me. Money can only go so far, I would rather stay a blue collar worker making ends meat myself.

reply to post by silent thunder


i like it very much how you treat the subject of fame i wasnt sure about the means in seeing the topic, you are bringing a deep issue out that i was thinking about today

truly the source of being is of two different factor that determin everything positively, and of course since we are talking about the void evolutions we cant mean having a real living source so this the issue that make everyone invent being a source like of everything at least to himself being when from all beings we can understand the feature shape of right ones

so iguess the two different factors of beings source are, freedom sense and living one

it is too long of course to elaborate those factors as i see them and out of topic but shematically, freedom sense is what says that no living is above you or even infront of you and that is why you are the one that can move as source of anything you want or yourself alone

living sense is the right different one, that says that there is above you existing and it is your source of living sense with that superior existing fact, but that living sense is free because you know what to value about it precisely of you and your means independantly of what it is because you know how to consider what is superior as not caring for others livings but more for objective life of its own realisations
and in such mind dispositions you know how to give life to its realisations objective one from your sense of living geniunly as existing condition, prooving how you are free of that positive living already sense

so it is between there is noone above you at all or infront of you and what is infront of you or above you is what is superior to you, while you are always the moving point freedom above all

so that is the answer i see for what saw being different beings, ones that love fame and others things
fame is more meaning superior things life
and possessiveness is more meaning rewards of freedom in controlling totally what you think being its source life

now the issue also is what freedom reactions is what prevail always at the end as the only existing will, because at a certain point every pretention of being one living source, face the absolute truth fact, that say how each thing is itself source and each source is its own realisations, so loving superior existence cant be in truth, you have to stick to your guns and defend you as whatever you are only you

Ive heard some celebs get offers from the illuminati or whatever for huge fame and money in turn for them being a controlled distributor of mind control or programming, its supposedly big in the music industry. Then if the star feels bad about some of what they have to do and refuses, then they destroy them publically, often ruining any credebility they may have had and along with it the chance to expose their puppeteers. Apparently briteny spears, micheal jackson and now miley cyrus all choose this seemingly unrefusable offer. You can imagine how controllers wanting to run the world would want to get in on some of this "godlike, listen to all they say and do" status people give to celebs and use it to manipulate the masses.

I personally avoid celeb news as much as possible so I dont really have an opinion of them, I think this invasion of thier privacey is sickening. They sings songs or act in movies, so what get over it.

i dont know who can see the conclusion i see asserting that free life is the only absolute result
it could mean that with void evolution its source get more present too on its own free dimensionnal fact out of void

how positive is you as free realisator but also a superior living realisator from your perspective fact, as a more positive of you translation like

but how the principle that manage those superiorities facts, is the negation of it when you are not positive to it, and you cant be positive to unless absolutely since you have to give it life of your perspective as superior to you meaning ready to live of what superior live

and it is logical management in truth because if it is superior then it can order itself realisations since it is up truly

that what explain how evil could win on truth in a lot of living perspective , by simply rejecting it when it is on upper position fact, and how the issue is what i say about living rights how they cant have any interference from a freedom up to value their values and give them any life of up take them up and kill who bother it

so actually as if i was saying that the principle source now is wrong when it is about absolute freedom source , and new concept of source identification would better adapted to void life, living source

what a source can appreciate of superiority to give it life when it is existing struggle and as a source give it freely and get over it free adjusting that superiority as absolute source

You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire; you build egos the size of cathedrals; fiber-optically connect the world to every eager impulse; grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green, gold-plated fantasies, until every human becomes an aspiring emperor, becomes his own God... and where can you go from there?

reply to post by silent thunder


I would do the "there's two kinds of people in the world" on this one...call them fans-of-being and fans-of-becoming...and celebrity is only troublesome for the first group.

If you want to be happy, if you think you have a right to enjoyments, if you are leafing through the catalog of people-and-experiences continually trying to obtain that one person-product-or-service that can really finally do you the way you want to be done...if you are a lump, not a verb...then celebrity is another thing to dissatisfy you...(for some reason I'm thinking of that line from Spartacus Blood and Sand, "A house full of slaves and I have to do everything for myself," hee-hee)...

But if you have a mission, if you are a missile/instrument/finger-of-God, if you are living for something larger than yourself, if you know what to do and you are doing it (and once you get right with one of these philosophies consistently all the way down, successful external results are not required, nothing can stop you but death (and we score that as a draw)), then celebrity is not a problem...and if a problem does arise, it's a snag in the philosophy that causes it, celebrity like money is neutral...I don't think Mother Teresa was held back by celebrity...and Osama bin Laden is probably cool with it too, what do you think?

reply to post by TheLaughingGod


I think it would be the final downfall of all humanity when people start to believe that they're actually "gods". What does that even mean? We might have the spark inside us, but our body is mortal. Everything dies. It's good that way.

It's somehow amusing and scary at the same time when people with no spiritual insight talk about making themselves physically immortal. I think they're building their own personal hell.

We born, we experience, we die.

Originally posted by TheLaughingGod
You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire; you build egos the size of cathedrals; fiber-optically connect the world to every eager impulse; grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green, gold-plated fantasies, until every human becomes an aspiring emperor, becomes his own God... and where can you go from there?

Vanity...that's my favorite sin...I think I'll go sit in front of the vanity, for sure...