What's wrong with celebrities?
Is there anything wrong with buying magazines that gush over the latest star, that share the beauty secrets of these famous people, and also let us in on their secret agonies?
Is there something off when we watch Entertainment E stories on the top 10 fashion flops, the ten sexiest blondes, the 100 most romantic movie moments? Anything wrong with that?
Anything wrong with make-up ads and skin creams that are endorsed by famous movie stars, because 'you're worth it'?
Well, there's actually a fucking lot wrong with it. The people you see in those music videos, on the movie screen, in magazines, are paid truckloads of money. For what? For being desirable. Do they have any problems besides knowing what to do with their money, and choosing the most appropriate publicity stunt or exposure scheme? And so your attention really simply loads up the money train.
Meanwhile. This is happening.
That's reality. That's the truth. Can you handle it? Can you handle the fact that 100 million people more are hungrier this year than last year. That's a third of the population of the entire USA scrounging for food. The total is 1.02 billion. That's 1 in 7. What are the other 6 people in the world doing? I'll tell you what. They're chomping on popcorn, they're watching TV, they're trying to look cool, and they're looking at celebrities - trying to look like Lady Gaga for answers on how to look cool.
Well, if you're a celebrity obsessed zombie, have you noticed what two celebrities are doing? Madonna and Angelina Jolie. My guess is that their gut is saying to them: The amount of attention I'm getting is unhealthy. Their are better uses for it.
Princess Diana and her sons feel the same way. Celebrities are people who pretend. They're actors. They make money by pretending to be fighting, pretending to be in love, pretending to have sex with someone. It's not real. Often they're paid thousands of dollars for breast augmentation surgery and other treatments to make their teeth look whiter and their faces to look younger. Meanwhile, pretty important things are happening in the real world. Like what? Exactly.
While you're obsessing about them, and they're obsessing about themselves, some very urgent things are going on beyond the moony glow of the television, and your computer monitor. Know what what is? Real life on earth.
Right now you have your life and you can choose what to do with it. You can sit around playing computer games or googling your way to keep boredom at bay. You can also turn your attention to the reality in your street. Someone around the corner is suffering. Perhaps even dying. Do you know? Do you even care? Would it be too much trouble to offer them a blanket, or a tin of beans, or a t-shirt?
I want you to think critically when next you find yourself talking about a celebrity like they're your best friend. They're not. Do they know who you are? Would they call you if you gave them your phone number? I doubt it, because they're far, far more important than you are. Each time you buy a magazine or read some gossip column you're caught up in our culture of celebrity. It's newspaper headlines, the magazines are full of it. Some people are inspiring. But some are not. Hugh Hefner. Sacha Baren Cohen. Lady Gaga. Ryan Seacrest. Simon Cowell. Most of it is a distraction from things we should but probably wouldn't want to know about. But people are out there, crying out.
Are you part of that uncaring world? Do you want to be there? Do you care about a dead cat in New York? Do you care that students put a cat into a microwave oven? Now what about dying people? Or, when it comes to people, is your interest limited to loin rubs like Paris Hilton releasing a sex tape?
When you see someone worse off than yourself, offer them a smile, ask them how they are. Talk to them. Listen. Ask them how you can help. Pay attention to groups of people who are suffering. Because when you learn to take care of others - whom you may feel you have little or no stake, no obvious benefit - then you begin to contribute to the human condition, and you provide a little evidence to the planet that our species is not a cancer, not a contagion. Are we able to help our own kind, or are we at such a level of selfishness - and shallowness - now, that it is every man for himself. Worshipping the Celebrity Idols means distraction from and the neglect of hundreds of millions who really need our love, and attention.
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