Done with all that!
As you no doubt can tell, I enjoy just about every sport there is to televise. I also enjoy filling the seats to see the best at work, almost regardless of what sporting venture you can name.
Yet I have never been such a junkie that I can rattle off the stats and figures accompanying an athlete or team. I care about how well they perform, if they'll make the playoffs or whether a key performer is out; I couldn't care less for knowing all the silly minutia surrounding them. It just doesn't stick with me, and I don't seek it out.
But I can tell you that I have now become even more weary of another obsessive subset of our society — the cult of celebrity. Here I'm talking about subscribers to People magazine, those who constantly look at TMZ and anyone who can tell you who is dating whom.
The cult of celebrity is, in my opinion, considerably more shallow than the supposedly empty-headed jocksniffer obsessing about RBIs and passing percentages. Star worshipers are mentally weaker individuals because they are, at the end of the day, devouring every single meaningless detail of the most nonconsequential.
Anyone who can tell you Celebrity A has been with Celebrity B since he/she left Celebrity C is likely a vacuous conversationalist at best. And this same airhead could be a man or a woman, sometimes someone older than you might imagine. It's amazing how much depth is missing from those you come in contact with every day.
Here's my take on the whole "being a celebrity" matter:
For the most part, these are people who are simply famous for being famous; many have never made a noticeable contribution to whatever branch of entertainment they populate. Many are nothing more than puppets — 'pretty' faces, good voices or some other marketable hook that can be exploited for someone else's financial gain.
In short, they are ordinary people with overly publicized, under important jobs. They are not newsworthy, they contribute nothing of any real value to your life and they are actually just victims of the hype machine. If anything, I sometimes feel sorry for them as people perceive that they have more money than they really do and/or they are more in control than they really are of their daily lives.
Celebrity and fame and all that goes with it have never been more emphasized than they are in today's society. I couldn't even begin to guess just how much money is made every day with tv, internet and magazine publishing talking about nothing more than the latest Hollywood garbage. According to one news story that caught my eye last week, it's more than $100 million a year for a certain "singer" alone.
I said at the beginning of this rant that I have become weary of the cult of celebrity, and my "tired-of-it" stand comes from routine exposure to it on a nearly daily basis.
But I'm going to start to buck that trend. I'm going to tell anyone that wants to talk to me about those topics that I'm likely not their best choice .... I'm going to go out of my way to avoid "news" about celebrities and Hollywood in general ... I'll still be reviewing movies and films, but that doesn't necessitate an unhealthy obsession.
So that all being said, who's with me?
Yet I have never been such a junkie that I can rattle off the stats and figures accompanying an athlete or team. I care about how well they perform, if they'll make the playoffs or whether a key performer is out; I couldn't care less for knowing all the silly minutia surrounding them. It just doesn't stick with me, and I don't seek it out.
But I can tell you that I have now become even more weary of another obsessive subset of our society — the cult of celebrity. Here I'm talking about subscribers to People magazine, those who constantly look at TMZ and anyone who can tell you who is dating whom.
The cult of celebrity is, in my opinion, considerably more shallow than the supposedly empty-headed jocksniffer obsessing about RBIs and passing percentages. Star worshipers are mentally weaker individuals because they are, at the end of the day, devouring every single meaningless detail of the most nonconsequential.
Anyone who can tell you Celebrity A has been with Celebrity B since he/she left Celebrity C is likely a vacuous conversationalist at best. And this same airhead could be a man or a woman, sometimes someone older than you might imagine. It's amazing how much depth is missing from those you come in contact with every day.
Here's my take on the whole "being a celebrity" matter:
For the most part, these are people who are simply famous for being famous; many have never made a noticeable contribution to whatever branch of entertainment they populate. Many are nothing more than puppets — 'pretty' faces, good voices or some other marketable hook that can be exploited for someone else's financial gain.
In short, they are ordinary people with overly publicized, under important jobs. They are not newsworthy, they contribute nothing of any real value to your life and they are actually just victims of the hype machine. If anything, I sometimes feel sorry for them as people perceive that they have more money than they really do and/or they are more in control than they really are of their daily lives.
Celebrity and fame and all that goes with it have never been more emphasized than they are in today's society. I couldn't even begin to guess just how much money is made every day with tv, internet and magazine publishing talking about nothing more than the latest Hollywood garbage. According to one news story that caught my eye last week, it's more than $100 million a year for a certain "singer" alone.
I said at the beginning of this rant that I have become weary of the cult of celebrity, and my "tired-of-it" stand comes from routine exposure to it on a nearly daily basis.
But I'm going to start to buck that trend. I'm going to tell anyone that wants to talk to me about those topics that I'm likely not their best choice .... I'm going to go out of my way to avoid "news" about celebrities and Hollywood in general ... I'll still be reviewing movies and films, but that doesn't necessitate an unhealthy obsession.
So that all being said, who's with me?
Couldn't agree more. TMZ is a stain on our society.
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Another thing I CANNOT stand is that the normal news stations are now adding stories about celebrities to the lineup rather than sticking with the local/world news. I've heard that there are reporters on CNN etc. that refuse to report on these stories. I say "YEA"! to them! The only time I think there could be an exception is if someone dies, and that needs to be a brief mention. I don't care if a celebrity is being committed to an insane asylum or being arrested for their 40th DUI!
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I've been outside the "celebrity worshiping" demographic for years now, and I have to confess to a feeling of superiority (intellectual AND moral) over those who are not.
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