Credit: Brian Richardson on Flickr
What is it with the public’s fascination with celebrities? Why do we all care so much about these people? What makes a celebrity “celebrity”? An inordinate amount of attention that’s what. We see them as special because they’re seen. Seen by many. But that doesn’t make them special. That doesn’t make them good people. They’re just famous for being good at something. Like singing or pretending…er I mean acting. Sometimes, they’re famous just for being famous. What the fizzle is Kim Kardashian famous for again? A sex tape? Well, you know what? I’m really good at scrubbing toilets and I bet that if I found the right agent and the right publicist, I could become a toilet scrubber extraordinaire celebrity. I’d scrub toilets all the way to the bank.
So in case you haven’t heard, Whitney Houston passed away. In case you didn’t know, she was a singer. A good one mind you, but she sang. Sure, maybe by proxy she helped people by momentarily making them feel better. She probably brightened a lot of peoples days with her music. Perhaps she was a good person that helped her community. But she didn’t save lives like doctors do, she didn’t sacrafice her safety like Police men and women do every day, she didn’t teach our children like teachers do, she was not a hero like the men and women in our armed forces. She just sang pretty.
Every news channel, every entertainment special is running programming on the life and death of Whitney Houston. Fans are weeping and gathering and mourning the loss of someone they didn’t even know.
I don’t find this fair to the real hero’s that pass away every day. The people that really make a difference and really touch peoples lives. When they pass, it’s just another Tuesday. But when a celebrity passes, hold the crackers because it’s a big deal.
nice post’s, very wise words
and every news person and celebrity psychologist and lawyer has to speculate on how she died, why she died, did someone kill her, did she kill herself. For goodness sake if people really cared about her leave it alone already; let her family experience a little compassion and dignity..
AND when you get your reality show about scrubbing toilets do let us know!
I totally agree with you. I think they become even more tortured and alienated when they’re glorified too. Must be a depressing existence – your toilet scrubbing is much more admirable. Can I have your autograph?
But seriously…I don’t want my daughters to aspire to be a celebrity or worship them. I want them to be happy and secure. Average everyday people with full lives.
you know, sometimes and some how, some celebs change people’s lives. Music reaches the soul and they feel connected to the artists.
But If I have to hear about someone’s death I would much rather hear about some has been celebrity than hear about some douchebag person who killed their wife, girlfriend, mother, father, children. I would rather be annoyed than sick to my stomach.
That is true, there is no end to the senseless acts of violence against the innocent. And the news media seems to have their fill of it every nightly news. However, no one is idolizing those poor victims that lost their lives. Crowds are not gathering and weeping over their loss. Crowds are changing the channel to not be barraged with violence while they eat dinner. But the masses are mourning the death of a celebrity with an apparent drug addiction *alleged drug addiction. I just can’t stand it.
I LOVE this post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And couldn’t agree more!
You are absolutely right but I think by highlighting these deaths and going on and on about how they died it brings certain issues to the forefront. In this case drugs. We have been talking about drugs in our house for days now. And we talked about suicide when kirk cobain took his own life.
So while the media wants to celebrate their contribution to the industry they talk in detail about what killed them. These celebrities become examples to learn from.