The Era of Celebrity Worship Needs to End
It's time we stop paying attention to people who entertain us. Seriously.
Following up on the last piece, The Era of Professional Politicians Needs to End, I think it’s timely to address another elephant in the room.
We’ve all seen the memes and read a million times about how everyone needs to can the celebrity worship and stop listening to people who aren’t very smart, are coddled, and don’t live in the real world like the rest of us.
Especially the ones who are famous for, er being famous? Yeah, those people.
As usual Joe Rogan hits it dead on with the Will Smith/Chris Rock incident that we’re not going to go over here as we’re all well aware of what happened last Sunday night:
Joe Rogan to Will Smith: "You just pulled your pants down and took a sh*t on the dinner table" 🤣
Joe, who’s pretty famous himself is right on it here:
“What I’m saying is these people live in this fake world of you know, you’re, you’re protected by guards, you’re driven by limos, you’re on the red carpet, you know.
Like all of it is crazy life. And he’s so goddamn famous (Will Smith) and so, so removed from regular discourse and interaction with regular people. That he for whatever reason in his head, acted like he’s a character in a movie.”
So why on earth do people follow these cloistered actors, musicians, and writers? (Especially the washed up ones, looking at you, Neil Young, Bette Midler, Barbara Streisand, Cher and the ever venerable hack Stephen King). You know, the ones who feel it’s their God given right to pontificate to the unwashed masses about whatever they think about life, politics, and how the rest of us should live when 99% of what is going on that affects us doesn’t affect them.
When someone reaches “celebrity status” where they become somewhat of a household name (which is harder these days given how fragmented entertainment is) all of a sudden the general public starts lending credence to these folks like they’re some sort of oracle for reaching a level where they’ve achieved notoriety.
Rubbish.
Just because someone can sing, play an instrument, act, or whatever it is that propels them into the public eye doesn’t mean they’re wise by any measure.
First, let’s address one big thing here when it comes to entertainment; Why people watch these ever increasingly annoying awards show is beyond me.
Yes, I get some people care about who gets the best picture, best album, song, actor, or best whatever award is out there, but here’s the big question:
DOES IT REALLY MATTER?
Entertainment is bread and circus, distraction, and in every sense of the word amusement and should have zero impact on our lives in reality.
Russell Brand, who along Joe Rogan is also doing a great job tearing the mask off this monster and exposing it to more and more people, gets it right here in this clip about the Will Smith incident:
“I think we’re missing the point of life. And that’s what I felt most keenly when I watched that.
This is sad.
Something is over.
We’re not talking about Cary Grant and the old days where everything was kind of urbane and sophisticated, it’s gone. It’s fallen apart. You can see it in music, you can see it in sport, you can see it in your supermarket.
The state of commercialism and commodification has reached a tipping point. It’s reached a point where it can’t sustain itself any more. The illusion is breaking down. The Oscars can’t even get to the end of itself without smacking itself in the mouth cause it somehow in some unconscious way knows that it’s stupid now.”
Even if Cary Grant were alive today, would it be a good idea to listen to what he has to say about life? Maybe, maybe not. But I think Russell is right here, that type of person, that class of people, even if that was what they publicly projected, have by and large been erased.
But the way these literal morons who pass for famous people from the past sixty plus years carry on about everything isn’t worth anyone’s time. Certainly not anyone who is making some sort of effort toward thinking and contemplating about how things are and what they possibly could do to be a positive contributor to our world instead of what they should be and sitting on their collective behinds doing nothing but consuming.
Russell Brand is correct saying that something is broken and isn’t now anywhere near what it was for us to care about such things as award shows. Society is broken and pop culture is very much one of the main reasons why. While many of us have our heads filled up with the crap that’s been churned out with what’s considered entertainment, we as a society are getting further and further away from reality.
Families have been debased to the point where Steve Cortes pointed out today on Steve Bannon’s War Room that American households owned by a traditional family are now the exception and not the rule.
And we wonder why civil discourse is down the hopper. This needs to change. We need to collectively wake the hell up and get back to being human beings and stop being so compartmentalized to the point where we literally do not understand each other.
Never mind race, sex, or cultural differences, we’ve gotten to the point where it’s odd to even speak with much less even know our neighbors names. People don’t look each other in the eye when speaking with others generally as there’s so much division and mistrust of everything.
Did we do this?
No. But we sure as hell allowed it to happen.
Take back humanity people, start with yourself. Say hello to people when out in public or at least nod and acknowledge their existence.
That and a little smile will go a long, long way.
You can follow me as @LostInABlueState on TruthSocial and Locals and also as @LostInABluState on Gettr
True, they merely pontificate and demand we take their word as gospel. I haven't watched that tripe for years and have no desire to.