ARTelevision

As you know, I think there's nothing at all worthwhile about celebrities. After reading this, you'll probably claim you fit into the "mild worshipper" category. Sure, that's what they all say.
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Celebrity Worship Causing Some To Go Crazy
May 15, 2003 - Wireless Flash, from NCBuy

LONDON (Wireless Flash) -- Being a celebrity follower has its advantages and its downfalls.
A recent study by psychologists in England and the U.S. found that "celebrity worship syndrome" can do a person good or bad.

They found that people who have mild celebrity worship are more outgoing, happy and optimistic.

But on the darker side, fans who follow celebrities for intense-personal reasons are likely to be more depressed and anxious, while those who demonstrate high levels of sociopathic celebrity worship "may well be solitary, impulsive, anti-social and troublesome."

Researchers say one girl slit her wrists and neck and slipped into a hot bath after she read her favorite musician got engaged.

It sounds scary, but Dr. John Maltby of the University of Leicester says celebrity worship isn't necessarily a bad thing. He explains, "like many other behaviors, over-indulgence in one thing may not always be good for you."
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If you like and feel the need to defend your "entertainment", fine.
There's no need to place any value on the celebrities who deliver it to you. They are all one-trick ponies in the sensory circus.
As far as your entertainment needs are concerned, celebrities are a sort of necessary evil. They are simply the non-entities who deliver it to your perceptual apparatus. Watch them if you must. Ignore them if you can.

Anyone have some insights into this besides defending your personal guilty pleasures?

Feel free to inquire what my problem with celebrities really is.

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XenuHubbard

This is scary. I have to quit being famous. Oh well.

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rogue49

They're entertainers
Simple, period

Enjoy their work, that's it.

SecretMethod70

LOVE the nickname



Anyway, I strongly believe that while the study may show a relation between the two it does not seem to show a correlation between them. And, if anything, I believe it goes the opposite direction - i.e. people who are "solitary, impulsive, anti-social and troublesome" tend to display "high levels of sociopathic celebrity worship" rather than the other way around. I think their other character flaws LEAD them to celebrity worship, not that celebrity worship causes the character flaws.


That said, while I agree that celebrities are no more important as humans than anyone else, I think it's wrong to make blanket statements degrading them as people and their intentions. They are no more or less "one-trick ponies" than anyone else who performs a function in society. Cooks are "one-trick ponies," computer programmers are "one-trick ponies," and architects are "one-trick ponies" to name a few. The only difference is their "trick" isn't as immediately visible and isn't visually linked to them.

Are celebrities held at a much higher esteem than they ought to be? Of course. Do I think their contribution to society (generally speaking) is less important than the computer programmers or the cooks? No. Music is necessary. Art is necessary. Theatre is necessary. Humans have an intrinsic urge to create and these are just a few of the many types of outlets for that creation.

Are there bad celebrities? Of course. Especially in music where a lot of them are blatebtly manufactured. However, a great deal of them - especially in theatre and movies - became celebrities due to their talents. Tom Cruise, for example, is an excellent actor.

The issue, I believe, is not the aspect of celebrity itself, but the absence in society of a seperation between the task which the celebrity excels at and those which he/she does not. John Carmack is an excellent computer programmer, but I don't see him on CNN talking about political decisions (at least, not ones unrelated to his field of excellence). Charlie Trotter is a great chef, but I don't see him being interviewed on Nightline about campaign finance reform. Yet, celebrities are good actors, singers, etc who I DO see on the news and speaking at events about things completely unrelated to the fields in which they excel - namely acting, singing, etc. THAT is the basic flaw in celebrity - not its existence, but societies treatment of it.

Can you blame a celebrity for taking advantage of this though? I don't think you can. I know that if I were a celebrity for, say, acting, and I lived in a society which, although I was not involved in politics would listen to my views on the matter, I would certainly take advantage of the situation and express my views.

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"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

Cynthetiq

well stated.

Each individual has their place and spot in society. You are very right someone has to be the garbage collector, butcher, janitor, and other "lowly" jobs. But that does not make them any more or less valuable to society.

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vermin

I'll bite, what's your problem with celebrities?

As for insight, whenever watching movies or tv it's important to remember that the actors are portraying characters written by one or more other people. The characters may be likeable, heroic, talented, genius or any other of a host of good character traits, but the actor is acting, pretending to be something they're not. Whether actor, musician, anchorman, etc. people are just people. Being put under the spotlight by tabloids, tv, and their own P.R. often does weird things to them. Most notably, turning them into the biggest assholes on the planet.
I suspect the whole punk/alternative/resistance-to-selling-out thing in music is a response to bad experiences by some after meeting their 'heroes'. If certain bands were true to their artist claims and declarations that they have not 'sold out', they wouldn't be signed to a recording contract. And they definitely wouldn't be testifying before congress about the dangers (to their wallets) of trading music on the internet.
Oops, off on a tangent.
Too much of anything is bad. Worship of people who barely merit acknowledgement of existance is horrible.
My 2 pence.

edit: when I started typing this there was only one response here. after reading secretmethod70's post I think I missed the point of the article. Oops. I agree with him, but I think the points I made, however irrelevant, are still valid.

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ARTelevision

My reasons would be as described in the second paragraph above. They are deleterious to our sane, healthy functioning.

You may say, "Well, the first sentence above states a positive effect."

Yes, agreed. I don't focus much on that because what really concerns me is how absolutely everyone places themselves in that category. And also how we respond to this and other similar topics with a thinly veiled defense and self-justification of our own feelings about our "entertainment".

If I encountered people who were willing to expend more than a cursory sentence about how the "products" that are dumped on our heads as in a school girls' hazing ritual may have some problematic aspects when excessively ingested, it would tend to convince me you are willing to acknowledge these things have a measured amount of mind poison in them, rather than just stating in one way or another that they don't affect you personally because you are a discriminating individual or perhaps because you're parents raised you well.

At that point, the question is a matter of degree.

I'd be happy to leave it at that if you'd be willing to admit and perhaps discuss as if it were worthy of discussing that there are some things quite debilitating about popular culture.

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Reese

I dont actually think that Celebrity's opinions are held higher than a normal persons opinion. I believe the only time a celebrity's opinion matters more than any other person's opinion is when he has reason behind it. I'm not going to listen to Alec baldwin talk about anything, He said he'd leave the United States if Bush was elected, Well guess what, He still lives in Hollywood. Unless you are one of the obsessive people, No celeb is going to change anyone's opinion anymore than I can change someone's opinion. All they have is a broader audience. With a broader audience you have that much more feedback on the opinion. So it only seems that their opinions Count more than mine or yours. They are always in the spotlight so their opinions are too, When this happens its just a side effect that instead of 5-6 people thinking you have absurd ideas, millions of people think you had absurd ideas.
This is how I see it, I could be wrong.

edit: one word missing screws up the entire paragraph :/

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maximusveritas

I, for one, think these people are crazy BEFORE they start worshiping celebrities.

gibber71

I agree with ARt especially concerning the people's 'darker side',those exhibiting traits that go beyond simple admiration.For instance,there are some celebrities I would like to meet,not because of their fame,but rather why they pursued their passion,their influences,their creative outlets and how they tap them etc...but to apply anymore importance to them because of their celebrity is ridiculous. Thet sit down on the throne and shit just like everyone else. I'm no shrink,but people that are serious celebrity worshipper's really need to find out why someone elses life has so much importance while their own lives apparently have little or none.

Liquor Dealer

This comes no where close to worship but it does remind me of how "in love" many of us on the TB became with Tammi/Sophie on the old boards. It is also almost amazing in how she lost so much of her glitter as we saw more and more of her in a short period of time. While still a gorgeous girl there is just something that's not there anymore. I think this is what happens in so many instances when someone is allowed to becomes larger than life in our minds.

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ARTelevision

Yes, this is good for us to consider - that's all I'm saying.
I would never want to take away your favorite celebrities.

I do, though, feel a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of popular culture we are immersed in every day of our lives and I'm simply calling attention to it's negative aspects. When folks respond like fish saying "What water? We don't see any water," I start to get concerned and even a bit panicky. I mean this is not supposed to be the Matrix already, you know!

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