I don't get it. Why do people idolize celebrities? What genetic reason is there for being a brainless sheep? What is the point of talking about how attractive someone is or how great they are or giving a shit at all because they are rich and famous? First, this person has, and always will have, no bearing on the average person's life. Second, fame and fortune do not at all add up to a better person. Yet why does it seem to me that such a small percentage of the general population understands this? I mean, come on. Excuse my venom, but who fucking cares if Brad Pitt goes to the hospital? I went to the hospital two weeks ago with so-called "flu-like symptoms" and the BBC didn't pick that up. Neither do they pick up that every day thousands of poeople in Africa die of AIDS. I'm pretty sure in those thousands, every day there are people dying with more talent and potential than Brad Pitt. Yet he is famous! So we must obsess! Damned be the people who are truly suffering!
I see those supermarket gossip rags and I want to puke. Why the hell do people care who Angelina "Lips of Collagen" Jokie is fucking this week? Housewives, quit trying to catch up on Catherine Zeta Jones' sex life and maybe check out why your husband is so busy every week.
Gah. Yeah, there are plenty of famous people out there who genuinely deserve praise. But that doesn't mean they need legions of blubbering idiots who would rather take their own lives than see their idol in trouble. I watched a news item here in Japan about some shitty-punk (yes, I truly believe that's a viable genre title for the style of music that virtually all teenagers are listening to) star who choked on his own vomit after an OD or some other such nonsense. The footage showed his funeral limosine surrounded by wailing teenagers, who were pretty much flagellating themselves in despair. What the hell. He was a person, not some God. These people react more to some dumbass in ripped jeans and crappy hair than they would if their own parents died.
This world is a disgusting, backwards place.
/rant
Mind you, I was in a perfectly chipper mood until someone thought it was newsworthy to write about Brad Pitt's fever. Oy ...
Comments
The best part about the BBC article is that it actually provides links on the right to other news sites.. in case the headline wasn't enough information for you, go over to the Monteray Herald for "Pitt ailing after visit to Monterey" or channel four news states the obvious with "Brad Pitt in hospital", and my personal favorite on the Chicago Tribune: "Pitt in the pits, goes to hospital".
It is truly sad that while Brad Pitt getting the flu makes headlines, other stuff that is at least as important (such as the Downing Street memo that proves Bush fixed intelligence to make the case for war in Iraq) is all but forgotten about.
Posted by: oldefezziwig | July 14, 2005 11:34 PM
This is exactly what I was huffing about. Every day George Bush miraculously gets away from more damning evidence that he is a fucking demagogue, and what news do we get? Brad Pitt is in the hospital. Even the BBC, normally a decent news source, is at fault here.
In light of that, this is an interesting blog: http://www.demagogue.blogspot.com
Posted by: Justin | July 15, 2005 9:31 AM
Justin, you're right! But unfortunately the world is full of people who are too unintelligent and stuck up their backside to think for themselves - they need a role model, or what they think is a role model to give them inspirations. I'm surprised at the BBC for publishing such nonsense.
Posted by: Leigh | July 17, 2005 8:09 PM