People seem to really care about what happens to people associated with Pop Culture. They round out the most searched items in search engines and festoon the headlines and serve as consultants and guests on shows of all kinds. When they arrive, we roll out the red carpet and drool and swoon at the prospect of getting their signature scrawled on a scrap of paper. Who says they have clout? They are entertainers, and like other professionals they are subject matter experts, if anywhere, only in their field of employ.
You turn to experts in the field for expert opinion. You do not ask a dentist to disable a bomb or a janitor to perform a fundescopic examination. You do not ask a homeless man for investment advice or an illiterate one for help with a college essay. You do not ask an atheist to explain Christianity or a pedophile to defend abstinence education. You do not trust people who lie for a living or love people who show a history of betrayal. Why do we listen to and fawn over 'celebrities'?
People, however, have chosen unwisely since before recorded time. Back in February, a female friend of mine went to the cinema with me to see a movie. Although we both found it very sappy and contrived, at the end she told me how much she loved the actor. I replied, "How could you possibly be in love with Channing Tatum, Zac Efron, and the like? They get paid to lie for a living, to pretend to be someone they are not." In March, the news media made a big hullabaloo about political comments made by Tom Hanks. I told a friend who asked me what I thought about Hanks' comments "why do we care what Tom Hanks thinks about politics? He's an actor. He gets paid to pretend, so let's stop pretending he's more important than he really is."
These people, the socialites in pop culture, are famous for the wrong reasons. I only know who the Kardashians are because they're pretty (according to some), and I only know who Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers are because they make headlines on Yahoo. I do not usually watch TV. Two nights per week, I teach, and one night per week I am in a class; there's nothing good on TV Friday night anyway. I have never heard most of these people sing. I listen to mix cassette tapes or the radio in my car, which is turned to Oldies stations or news. The beautiful people are famous because they are rich, because they are cute, or because they are famous or related to famous people. Some of them may be talented, but most of us only know them for their screen personae, which may or may not resemble them in any way whatsoever.
Originally, there were some in this current crop I admired. That is the exception rather than the rule. Colbie Callait's father is in the music business. Lindsey Lohan was made a star by Disney. The 'hot' women have impossible physiques, which they maintain because they are paid to be beautiful. If I had a personal trainer, nutritionist, and four hours per day during which to work out and millions of dollars in incentives, I might look like those people too. Gone, however, are the men like James Arness, Ronald Reagan, Andy Rooney, Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, Don Knotts, Charles Schultz, and Jimmy Stewart, who all signed up to serve in wartime. We are at war now, and NONE of these socialites has anything good to say about the war or the troops engaged therein.
People are remembered for what they do. Even if you have not read any of their works, people know who Goethe, Plato, More, Chaucer, Cicero, Aurelius, the Apostle Paul, Pythagorus, and Luther are because of what they left behind them. Instead of works like these men, members of the pop culture leave 'historical documents' that are nothing more than lies and outbursts behind. How many pop stars sell songs about loved ones who broke their heart that we buy? How many pop stars portray immorality for which depictions we pay? Truly, as Marc Antony said at Caesar's funeral pyre, 'the evil that men do lives after them [while] the good is oft interred with their bones'.
I am glad you are good actors because sometimes I need an escape. When it comes to your actual value, easy come, easy go. I'll leave something behind worth remembering. Be you. Do what you do. That is a life worth living, and the only kind worthy of veneration.
"We pretended...we lied." --Jason Nesbit in 'Galaxy Quest'
"Bush lied; people died." --Democrat campaign slogan
You turn to experts in the field for expert opinion. You do not ask a dentist to disable a bomb or a janitor to perform a fundescopic examination. You do not ask a homeless man for investment advice or an illiterate one for help with a college essay. You do not ask an atheist to explain Christianity or a pedophile to defend abstinence education. You do not trust people who lie for a living or love people who show a history of betrayal. Why do we listen to and fawn over 'celebrities'?
People, however, have chosen unwisely since before recorded time. Back in February, a female friend of mine went to the cinema with me to see a movie. Although we both found it very sappy and contrived, at the end she told me how much she loved the actor. I replied, "How could you possibly be in love with Channing Tatum, Zac Efron, and the like? They get paid to lie for a living, to pretend to be someone they are not." In March, the news media made a big hullabaloo about political comments made by Tom Hanks. I told a friend who asked me what I thought about Hanks' comments "why do we care what Tom Hanks thinks about politics? He's an actor. He gets paid to pretend, so let's stop pretending he's more important than he really is."
These people, the socialites in pop culture, are famous for the wrong reasons. I only know who the Kardashians are because they're pretty (according to some), and I only know who Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers are because they make headlines on Yahoo. I do not usually watch TV. Two nights per week, I teach, and one night per week I am in a class; there's nothing good on TV Friday night anyway. I have never heard most of these people sing. I listen to mix cassette tapes or the radio in my car, which is turned to Oldies stations or news. The beautiful people are famous because they are rich, because they are cute, or because they are famous or related to famous people. Some of them may be talented, but most of us only know them for their screen personae, which may or may not resemble them in any way whatsoever.
Originally, there were some in this current crop I admired. That is the exception rather than the rule. Colbie Callait's father is in the music business. Lindsey Lohan was made a star by Disney. The 'hot' women have impossible physiques, which they maintain because they are paid to be beautiful. If I had a personal trainer, nutritionist, and four hours per day during which to work out and millions of dollars in incentives, I might look like those people too. Gone, however, are the men like James Arness, Ronald Reagan, Andy Rooney, Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, Don Knotts, Charles Schultz, and Jimmy Stewart, who all signed up to serve in wartime. We are at war now, and NONE of these socialites has anything good to say about the war or the troops engaged therein.
People are remembered for what they do. Even if you have not read any of their works, people know who Goethe, Plato, More, Chaucer, Cicero, Aurelius, the Apostle Paul, Pythagorus, and Luther are because of what they left behind them. Instead of works like these men, members of the pop culture leave 'historical documents' that are nothing more than lies and outbursts behind. How many pop stars sell songs about loved ones who broke their heart that we buy? How many pop stars portray immorality for which depictions we pay? Truly, as Marc Antony said at Caesar's funeral pyre, 'the evil that men do lives after them [while] the good is oft interred with their bones'.
I am glad you are good actors because sometimes I need an escape. When it comes to your actual value, easy come, easy go. I'll leave something behind worth remembering. Be you. Do what you do. That is a life worth living, and the only kind worthy of veneration.
"We pretended...we lied." --Jason Nesbit in 'Galaxy Quest'
"Bush lied; people died." --Democrat campaign slogan
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