Have you ever scrolled through your Facebook or Twitter feed, and actually paid attention to the nonsense headlines that spews out of the posts or tweets?
When I was younger, I liked a lot of fashion/teen magazine pages on Facebook, and today I went through my feed for a few minutes on January 7, 2015 and found these:
- “um…what Kim Kardashian said to her sister is NOT nice” – Seventeen Magazine
- “Watch Old People’s Hilarious Reaction to Kim Kardashian’s Naked Paper Magazine Photos” – MTV
- “This is not a drill – Justin Bieber is actually modeling for Calvin Klein” – MTV
- “OMG! EWWWW OUCH! What happened to Farah Abraham’s lips? #teenmom” – Z100
- “Blake Lively’s baby name is SO Blake Lively” – Nylon, Sidereel, Seventeen Magazine, B96, VH1, MTV, every major twitter account
And the question that popped into my mind was: “why do people care so much about the lives of celebrities?” Why do people care so much about the personal details of people they’ve never met before, or probably will ever meet?Why is every insignificant detail about a celebrities’ life blown completely out of proportion and made into a big deal? In the media, celebrities’ lives are scrutinized under the media microscope, whether it’s through stalker-esque twitter accounts, magazines reporting on tabloids (most of which are false and only written to capture the reader’s attention when they’re browsing at magazines in the checkout lines at Walmart), or other social media websites such as tumblr or Facebook.
I am angry over how the internet makes stupid people famous. For example:
- Kim Kardashian or any other socialite
- Terio
Terio living an easy life after producing one famous vine. - Alex from Target
Alex from Target ended up on Ellen for looking good while bagging groceries
None of these people contribute positively to society…none of these people do anything that requires skill or hard work and discipline to accomplish…none of these people worked hard to earn their status besides some luck or backdoor means. In my opinion, only a foolish, callow, and insolent person could revere such a person. Also, with all of these people eating the spotlight, people are unable to appreciate true contributors to society, such as:
- Rosalind Franklin: backbone to the discovery of DNA, leading to the discovery of an infinite amount of genetic diseases and possible cures for illnesses such as cancer and AIDS
- Nikola Tesla: inventor of AC current and helped make electricity readily available for commercial use
- Elon Musk: co-founder of PayPal, Tesla Motors, Space X, Hyperloop, and Solar City and is working on commercializing space travel and is a pioneer in the pursuit of futuristic-elements to human life, such as colonizing Mars or creating high speed travel around the world
- Alexander Fleming & Jonas Salk: invented Pencillin & the vaccine for polio, respectively, saving the lives of countless individuals around the globe from the 20th century to now
- Karl Marx: genius who instigated the communist thoughts of men who changed the course of history, such as Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin
What do socialites, Terio, or Alex from Target do? Socialites gained their fame either through their wealthy parents or making stupid decisions in life. What kind of example does that set for children? Terio is a young boy who doesn’t do anything besides take pictures with scantily-clad women while throwing up gang signs. Alex from Target bagged groceries and then was instantly turned into a phenomenon. None of these people spent long nights at the lab setting up experiments or writing books or making executive decisions. Yet they receive more fame than people who deserve the applause. The most they have to offer are decent looks and an ability to exploit the population’s provincial interests. At least with singers or actresses, they are working hard to perform a task, whether it be writing an album or filming a movie. However, many are still blown out of proportion and more famous than they should be because they’re always featured on tabloids for doing stupid things or having children, such as Miley Cyrus, Amanda Bynes, or Blake Lively. People are blind to the fact that bad press is still press, and continue to promote celebrities, even if they are chastising their actions (like swinging naked on a wrecking ball).
The repercussions of this debacle is that many children are influenced into wanting to be famous through un-intellectual means. They think it’s easy to rise to fame through singing and acting – especially nowadays with talent shows such as American Idol or The X Factor – and want the glory of people lauded by millions of fans around the world. They think that by being attractive, they can live an easy life as a VS model like the ones on the fashion show and in the magazines. There is no glory in being an engineer or researcher. Most don’t achieve fame. Most people could probably name more singers or actresses than scientists or CEOs of large companies. Why be a scientists dressed in a white lab coat hunched over a lab rat and petri dish when you can live the glamorous life of a model traveling around NYC, like the people portrayed on social media?
kungfuliu1 
I love reading your posts, Jessie! I could see you garnering a big audience as a blogger! I love that you are so in tune to the media, and you really get what McLuhan said oh so many years ago. I think I said this on your last post, but remember to go through your blog when you’re looking for ideas for your IB Written Tasks. This will help!
Great balance of humor, passion, and intellect. Well done!
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I agree that people who have made large contributions to science or to the world in general should receive more recognition than they do in today’s society. However, I feel that people become famous for “stupid reasons” because the public wants to see certain things, mainly for superficial reasons. For example, most superfans of male celebrities tend to be young females. To put it simply, they like seeing attractive boys. Keeping up with the lives of celebrities is like watching a TV show; you want to find out what happens to the characters. It’s a form of entertainment, though unconventional compared to the past. There’s a striking difference between being a fan of a show versus being a fan of a person: the person is real. Real things happen to real people, and for whatever reason, they attract fans. Maybe their fans look up to that person as a role model, or wish to look like that person, or want to become as well-known as that person. Following the daily actions of “stupid” celebrities is a break from real problems, and while I feel it is somewhat foolish, it does bring people together.
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This is a quality post. From the Banksy picture at the end to the hilarious Jimmy Kimmel video I found myself agreeing with you on your opinions on celebrities, especially Kim Kardashian. The game that Kim Kardashian funded for mobile devices made me realize just how narcissistic celebrities can be. Although I agree that stupid people should not be famous, I wholeheartedly believe that all celebrities are definitely not stupid and use their fame for good. For example, I bet many have seen the pictures that paparazzi have taken of Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield walking together holding cards up asking for the readers to stop paying attention to them and start paying attention to some charities they list. I just wish more celebrities were role models, maybe then they can actually contribute something other than entertainment to society.
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Great blog in general, Jessie! This was an interesting post, and it’s about a topic that isn’t really spoken about in today’s society (mostly because we are based off of celebrities). As much as I wish we could recognize the people who truly contributed to society, I think the human race subconsciously needs to have celebrities. They do things that normal functioning members of society would never dare to do. We desire celebrities and most of us don’t even know it. It’s so similar to what McLuhan said about the Media Massaging us in ways we could never know. I wrote my essay on this and I now notice it in everyday life. However, I think you only addressed about half of the celebrities out there. There are some celebrities that are truly famous like philanthropists, actors, athletes, and musical artists. They provide real entertainment to us, and I think that we appreciate those types of celebrities a great deal more than Kim K. I loved the picture integrations and just the whole blog!
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Honestly Jessie, although this is only your second blog post, I have to say that I’m thoroughly impressed with your work. From targeting overreaching feminists, to this, I’m quite amazed at your keen perception of popular ideas, and your success in refuting them; you may make a fantastic Republican yet! At any rate, I’d have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment of your post, in that the idolization of small-minded, egotistical people due to their appearance or reputation is ridiculous. I’d go so far as to say that it is an oft-recurring issue with humans of any historical period, in that it is our nature to get closer to that which we do not have (i.e. fame and fortune). I’d have to agree with your point on the ignorance of common people towards scientists, business magnates, and other truly successful people, and since, of course, I can’t say anything without broaching into politics, I would expand this to include pretty much any legislator outside of the president and the vice president. Perhaps a small group of people actually know who their representative is. An even tinier fraction of that group has actually gotten in contact with that representative. Americans on the whole have a severely lacking grasp of civics and economics, and to be honest, that becomes a breeding ground for ignorance, and eventually, subjugation. While it’s certainly a stretch to say so, I would assert that, when the majority of people are more concerned with Kim Kardashian’s latest stunt instead of their local, state, and federal government, then you have a tremendous problem. Because a populace that doesn’t care about one government won’t care about another; even if that new one is, plainly put, tyranny.
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I totally agree with everything this post says. Why on earth do we idolize and talk about the most base deeds of people? We gossip about family fights of random people across the country, we talk about the drug abuse and crazy partying of complete strangers. Celebrities have their place in entertainment, but we should talk about real merit, deeds and achievements. At least, talk about the movie someone starred in instead of their latest divorce (why do we even care?) Let’s give kids something better to aspire to, like the scientists you mentioned who are actually helping to further our society.
As my mom always says, “they all poop too.” (I swear The Interview stole this from her)
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