I Don't Understand Celebrity Worship.

[Captain Snooze]

Some cricketer died today after being struck by a cricket ball a couple of days ago. It was at a public match, he was wearing all the protective gear. It was a rare and very unlucky occurrence.

I generally get my news from one online newspaper (which also has a paper edition). There were more than one article on his death. Here are some of the headlines from the same edition of the online "paper": "Michael Clarke rocked by Hughes' death", "Shattered: Cricketers in shock", and my favourite (I am being sarcastic) "The news the country was dreading". That's right! The entire country!!

There is even a page where people can leave condolences, thoughts and their sorrow. I find it especially cringe worthy when all people can say is "blah blah blah RIP."Rest in peace"? They aren't resting, they're dead. "Mummy, mummy, when's daddy coming home?" "Ah, not for a while. He's just resting in peace"

I don't watch TV, I have no idea who this person was, he was some sporting guy but there appears to be many people here who are grieved by the death of a stranger. Sure, he was a sporting celebrity but I don't understand how people form an emotional attachments to people they don't really know.

Some years ago Kylie Minogue (a entertainer/singer/dancer person) was diagnosed with a lessor form of breast cancer. It was front page news. The fact that she could afford the best treatment and it was totally treatable was irrelevant. People were worried for her. If a total nobody dies there is no front page news (unless there is a murder involved).

Seriously, I don't understand celebrity adulation.

Rant over.

[midnight23]

it's just like the idiots in our country right now causing havoc all over because of michael brown. You don't need a celebrity, just the right amount of media hype.

[Andrew025]

I'm more surprised that cricket is that popular in Australia.


I don't get it either.
Most papers/blogs/websites use titles like that to shock you or grab your attention to their otherwise boring (stupid, pointless, idiotic or whatever word fits at the time) article.

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by Andrew025

I'm more surprised that cricket is that popular in Australia.

It is hugely popular here; there is even an annual match (Prime Minister's Eleven) where the prime minister (the equivalent of the U.S. president) selects the team members to play an overseas team!

[Fortis]

The media (specifically news broadcasts) is a language virus. It dulls critical thinking and rewrites pathways in the brain...(True Detective reference ) And you can always count on a surplus of naive, easily impressionable people who buy into anything they hear. There seems to be very little useful information on the news anymore. Like mentioned above, most media outlets are going for shock and awe and are running a big fear campaign.

[Tcoat]

So if we throw balls at our fuel pumps can we kill the crickets? Is that what I read into this?

[pushrod]

There's a lot more than just celebrity worship that I don't want to be a part of. That's why I've withdrawn from pop culture as much as possible. I've deleted Facebook, I don't read or watch the news, and I listen to less popular radio stations so that I don't have to know what the Kardashians are up to. Still, I know what a "Kardashian" is, and I wish I didn't.

[rice_classic]

Famous people make headlines in life and in death.

Celebrity worship, or any worship IMHO, is not a positive thing. However, being sad that a famous person died isn't wrong and it isn't necessarily worship.

As a 13 year old in 1994 when I watched Ayrton Senna die, I was sad. Really sad actually. Same with when Robin Williams or Billy Mays died. These weren't people I worshiped but they were people that were an influence on my childhood or they entertained me or they inspired me. Take anything... anything that inspires you, or gives you hope and have it disappear all of a sudden. That's always sad, whether that representation of hope, of inspiration is a person, object or idea. The first atheist I ever met was ironically in a church so I asked him the obvious question: "why are you here?" and he said, "Even though I don't believe, all this has been a part of my life since I can remember and it's hard to let go."

I'm sure to some folks that cricketer represented more than just cricket.

[Tcoat]

Celebrity worship is not a new thing as so many people seem to think. As long as there have been people celebrity worship has existed and it will never go away. Be it Ugh the cave painter, Akaios the Greek Olympic athlete or Titus the Roman gladiator if something they did made them famous they developed a following. Of course with modern communication methods you can become a "celebrity" for almost anything (they made a Grumpy Cat movie for crying out loud). Where if Titus did something interesting it would take weeks or months to spread by writing grafftti in bath houses we will now know within second if a Kardashian farts in an elevator.

As Rice pointed out in his post it is not even always the person that is worshiped but a memory or action that the person did. People die, in fact you started dieing the day you were born (rather philosophical I know) but when a celebrity dies it is rarely the person that people will miss but their influence, for good or bad, on whatever made them famous.
No matter how important the death may seem at any given moment there will be somebody new to come along, pick up the torch and fill the void!

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by Fortis

The media (specifically news broadcasts) is a language virus. It dulls critical thinking and rewrites pathways in the brain...(True Detective reference ) And you can always count on a surplus of naive, easily impressionable people who buy into anything they hear. There seems to be very little useful information on the news anymore. Like mentioned above, most media outlets are going for shock and awe and are running a big fear campaign.

I agree but added to that is often people in a position of authority don't say anything of value.

http://blip.tv/slowtv/bendable-learn...ent-p1-2792346 (Part 1)
http://blip.tv/slowtv/bendable-learn...ent-p2-2792310 (Part 2)

These take a little while to load but I have found these clips to be interesting, amusing, and just a little cause for concern.

[stugray]

Originally Posted by Captain Snooze

Seriously, I don't understand celebrity adulation.
Rant over.

This is exactly why I stopped paying any attention whatsoever to sports.
I was a college athlete at OU and ate in the athletic dorms and mingled with the likes of Bart Conner, Brian Bozworth, Steve Sewel, & Barry Switzer.

After witnessing how professional athletes are worshiped by followers for having no redeeming qualities whatsoever (except the ability to throw/catch a ball) that is of any benefit to society.
Then there's all of the rage, fights, name-calling, drinking, and general awful behavior from fans.
As a "man" I was constantly embarrassed by the behavior of the petty juvenile delinquents that called themselves men.

I just decided I didnt want any part of it.
My kids do not participate in any sports either.
Now my favorite part of the superbowl is that I can go to walmart and get the best parking spot in the lot.

[reni]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Celebrity worship is not a new thing as so many people seem to think. As long as there have been people celebrity worship has existed and it will never go away. Be it Ugh the cave painter, Akaios the Greek Olympic athlete or Titus the Roman gladiator if something they did made them famous they developed a following. Of course with modern communication methods you can become a "celebrity" for almost anything (they made a Grumpy Cat movie for crying out loud). Where if Titus did something interesting it would take weeks or months to spread by writing grafftti in bath houses we will now know within second if a Kardashian farts in an elevator.

While this is true, I think the point though and the problem is that mainstream news has turned into a celebrity gossip column. Sure there has always been adulation of famous people, but if you can find a newspaper from a few decades ago there will typically be much more information about world events compared to today.

[Tcoat]

No disputing we have more media methods to cover these people but the actual volume coverage hasn't really changed that much. As long as there have been papers they have been using celebs to sell them.
What is different now is how fast the info can be released and that leads to even greater detail which in turn results in media saturation.
You can bet if the tech we have now had existed in the past the celebs and what ever industry is making money off them (sports, movies, etc, etc) would be using them just as much as they do now.