Who Wants to be a Celeb?

The word "celebrity" used to mean something in the past. Today, pretty much everyone and their uncle is a celebrity. Actors, politicians, sportsmen ..... that's just the beginning of the list. They have atleast earned (in a small way, if not completely by their own effort) the privilege (if you can call it that) of being a celeb.

The majority of today's celebs though are of a different breed. Every spoiled brat with too much money, and with rich dads who let them loose with expensive cars but forget to buy them clothes of the proper size or teach them good sense, tries hard to land up in the trendiest of clubs and discos around town, get spotted by silly tabloid journos and end up on Page 3. Ask them what they've achieved and the answer can only be "having been born with a silver spoon in their mouths". The vast number of photos that populate page 3 don't deserve even a glance these days (unless you wanna ogle at a few of them ;) ) . Sadly the media cultivates the image (especially among youngsters) that it's "cool" to be part of this idiocy. Where did the desire to do something worthwhile in this world go? Is partying all that matters to people these days?

Anyway, here's a piece from an article I read several days back titled "The 10 Things I will remember about '00s". It puts things in perspective as well as I ever could.

Source: http://www.bullz-eye.com/entertainment/features/2009/ten_things_from_00.htm

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Faux celebrities

Now, before I begin an Andy Rooney-esque rant on how there is an entire class of alleged celebrities that didn't exist a few years ago, the truth is that the origins of the fake celebrity go back decades. Tiny Tim, fake celebrity. Morganna the Kissing Bandit, fake celebrity. Kato Kaelin, fake celebrity. Today, however, it isn't just that one weirdo over there that Leno cracks lazy jokes about – it's a multimillion-dollar industry…and for what, exactly? I still don't quite understand why they matter.

Perhaps the most galling thing about this new wave of fake celebritydom is that a sex tape actually serves as a legitimate résumé in some cases. Call it the Tommy Lee Effect, (with a nod to Chuck Klosterman); no one thought of Lee as a celebrity until his video with Pamela Anderson made the rounds. He was just the drummer for Motley Crue. That tape, however, made him a household name, and would you look at that, suddenly Poison's Bret Michaels had a tape on the market soon after. Now that fake celebrity has gone supernova, both have their own reality shows, long after their bands held any chart significance.

But here's the difference between Lee and Michaels and people like, say, Kim Kardashian (And if the writer of The Superficial is telling the truth, her sex tape shows her getting peed on, ewwww): Lee and Michaels had actually done something with their lives long before their tapes surfaced. Kardashian was just a privileged party girl who hung out with fellow privileged party girl Paris Hilton. Neither Kardashian nor Hilton possesses any discernible talent; they just come from money. Which is a pretty sweet gig if you're lucky enough to be born into it, but it doesn't merit them their own show, lingerie lines, or fragrances. And it sure as hell doesn't make them role models.

And yet, people look up to them. People care about their love lives, despite the fact that a good chunk of what people read about these people in the gossip magazines is storyboarded in advance. Supermodels have blue collar work ethics in comparison to the vapidity that is the lives of Tila Tequila or Spencer Pratt. But as we continue to chase that intangible American Dream – which seems to have something to do with owning a bunch of expensive stuff – people like Tila and Spencer are pioneers of sorts. In order to be famous; you merely need to have the kind of personality that makes for good television. (And by 'good television,' we mean awful, awful television.) The more self-absorbed, emotionally unstable and immature, the better.

Take a look at that again. These people are spoiled, immature, empty shells…and they're famous because of it. Man, does that send a horrible message to the youth of America, and worse, if the comments I've read on our blogs are any indication, this message is gaining more traction than I would like. Fame appears to be the only thing that matters, and if you aren't famous, you're nobody.

Wrong. Fame does not make someone significant, and lack of fame does not make someone irrelevant. What do you want on your headstone, "Beloved husband, father and brother," or "Once famous for doing nothing"? If Spencer Pratt dies tomorrow, he's getting the latter. That is no way to live your life, people. And while we're discussing blog comments…

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Staying on this issue, there's a very funny site called HotChicksWithDoucheBags.com whose the author DB1 has made it his mission to capture images of douchebags (a.k.a guys with nothing to do but look like fools and hit on women at clubs) and make fun of them with some awesome commentary. If you lack a sense of humour or you're the conservative kind (or if your mum is looking over your shoulder), I beseech you to avoid the site. Else, do give it a go.