Today’s celebrities hold so much power and influence over the masses who admire them and hang on to their every word and every move as though their life depended on it.
It wasn’t too long ago back in my day that in order for a fan to get a “dose” of their favorite actor, singer or athlete, other than a regular appearance in their chosen craft we would be forced to wait for a guest cameo in a television special or an quick word on page six of our local newspapers. We didn’t have the instant gratification of reading about them on a gossip website like a TMZ or a Concreteloop. Heck, I could imagine that if one would even mention the word “website” to anyone back in those innocent days, they would probably bring you a broom to clean up a spider’s web hanging somewhere near the ceiling because that is the closest association that they would conceive of with that word! Lol!
But oh how times have changed, not only do we get the news as it happens, but the news can get delivered to us without us having to go home and have our favorite television programs interrupted with a “special report” or “breaking news” sequence like they used to! I mean, they do do have them but they were not crude like the ones back in the sixties and seventies. All you got was a loud tone accompanied with a visual stating Special Report and a voice hurriedly getting the announcement out of what the tragedy was. And there was always that adrenalin rush that happened in the few seconds before you realized exactly what the incident was because almost always it was something not too good. An attempt on a political figures life, a plane crash that had someone of note and interest publicly on board or an announcement of two countries going to war…….never anything cheerful.
Today? What a difference! We can now indulge ourselves in up to the minute updates on the vast conundrums of those who are the designated icons of public admiration and awe until our hearts content! And the most amazing aspect of this entire phenomenon to me is that we have unknowingly BECOME the media armed only with a wireless cellphone with picture taking capabilities and an Internet connection. We do NOT know how much power we have in the palm of our hand but must realize when you have the major media outlets stating that they would be interested in any footage that they can salvage from the masses of people who are the new modern day paparazzi.
Celebrities had it so much easier back when I was growing up. There was no Twitter, no Facebook, no YouTube to fear, they could take a walk to the store after waking up with no makeup on and a healthy dose of morning breath and not have their neighborhood trek blasted worldwide before they even returned home!
No wonder so many celebrities are going off the deep end, they absolutely NEVER get a break from being in celebrity mode, that’s comparable to driving your car across the country with a bad transmission that can’t shift and drives only in one gear! That gear will eventually burn out and your trip cut short from lack of maintenance!
That being said, we must realize that there are two sides to every coin and that with the accessibility now realized between fans and their icons comes a control over many who seek to emulate their favorite celebrity.
Being in the limelight is big business right down to the clothes that our celebrities wear as many will not wear a specific brand unless they secure an endorsement deal of some sort from the manufacturer of that particular brand.
Is this good business or merely a prostitution of your star studded status?
We will leave that debate for another blog article but the point I am attempting to make is that our youth (As well as many of us adults who should know better!) as impressionable as they are follow their favorite stars not only in keeping up with the happenings in their private lives but actually incorporating a similar lifestyle as much as they can afford to!
And of course these fans don’t have the money to keep up with the Hollywood Joneses, but when it comes to the crazy behavior they do quite a great job of being sheep to the projected media.
It used to be that a hothead celebrity had to carry him/herself with a certain public dignity or risk losing crucial lucrative business deals that hinged on that individuals pristine image.
Now? The wilder the celebrities personal lifestyle is, the more lucrative the deals that will be coming at them!
And while I do believe that there is plenty of personal tragedy that accompanies a celebrity lifestyle due to a lack of the necessary spiritual grounding that is so necessary in such a satanic wayward circle, I do sincerely believe that much of the drama is staged in order to keep that celebrity in the limelight which in turn translates to the free publicity for their next project.
The problem is that our youth have no way of gauging what is real and what is fake. They copy and internalize the violence, the promiscuity, the drug use and the careful irresponsible unaccountable attitude toward life as though there are no consequences.
It’s cool to get locked up now. It is like the much needed seasoning on a good meal in the restaurant to one’s public career. Damage? Don’t worry about it, there is nothing aside from being a child rapist that couldn’t be corrected by greasing the right palms politically and in
the judicial system.
Celebrities write their own rules because they can afford to, but those of us who are foolish enough to follow their path quickly realize that their pockets will always come up short.
By then it is too late!
How sad…….
Fantasia runs with a married man and parades around with him publicly…….do you think that back in the day Lena Horne could have gotten away with such a public display of immoral behavior? Heck no! As hard as it already was for a Black woman to get that far it that very act would have amounted to career SUICIDE!
Alicia Keys getting pregnant and eventually married after dealing with a married man and current husband Swizz Beatz? What a scandal! But damage control and the proper use of the publicity machine keeps the stench of the situation away and smelling clean and rosy!
We as normal people don’t have that advantage…….
But the television, Youtube and gossip sites have us gassed up and feeling quite invincible!
Rapper Lil’ Wayne gets locked up on gun charges and it is the coolest thing to many “wanna be” rebellious thugs. The media doesn’t drive home the point that what he did was wrong in breaking the law, they focus on what his plans are when he gets out and speculate about his
music instead of teaching the masses a lesson about accountability!
Accountability?
For who? Hey, seems to me as though they will have to hire a crew of aggressive census takers in order to account and tally all of the kids that Lil Wayne is making out of wedlock!
Wedlock? That’s not a standard anymore in our modern culture and is actually looked down on. We get married and divorced as fast as the seasons change if not faster. It’s about attention, posturing and money. So we follow through with the same mindset because it must be okay if our stars do it!
In the end what we all must understand is that our same very mega stars in this day and age have co opted their eternal salvation in order to enjoy (Enjoy? Is that what it’s called?) this thing called celebrity. In order to make that level of money over a sustained period of time as a star requires the permission of those who lurk in the shadows behind the scenes.
These satanic shadow corporate entities understand that there is great power and influence in being an icon to the world and use those same stars to influence our youth straight to the pits of hell!
This is as honest an assessment that I can give. We as a people are attacked through what we THINK is merely entertainment and we as conscious adults have got to grab the bull by the horns and take charge aggressively over the forces that continue to seep undetected
into our homes through the use of the Internet and television.
Stop looking for the devil where we used to find him, he isn’t there anymore! He is sitting right there in your living room teaching our children that it is okay to do what we want to do as long as it feels good! He is coming through loud and clear through the headphones inoculating our offspring with a command that will have them showing their allegiance to him rather than to you who provide the roof over their heads!
If you really want to know who has more influence over your child, check to see who their favorite celebrity is and that will give you a peek into a world that you may not have ever thought existed. We as a collective need to get on this as though our children’s lives and the welfare of our future depended on it…….
Because it does.
