- "The trouble with my generation is that we all think
we're fucking geniuses. Making something isn't good enough for us, and
neither is selling something, or teaching something, or even just doing
something; we have to BE something. It's our inalienable right, as citizens
of the twenty-first century. If Christina Aguilera or Britney or some American
Idol jerk can be something, then why can't I. Where's mine, huh?"
-Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down
-
- "We all want to be famous people, and the moment
we want to be something we are no longer free."
- --Jiddu Krishnamurti
-
- You're special. How do you know? Because the world says
so. Your countenance graces the covers of magazines, billboards, and movie
posters around the globe. Wherever you go, fans recognize you and beg to
touch you, to grope you, just to know that you're real. You walk through
life with a golden ticket that gains you access to places and experiences
of which the average person can only dream. You're rich. You're famous.
You can do whatever you want, whenever you like.
-
- Actor Michael J. Fox discovered the special liberties
inherent in fame when a cop pulled him over for racing down a street at
death-defying speeds. Fox recalls, "I'm driving the Ferrari down Ventura
Boulevard at 90 miles an hour and the cop goes, `Mike! C'mon, take it easy,
you're gonna hurt somebody!' I remember sitting there after the cop walked
away, going, 'This is just seriously f**ked up. This is really crazy.'
-
- "It's one of those moments when you realize that
the only thing that's ever going to stop me from doing whatever I want
to do is me - and I don't want the job." (Story:
- http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2007/12/19/
- michal_j_fox_amazed_cop_let_him_go_after)
-
- Fox had the intelligence and maturity to recognize the
intrinsic pitfalls of "doing whatever I want," but many, if not
most celebrities in the United States do not. The reckless, self-destructive,
sociopathic behaviors of the rich and famous have become so common as to
be cliche. Celebrities drive drunk and beat their spouses and commit tax
fraud and occasionally even murder people because deep down, they believe
they can get away with anything.
-
- "I can do whatever I want - I'm rich, I'm famous,
and I'm bigger than you."
- Actor Don Johnson,
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000467/bio
-
- "I wanted to do my own thing so I could buy whatever
I want, do whatever I want."
- Paris Hilton,
- http://www.notable-quotes.com/h/hilton_paris.html
-
- But earlier this year, Paris discovered the hard way
that in Newtonian reality, she CAN'T do whatever she wants -- not without
consequences. Her DUI conviction led to three weeks in jail, and all the
world still reverberates with the banshee scream she unleashed as the judge
announced her measly little sentence. Imagine the horror this infantile
consciousness experienced upon realizing that she is, after all, no more
than human, that the same rules apply to her as everyone else.
-
- Millionaire football star Michael Vick liked to torture
dogs in his spare time. Days ago, Vick was sentenced to up to 23 months
in prison for running a dogfighting ring and lying to investigators. When
Vick's dogs didn't perform competitively, they were executed by electrocution,
hanging, drowning, and "other violent means." Vick is not the
only professional athlete to come under suspicion for illegal dogfighting
activities. Portland Trail Blazer Qyntell Woods was suspended in 2004 following
dogfighting allegations. And at least one NBA player has publicly expressed
his belief that dogfighting is not even a crime -- NY Knicks guard Stephon
Marbury said earlier this year: "...we don't say anything about people
who shoot deer or shoot other animals. You know, from what I hear, dogfighting
is a sport. It's just behind closed doors." Source: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8R695D01&show_article=1
-
- In some third world countries, dogfighting, like many
criminal endeavors, can be a means for abjectly impoverished human beings
to make a little quick and desperately needed cash. But for Michael Vick
and his fellow millionaires, dogfighting is a crapulent, sociopathic indulgence
that says "F*** you" to the world, not unlike the golden-jeweled
"bling bling" they contemptuously drape across their necks, or
the thousands of yes-women they violently fornicate.
-
- Boxer Mike Tyson raped a woman and thought he would get
away with it because he is famous. Tyson is quite forthright when analyzing
his own sociopathic personality: "I'm the most irresponsible person
in the world. The reason I'm like that is because, at 21, you all gave
me $50 or $100 million, and I didn't know what to do. I'm from the ghetto.
I don't know how to act. One day I'm in a dope house robbing somebody.
The next thing I know, 'You're the heavyweight champion of the world.'
... Who am I? What am I? I don't even know who I am. I'm just a dumb child...I'm
just a dumb pugnacious fool. I'm just a fool who thinks I'm someone. And
you tell me I should be responsible?"
- http://kjkolb.tripod.com/homepage/miketysonquotes.html
-
- Wealth and stature have always been corruptive forces
-- nothing new there. It's not surprising that ridiculously privileged
young people lose all perspective and inevitably spiral downward, their
lives consumed by self-perpetuated conflicts and miseries. But now more
than ever in the United States, it is possible to achieve extreme fame
and fortune without having done anything remotely meaningful or admirable.
Chris Crocker is a young man who one day dressed up like a woman, sat in
front of his web cam, and screamed "Leave Britney Spears alone!"
He posted the video on You Tube and it received over eight million views
in one week. A reality-TV company called 44 Blue Prods. recently signed
Crocker to a contract with the intent of building a "docusoap"
around his life. Source:
- http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117972243.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
-
- When someone like Chris Crocker becomes famous, it sends
the message to American youths that the easiest and fastest way to do something
with your life is to make a spectacle of yourself. Never mind all the steps
one must take in order to achieve true personal success -- I want my "fifteen
minutes," not some time in the future but RIGHT NOW! Look at all the
young people who have created My Space pages and You Tube videos. These
tools can be used as legitimate creative outlets, but it's obvious that
youngsters today, increasingly media and PR savvy, tend to be driven by
competitiveness and an insatiable desire for attention. Evidence for this
is found in recent studies that conclude today's youth are generally more
narcissistic than their predecessors, and are thus "more likely to
have romantic relationships that are short-lived, at risk for infidelity,
lack emotional warmth, and to exhibit game-playing, dishonesty and over-controlling
and violent behaviors." Source:
- http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/547746.html
-
- Author Chuck Palahniuk once described fame as "being
loved without the risk of loving anyone in return." How many teenagers
today spend their free time staring listlessly at the hit counters on their
web pages, hypnotized by the belief that the faux love of fame would be
more satisfying than the tangible love of friends and family?
-
- This mindset is not only unhealthy, it's borderline sociopathic
and potentially very dangerous. A number of serial killers and "berserker
shooters" seem to have been motivated by a desperate desire for immediate
notoriety. Robert Hawkins, the perpetrator of the recent mall-shooting
in Omaha, reportedly left a note for his family that read: "Now I
will be famous." Most serial killer experts believe that the media-obsessed
culture contributes to the crimes, particularly when the killers seek to
surpass the "fame" achieved by their predecessors. Edward W.
Mitchell wrote in his thesis, "The Aetiology of Serial Murder":
"Public and media interest...serves to glorify the act of serial murder.
Major films such as The Silence of the Lambs and Henry: Portrait of a Serial
Killer have kindled and maintained public fascination with serial murderers,
and have sometimes portrayed offenders as pseudo-heroes, by placing an
emphasis on their positive characteristics and portraying their criminality
in grandiose terms. Serial killer trading cards (with a higher body-count
'trumping' a lower one) are now a collector's item...irresponsible media
interest in the serial murderer may be extremely dangerous." Source:
- http://forensic.to/webhome/venoutsos/Serial_Killer_Thesis.htm
-
- But that's the thing about the Media Age we live in --
little or no demarcation exists of "good" or "bad"
notoriety. Many of the biggest celebrities in America are famous for exactly
one reason -- they look good. Others like Paris Hilton or the Osbourne
kids or Jenna and Barbara Bush are only famous because their parents are
famous. Many have achieved fame by doing totally meaningless things like
slam-dunking basketballs or running a football up and down a field. Still
others have remote talents like singing and acting, but often these gifts
produce only inane "entertainment" completely devoid of artistic
merit. It's clear that fame is rarely a product of valid achievement, and
even more rarely does it result in true happiness. It's basically vampirism,
feeding on the admiration of others, "being loved without the risk
of loving anyone in return."
-
- But the experience of love is not a one-way street. Real
love is a mutual exchange in which the acts of giving and receiving are
one and the same. Neither lovingness nor peace of mind is possible when
one's primary goal in life is to gain attention. Some may argue that the
desire for personal greatness provides a necessary impetus for success.
But in 21st century America, we seem to have forgotten that life's greatest
joys and triumphs do not require an audience.
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