In Defense of the Celebrity

Anonymous
In Defense of the Celebrity

At twenty-six years of age, I know for sure that I had dated at least seven guys. I started officially dating when I was probably like fourteen or fifteen, with most of the initial ones on account of our age, not being all that serious until college. Now recounting this story, no one, and I mean, no one has ever called me a slut, or thirsty, or desperate, or worse because of that number. A lot of people by that age have or had dated that many or just gone on a bunch of dates trying to find something serious or just having fun.

I bring up this example because people do in fact go off on how apparently slutty Taylor Swift is for only having dated seven people in her entire life that we know to have been reported or confirmed by the singer. They also report how celebrity parents are so awful every time they are photographed at the moment their kid is having a tantrum as if no kid ever in life had a tantrum. If celebs gain ten pounds, they are reported as being beastly whales or pregnant for apparently gorging themselves into a glutinous state. If they turn someone down for an autograph, they are incredibly rude a-holes because unbeknownst to them, they are apparently beholden to humanity at every second of their day to do what it wants.

In Defense of the Celebrity

What's worse is that many of these actors and singers are young.They get into the business because they are talented at what they do and like to share their craft, but instead they are often met with harsh critiques that most of the time have nothing to do with the work they are actually putting out which I think is fair game to comment on, but when it gets to the point where they are being called all manner of disgusting names and harassed and stalked or worse, what does that say about us and how we think we should not only treat others, but how we think we should be treated, because I certainly wouldn't want to be treated like that.

In Defense of the Celebrity

Every single thing these celebrities do is put under this intense microscope where every single person thinks that just because they see them on tv, or in a music video, or on the big screen, or hear them on the radio, that they just have almost an absolute right to talk about them as if they are a "thing" rather than a fellow human being with feelings. If half the people had what they wrote read back by say their parent or teacher or a friend to them, they would absolutely be embarressed. Honestly, celebrities have absolutely no bearing on our lives. Sure they might influence what we wear or listen to or watch on occasion, but they don't have any decision making power like say a politician might.They have no control over all the news outlets and magazine hounds that constantly follow them and try and report on every single second of their lives whether they want it or not.

In Defense of the Celebrity

Celebs are just people who memorize lines and then perform them for you whether that be in music or movies and yet from that, people think they know these people or that they are entitled to go absolutely nuts with every single tid bit of news that is floated in some magazine about them. For a group of people who will say in the same breath that they don't trust the media when it comes to politicians, the media is suddenly 100% accurate when it comes to a celebrity??? It really is to the point where you literally need to say to people, you do know celebrities are people too, right? They have families too. They have parents who listen and see all the negativity about their children that is largely unjustified and downright cruel.

And yet so many are like, who cares, "they're just celebrities," but the thing is that same court of public opinion does actually extend to you too. There have been so many cases where people's lives have absolutely been ruined for taking to social media or ending up in the media or from making a simple mistake that someone talked about that we've all probably made. Once that court gets its hooks into you, they get into your life, they dig up all the history and pictures on you, they splash you all over the news, and they destroy you just because. We need to remember that long forgotten golden rule of treating people the way we would like to be treated. Your internet persona or voice, is still you. There are people on the other end of what we say and do. No one is perfect, but just think about what you're saying and typing even if it is "just a celebrity."

In Defense of the Celebrity
4 Opinion