How We Are Responsible for Celebrity Irresponsibility

According to the news girlfriend, Inga Marchand was reported being yanked into court on a possible parole violation. It seems she does not want to be treated as "one of them." In Westchester, New York, a guy named Elmore Rual Torn was arrested on DUI charges after a car accident. In an incident a few years before the man had been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Apparently, Elmore can be quite unruly and arrogant when drunk. In the previous arrest the man ranted and raved, "Do you know who I am?" Now, the man is seventy-five and better well preserved than my own seventy-five year old father who remains virtually homebound. Must be the alcohol because he seems to have an affection for it. The natural reaction when you read these things is to say, "Where do they get off thinking they are better than the rest of us". By the way, we know these two scoundrels better as rapper Foxy Brown and actor Rip Torn. You know Foxy for her music and Rip from his many TV and film characters such as Chief Zed from Men In Black. We made them famous and we gave them permission to think they are better than the rest of us.

The arrogance of celebrity.

You have to love it because we gave the ability to do and say these things to them. We hand it out readily not only to the stars of arts and sports, but to a new class of people deemed famous for being famous. While many of these people soar to the heights of their notoriety, we give them permission to rise above and ascend to pedestals.

Why do we do this?

We need something to look up to in order to guide us through our own mundane lives. In a sense, many people live an imaginary celebrity life through them. When we discover them, we ride the waves they make getting to the top. When they achieve, we achieve with them because we feel like we are part of their phenomenon due to our belief in them. Everyone at one time or another has had in their possession a picture of some celebrity we admired. It does not matter if they actually did anything relevant as long as they touched us in some way. That is what makes them special.

How do we contribute to their behavior?