Paris Hilton in Jail: a Look at Celebrity Worship

Paris Hilton is now in jail, it has been reported. Phew! Perhaps we might now hope for a period of calm and silence around that young woman. Might the enforced incarceration even teach her some humility and a more caring, and responsible attitude?

All the fuss around her has got me wondering whether this generation is any more celebrity mad now than we were in our youth? My conclusion is that I don't think we were any less of being celebrity worshippers, but something has changed dramatically during that time to affect the cult of celebrity, as illustrated by this little tale.

She was dressed in a habit, the only thing visible being her face, the sign of having taken vows to serve God exclusively as a nun. At that time, 45 years ago, nuns were unduly cloistered and had to behave in the most genteel way in public. I was a boarder at the convent school where we were looked after by nuns during the school term. But this particular lady stood out for me because she was the first nun I ever saw dancing energetically and unashamedly to Elvis Presley songs. Elvis unknowingly reached across the world, to little Jamaica and to a nun in our convent, who spread her infectious love of Elvis to many of her charges. They bought his records, talked about him non-stop, swooned when they saw his picture, and screamed when they heard him sing. There was nothing like it. Elvis was the extreme end of celebrity worship for us, but we thought there was nothing better than Gina Lollobrigida, Brigette Bardot, Cary Grant, Clarke Gable, and the only Black star at the time, the cool and handsome Sidney Poitier. Not to mention singers and bands like the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Ben E King.