Obsessed with Celebrities - Are You Star Struck?

I have never been impressed with Hollywood celebrities and do not understand the fascination that most of America has with them. I enjoy watching movies and TV shows but I do not idolize the people who star in them. They are just people like the rest of us ... they just happen to get paid a lot more money than most of us for what they do for a living.

What is so fascinating about celebrities? For the most part, all I see is a lot of self-indulgent rich spoiled people who think they don't have to play by the rules, and who spend way too much money on the latest "must-have" gadget when they could shop at Wal-Mart like the rest of us and spend some of that money helping other people.

In all fairness I have to say that there are some stars who truly do give a big portion of their time and money to help those less fortunate, but surely even they could do more. And maybe that would inspire some of their fellow celebs to jump on the humanitarian bandwagon, and do it in a big way.

It makes me angry to hear how much they spend on designer clothes, handbags, vacations, or whatever ... they could help so many people with that money. I'm not begrudging them that they shouldn't have nice things, but to spend $1,000 (or more) on a pair of shoes is ridiculous and excessive. They could buy a pair for $50 for themselves and then use the other $950 to buy 19 more pairs and give them to someone who has no shoes. It's time for a big reality check.

But I'm getting a little off course from my original topic and will get off my soap box now and back to the original intent of this article.

What makes people stand in line for days and spend hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars to go to a concert or sporting event? What makes people push and shove and trample other human beings just to get a tiny bit closer to a celebrity so they can get an autograph?