What is our fascination with celebrities? In the US presidential campaign there are endless celebrities supporting one or other candidate, but very few other more educated / experienced people promoted as supporting candidates. Why is it we are more interested and more swayed by a celebrity's opinion than someone who really does know better?
Sure there are some celebrities who know their stuff and whose opinion is well respected, but the others? Why do they get the limelight? Why do we buy the magazines they fill and follow their relationships / pregnancies / diets so avidly? If a supermodel votes for one party - why should that make me want to vote for them? If a rock star calls their child 'Cherry-pie' should I call mine the same too?
It's not just about elections, it's life in general. We select the beautiful people all too often to be the ones who choose our directions.
I guess we all want to look beautiful. We see the Abercrombie models looking great in (and out of) various clothes and we want to buy that lifestyle. The clothes are a step towards that, and perhaps following what they do will make us more like them... or at least the image of them. We want to be liked in the way it seems the celebrities are liked, and so we emulate them, do what they do, or at least what they say they do.
Of course if we look at the paths of celebrities, shown in detail in the popular press and the reality TV, we see that the image of them is frequently not the reality. Perhaps we take comfort in that, relish the fall of these 'gods', to see that we're all human after all. So why do we bother following their lives in the first place? Let's lead our own lives. Find our own paths, and be directed by those who can better guide us than the winner of the latest MTV music video award.
Life is the people we spend it with. It's talking about things that are important and funny, and mean something to us. Embarking on new adventures, sharing times and meals, of arguing the point and realising we're wrong. Being the person we want to be, in the clothes we feel comfortable in. Determining our goals and making our way towards them. Helping out the people who need us when we least can afford them the time. Above all it's about being who we are and sharing more of ourselves with those in our own worlds.
Models and movies stars may be good for styling cues, but it's time for a wider diversity of guidance for the important parts of our lives.
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