The X Spot: The Soul-Stirring Difference Between Y and Z

We interrupt your normally scheduled blog to bring you this series dedicated to Grandma X.

Charles Barkley openly resisted media pressures to be a role model, and he’s right to do so. After all, he’s got a life to lead, as do we all. The last thing anyone needs is to live up to expectations that no one in their right mind would impose upon themselves.

Worst of all, celebrity worship never did the fan much good. Every single human being is fallible, and every little child who has looked up to a star athlete or movie actor has had their feelings crushed when they found the proverbial truth: all heroes have feet of clay.

As for me, I was spared from that kind of insipid idolatry for most of my life. I only gave that kind of adulation to one distant celebrity, and did he so ruthlessly break my heart. I was only two when his death revealed the luridness of his existence. I felt so betrayed upon hearing the news that I have never fawned over another celebrity since. Maybe I should thank him for that. As it turns out, I should probably thank him for something else while I’m at it.

Labels: assassinations, Nanis, parapsychology, personal stuff, pop culture, Sam Cooke

17 Comments:

At 1:45 AM, SJ said…

I don't worship celebrities or the gods. etc etc etc
At 5:45 AM, X. Dell said…

SJ, you'd find yourself at odds with most Americans, I'm afraid. etc etc etc
At 11:02 AM, Enemy of the Republic said…

I revere Truth, which may be Divine. Celebrities are one big lie. etc etc etc
At 12:12 PM, benjibopper said…

intriguing beginning, my interest is piqued.

bob dylan is my favourite study in celebrity. i love his music but to put my faith in him as a person would be ludicrous. yet that's what so many have done, and been disappointed time and again. it's not his fault though. as he himself said, he's just a guitar player [and singer and great lyricist, but still]. etc etc etc
At 5:18 PM, foam said…

ditto what sj said...
but, tsk ..
what a cliffhanger ... grrrrrrr...
don't keep us waiting too long..:) etc etc etc
At 5:25 PM, X. Dell said…

Enemy, I guess I'm a bit more charitable. I would say they aren't so much lies, but rather fabrications not of their own making. Their images are often tightly managed, as well as their persons. This leads them to become professionals, to play the game like "responsible people," and stay true to who they are. It leads to such things as Belinda Carlisle protesting for PETA one moment, but doing a commercial for Agree shampoo, which did animal testing.

Benjibopper, I would question everyone's devotion of celebrity in this day and age. Everyone says, for example, that advertising never works on them. Yet, advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry. It obviously works on all of us--except for the guy living in the woods without electricity, who grows his own food and makes his own clothes and shelter.

To the same degree, the celebrity, in our society, functions as agents of identification, yet this is something that's difficult for us to acknowledge within ourselves. Even (I should say especially) for those who trash celebrities, part of self-actualization requires a definition of one's self as a type of individual. One's choices in music (whether Dylan or not) are often just as much about saying who you are as much as it is about the aural pleasure of listening to his music.

Perhaps worship is a poor choice of words. I should say that I could no longer identify with the notion of celebrity very early on in my life. etc etc etc
At 4:55 AM, AlmightyHeidi said…

My early on celebrity that I remember that I adored was...Mr. Rodgers. Won't you nbe my neighbor? He alwaays came in the house and changed his shoes, and put on a sweater..."Choose the blue sweater, the blue, no not the yellow"...and he talked to his little puppet friends.
This might have attributed to my psychosis at an early age :) etc etc etc
At 8:04 AM, JohnB said…

Here here...I couldn't have stated this experience better myself (sorry for the long absence, but it was kind of nice to be without any "electronic" tag for over a week!) etc etc etc
At 8:32 AM, X. Dell said…

Heidi, I don't think the Rev. Fred has been linked to psychosis in any study. But the type of adulation that you describe, the type that comes from a young child, is pretty much what I'm referring to.

Hey, John, welcome back. That must have been some island visit. I hope you had time for some good r&r. etc etc etc
At 9:42 AM, Charles Gramlich said…

I had heroes when I was a little kid, probaly up until I was 10 or 11 or so. After that I began to wonder how anyone could hero worship athletes or actors in particular. Nowdays my only heroes are my Lana and My son Josh. etc etc etc
At 9:57 AM, X. Dell said…

Charles, in your studies, I wonder if you came across C. Wright Mills' The Sociological Imagination. There's a part of the book where Mills discusses the public figure as a reference point for the self--that is, we see others who remind us of ourselves in the public sphere, and from that figure out what our chances are, and in what kinds of activity. This could explain why people continue to "worship" celebrities later in life. etc etc etc
At 11:40 AM, Middle Ditch said…

Good for you, once bitten twice shy. I don't believe in that silly celebrity status and can't stand those magazines that keeps it alive. etc etc etc
At 1:47 PM, X. Dell said…

Middle Ditch, that's another important point. The fact that we have industries dedicated to the cultivation of celebrity illustrates how much a part of western life they have become. Thus said, they represent more than what they actually are. The people behind the celebrity mask seem all but forgotten, forever lost in a sensational narrative often at odds with what we would consider to be truthful. etc etc etc
At 9:04 PM, Jean said…

I make statements that I idolize this or that celebrity or public figure but generally its just a way of saying that I admire them or in some cases - I want to boff them silly.

My only true celebrity idols were long gone before I was even thought of... Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, Marilyn Monroe, Clara Bow, a few others...

I did idolize my Dad and he did make mistakes and sometimes he did break my heart but for the most part - he was beautiful and kind and good. That far outweighed the small heartbreaks that are common to a "Daddy's Grrl". Sadly he passed as well but he taught me everything before he went and for that I thank him.

But...

No one else gets that kind of respect and/or idolization from me. etc etc etc
At 11:32 AM, X. Dell said…

Perhaps, Jean, 'idolization' was a poor choice of words on my part. I don't think any of us can get around celebrity influence, unless we live in a cave somewhere without electricity. etc etc etc
At 12:59 PM, Jean said…

You likely used it right but even in another sense - you're still right. I strive for a blend of old Hollywood glam and my own modern (and rather punky) sensibilities in my personal appearance. How would we have even developed those tastes were it not for the celebrity influence? etc etc etc
At 8:24 PM, Midsummerprism said…

Although I deeply appreciate artistic and intellectual endeavors, I was never one to be star struck either. There are people of course I admire to a certain degree because they have contributed to the betterment of life. To idolize however has never been part of my system.

I remember one time someone told me to turn a certain famous lady here (whom I personally know)into a vital personal example of how to be successful. It was the most idiotic thing someone has so far ever said to me, equal only to the degree of someone telling me that I was probably "older" than my husband. etc etc etc