Idol Worship Out of Control

Why are we so agog about the lives of celebrities in this country? Is it because our own lives seem so barren and uneventful in comparison?

The outpouring of affection for Whitney Houston has been interesting. The woman was a good singer, maybe even a great one, but personally, I didn’t really care for the way she yelled at the top of her lungs when she was belting out a tune. Too bad she also was a hopeless drug addict.

Barbara Streisand and Bette Midler, Nora Jones and now this English lady Adele all sing as well or better than Houston in my opinion. And don’t forget Celene Dion who can easily match Houston for lung power. I think it was the songs Houston sang as much as her voice that endeared her to us.

The idol worship we slavish on celebrities in this country (especially after they die - Elvis, Kurt Cobain, et al) really bothers me. This month’s cover of my AARP Magazine features the actress Sharon Stone. Inside is a story about how she “emerged from the worst decade of her life - happier, stronger and sexier than ever.”

To which I say, “Who cares”? Sharon Stone’s probably a nice person, she’s certainly pretty, but why should I care more about her life more than someone else’s?

Recently, Michael Douglas was featured on the cover. Again, who cares? Other celebrities are regularly showing up on AARP’s cover more and more. Who cares? Who cares? Who cares?

I personally don’t give a rip about the trials and triumphs of celebrities. I much prefer to read how real, ordinary, common everyday people have overcome their trials and tribulations. I suppose that would require more work than just calling up a celebrity and asking to write about her.

Okay, so Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas and other stars and celebrities sell more magazines than an ordinary schmuck like one of us, but gees, we are so into celebrities in this country we’ve had to invent the Kardashians and Basketball Wives and Dancing Dervishes and Idol contestants and the like to make our poor desperate lives seem somehow richer.

You know I have never asked for an autograph - not a musician’s, not an athletes, nobody’s. Why would I? Does having someone’s autograph make me a better person? Does somehow being associated with a celebrity make me more like one? The closest I ever came to rubbing elbows with a celebrity was when I dated Laurie Walters who portrayed Joani Bradford on the old TV series Eight Is Enough. Laurie and I briefly attended Humboldt State University together a few years before she landed her TV role and we went out on one date.

The only person I’ve ever known that I would think of as a celebrity would be another woman I dated only one time. She was planning to become a nun - not that I had anything to do with that. If Marlene became Sister Somebody like she was planning and lived the simple, humble life of poverty and service she envisioned, she would be a celebrity worthy of a magazine cover.