BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Bobert
Date: 21 May 08 - 08:51 PM

And fame is a releative thing... When I play a festival folks come up to me and want to talk this and that and ask me about this or that and I spend as much time as I can with each and every one while trying to be sure that my stuff gets moved from the stage and packed away safely in my car... Then it's yak, yak, and more yak...

I remember meeting Bruce Springstein back in '69... I had booked his band "Child" and I took him to "The Village" in Richmond for lunch and we found out that we had both spent summers at the Jersey shores (Long Beach Island) and so we talked beach stuff... Music never came up...

I donno... I reckon the world is this big totum pole to lotta folks and like folks like Bruce is at the top but he ain't... He doesn't even want to be at the top... He just wants to be able to take his kids to the Jersey beaches without gettin' folks all over him 'casue he is this "star"... He just wants to talk about the good ol' days when you could drive from Surf City to Barnekutt Lighthouse and there weren't no houses for the 10 mile trip...

Me, too... I don't expect alot of folks to understand but if Bruce were to come here and read this he'd be sayin', "Yeah, that's really what it's about"...

Ain't no worshiping for anyone who has, like Slag said, looked upon the stars and realized the realationship of our own existences to the larger picture... I understand that... That's why I choose to live out in the country where I can go outside and look up at real stars... I have my favorites... Some have names and others, who knows??? But in grooving with the real stars it brings this thing on out little ball of life so much more into perspective...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 May 08 - 08:25 PM

Yeah, celebs are ordinary folks and most of them end up wishing they could live ordinary lives again after awhile.

I'm sure glad I never became famous, cos all the unwanted attention would probably have killed me.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Slag
Date: 21 May 08 - 07:58 PM

Interesting, interesting. I am a bit of a "word" freak, you might say, and I find a discussion of celebrity by some who have a bit of celebrity or who have a shoulder and elbow rubbing relationship with celebs, well, interesting. Celebrity, star, above, beyond, HIGHER than ordinary mortals these celebrities. Some, like me resent, not the altitude but the attitude, that sometimes accompanies such status. It is not out of jealousy I hold such a view. The last thing on earth I would want is fame. I value my freedom and privacy far above the firmament. Rather, it is resentment of arrogance and hubris that I tend to decry celebrity.

But then someone threw the word "charisma" into the mix. Now THAT is an interesting word. Papa-G could undoubtedly tell you about the origin and meaning of the term. In essence it means having a gift and more specific, a divine gift. Since the time of Christ it has closely been associated WITH Christ as He was the Anointed One. He was THE gift from God and yet today that gift is so little understood and rejected. And yet we retained the term. I don't think the use of the term "celebrity" applied to mortals is particularly blasphemous. There are, after all, many "stars" in the heavens and, truth be known, there are more stars than there are people. There are more stars than all the people who ever were or who will ever be in one large galaxy alone and there are hundreds of billions of galaxies. So find your place in the firmament. Shine brightly. Let your gifts be known. But do not think more highly of yourself than you ought. I like what Bobert said about some of the celebs that he has known. Aside from the celeb status (which is conferred by doting fans[fanatics]) they were really just ordinary folks.

When we discover our gift(s) this is a good thing as it gives direction and purpose in our lives when we put them to GOOD use.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Don Firth
Date: 21 May 08 - 07:18 PM

Hmm. Yeah, Bobert, I see what you mean.

Okay, jacqui.c, I'll see if I can pop it into a more appropriate place. It isn't really the key to Nirvana, but I think it makes a couple of good points. But it would just get lost here, I'm afraid.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 May 08 - 06:57 PM

Hmmm. Well...okay.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Bobert
Date: 21 May 08 - 05:47 PM

Okay, let me rephrase...

...this thread is being redecorated by the chimps...

That better???

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 May 08 - 05:29 PM

"this thread is being trashed by the chimps..."

That's a specist comment, Bobert! I demand that you withdraw it at once.

;-D

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Bobert
Date: 21 May 08 - 05:14 PM

Just not here, Don... There is no reason to bring anything intellectual or objective into this tarnished thread... Might of fact, lookin' at who is left, this thread is being trashed by the chimps... Once that occurs, it ain't long before it falls into oblivion...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: jacqui.c
Date: 21 May 08 - 05:03 PM

Don - I, for one, would like to see what you wrote. Please share!

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Don Firth
Date: 21 May 08 - 04:59 PM

Assuming that Fantasmagoofball was posing a subject for serious discussion rather than yet another excuse to try (like a Chihuahua yapping at a lion) to trash Barack Obama, I actually wrote up quite a nice essay on the subject of Celebrity Worship Syndrome. But I see that it's pointless to post it here since this is just another attempt to try to persuade people to vote for Ralph Nader (a man who proudly asserted that not only does he not drive, he doesn't even have a drivers' license, and then attains his celebrity by writing a book that purports to tell people which cars are safe to drive and which are not).

No sale!

You see, Fanty, you have established a reputation for duplicity. You keep starting Trojan Horse threads.

Don Firth

P. S. By the way, what I wrote on the presumed topic is quite good, but I'll save it for another time.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 May 08 - 04:52 PM

How about "chimps being champs"? How about "gorilla my dreams, I adore you"?

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Amos
Date: 21 May 08 - 04:36 PM

Well, I dunno. "Vicarious bestiality" just doesn't quite have the same ring to it, ya know??? Nor does "Synthetic Simianism".   "Chumps Being Chimps" might fly,t hough...





A

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 May 08 - 03:13 PM

Very good! ;-D Would you be available to write some campaign songs for Chongo and the PPA? (Primate Party of America)

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Amos
Date: 21 May 08 - 02:19 PM

Vicarious vacuousity!
It's the new monstrosity!
Avoid the effort in your head
Of keeping every thought stone dead,
The mental void of a mindless doxy
Can now be brought to you by proxy!
So hand the numbing of your brain
Over to someone better trained!
And you will find, with great velocity
A better brand of thought-viscosity
Dullness without the animosity!
No threat of any harsh ferocity!
No risk of unforeseen verbosity!
It's not nefarious!
It's vicarious!
VIcarious VAAAA-CUUUU--- OSITY!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 May 08 - 12:04 PM

Or in the case of Paris Hilton, vicariously vacuous.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Joe_F
Date: 20 May 08 - 09:31 PM

In saints, we were vicariously virtuous. In celebrities, we are vicariously vicious.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Amos
Date: 20 May 08 - 08:18 PM

Hey, it's nothing to me if someone doesn't support Obama.

But if they say things about him which are spiteful, exagerrated, hateful, demonizing, covertly destructive AND not even true, then I think the man deserves some defense in absentia.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 May 08 - 08:07 PM

It's a thinly veiled attack on William Shatner. That was the real reason behind this thread, and everybody knows it!

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Bobert
Date: 20 May 08 - 07:56 PM

"...I didn't start this thread just to bash Obama."

The operative word here is "just"...

So I'm wondering what the other motives were???

I rest my case...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: GUEST,Fantasma
Date: 20 May 08 - 07:43 PM

Poppagator, even the quotes you use demonstrate I didn't start the thread just to bash Obama.

Last Sunday, we had the news that Kennedy had been hospitalized, and were beginning to hear about the monster rally in Portland.

I also mentioned someone I knew personally who sort of fit the profile I gave in the opening post.

Most the posts that followed focused in on exactly what I was talking about, which wasn't just Obama.

If that is all you saw in the opening post to this thread, I would suggest that is because you aren't very objective regarding Obama, or very open to tolerating others speaking of him critically.

But you know what, that says a lot about you, not me.

There are exactly two people in this thread who took umbrage with my mentioning Obama by name. Everyone else has simply tried to participate.

The two of you hijacked the thread, attack style, and tried to shut it down.

In my book, that makes both of you jerks.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Bobert
Date: 20 May 08 - 06:47 PM

Thnak you, P-Gator...

I've been trying to point this out but seems that FtP's computter is mouseless and she is unable to reread and apparently can't remember the first sentence of her own friggin' thread???

But now I'm the bad guy who has to sit on the Fantz-purgatory bench for 300 years or so because I pointed this out...

Hey, I asked the woman to explain why it was that she singled out the Obama supporters and her answer...

....wippo, nada, nuthin'...

Then she doesn't likwe the question so she puts the blast on me as if I had rabies 'n cooties and she ain't never acknowledged that I had pointed out that she ahd no interest what-so-ever in "Celebrity Worship Syndrome" but just wanted to continue her rant aginst the koolaid drinkin' Obama supporters???

Go figure???

Yo, LH,

I learned a long time ago that it is never "right" to fight... I learned that in martial arts... But there is a flip side to that and that is the defense part... Retaliate implies using ***more*** force than is needed to defend one's self... I am a believer in "minimal force" and I think that is what I have used here... You know me... You know that I'm not one for revenge or for doing more than is necessary to get a point accross or to defend myself or my friends when under attack...

Fantz is an attacker... I am a defender... No excess force but the greater the attack the greater the force needed to defend it... Nuff said...

Yo, Eb...

Thanks fir the hug... Here's one back: ((((((((hug))))))))))))

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 May 08 - 06:44 PM

"I have a special place reserved for you in my heart."

Yoicks. Why is that evil grin so visible?

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Donuel
Date: 20 May 08 - 06:36 PM

There are people who handle their celebrity well like George Clooney and those who do not. There are fans who handle celebrities well and those who do not.

Personally I like it when whako celebs don't handle other celebs very well like when Cruise goes out of his way to tell other celebs how to live.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: jacqui.c
Date: 20 May 08 - 06:26 PM

Who do you hate more: the object of all this affection, or the masses of people who offer it up?

And why?

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: PoppaGator
Date: 20 May 08 - 05:56 PM

The opening sentances of the OPENING POST of this discussion:

"Well, so many things got me thinking of it this weekend. The Obama cult & the political idol worship of people like him, the Kennedys, and other politician charismatics.

My sister's obsession with American Idol and Dancing With the Stars..."

This diatribe did NOT start off as a general discussion of celebrity-obession which then "naturally" turned to the subject of Obama's recent huge-crowd event; from the very beginning, quite specifically, it has been a criticism of the adulation of politicians, and of one politician in particular: Barack Obama and parenthetically, "people like him," to wit, the Kennedys.

Who do you hate more: the object of all this affection, or the masses of people who offer it up?

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: GUEST,Fantasma
Date: 20 May 08 - 05:41 PM

Oh not you, sweetie.

I have a special place reserved for you in my heart.

I'm talkin' the Royal Pains in the Ass of Bobert, Ron & Amos.

Done, done & done with their drivel and squibble.

Tootleeeooo!

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 May 08 - 04:35 PM

Thank the gods!

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: GUEST,Fantasma
Date: 20 May 08 - 04:29 PM

Actually Bobert, the conversation in this thread was going along fine until you showed up and took idiotic umbrage, assuming my motives for starting the thread were, really, all about you.

Get over your sexist jerk self.

It isn't always about you and Obama.

Like I said elsewhere earlier, some of you paranoid Obamamaniacs need to take a Mudcat break.

Jack the Sailor has been able to do this, but for some reason, you just can't let go.

So as of this post Bobert, I'm done responding to all of you.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 20 May 08 - 04:18 PM

To at least try to clear up the worship of one "celebrity", JFK Jr.

I think, and feel, that people were looking to John Jr. to bring back "Camelot" as the succesor to his father's legacy. America has had quite a long affair with the Kennedy clan to begin with and there's not alot of Americans (or any human being I know of) that didn't shed a tear after watching John John salute his father's casket as it rolled along the procession route. John Jr. was a very handsome young man, very well liked, and reportedly very intelligent. Although he himself said that he was not interested in entering the political arena his magazine was very well received and he seemed to be on his way to a very promising career. Some may feel envious or not give a damn about him because he did come from an affluent, powerful family that was at one time headed by a man regarded as a real SOB. His Uncle Ted and cousin Willie both caused further disgrace. I personally felt that John Jr. was more or less getting a deserved good deal having survived the scrutiny that a family living under the microscope experiences.

Unfortunately a new Camelot was not in the cards and his life ended all too soon.

I do keep wondering what might have been...

Now back to your regularly scheduled bickering.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 May 08 - 04:06 PM

Whoa! Like most people, I'm neither as good as some people think nor as bad as others think. (But a hug for you, Bobert.) And a kiss- just a single one - for FtP (I just don't like little cutesies, like 'kiss, kiss'. Too, too precious.)

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 May 08 - 03:46 PM

"If you attack, I will defend... I think that is purdy much human nature..."

True. It is also the essential problem in human relations, right from the level of individuals up to nations or ethnic groups.

Someone has to not retaliate for the last attack before peace can be established.

And that is why Jesus, Gandhi, Buddha, and others like them placed so much emphasis on concepts of forgiveness, turning the other cheek, etc.

It's not easy. I think it is the greatest challenge of all...much tougher than retaliating, fighting, and seeking that elusive "final victory" that usually cannot be found.

Similarly, resisting the natural impulse to get in the last word is something most people (and dogs) are virtually incapable of, and this forum is spectacular proof of that! ;-)

The hostile and unforgiving will sometimes, of course, simply walk out in a huff, thus terminating the conversation as far as their part in it goes. But even when they do they presently reappear and resume the quarrel in some entirely different thread.)

It's as pervasive as celebrity worship.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: jacqui.c
Date: 20 May 08 - 03:30 PM

Well said Bobert.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Bobert
Date: 20 May 08 - 03:26 PM

See, Fantz, this is where you constantly get it wrong... I make an objective" observation that you start threads about one topic and then use it as a vehicle to drop yet another bomb on Obama and/or his supporters...

Had you framed this thread at folks, regardless of their given icon, on "Celebrity Worship Syndrome" then it might have led to am actual discussion about folks who do tend to become worshipers... But you didn't do that at all... You just couldn't bring yourself to start a ***thoughtful*** thread without injecting the inference that supporters of Obama are worshipers...

I know that you think of me as a pit bull and in a way I am but I'd say that better than 90% of my criticism of your posts are in defense of yet another offensive shot of yours agains Obama, me or Obama suopporters in general... I have been playing defense here... If you would quit attacking then I would quit counter-punching...

You remind me of a cat that I have... Every morning she pokes another cat that we have and then the other cat retaliates and then the first cat starts hissing and carrying on in disgust??? That's the way I see it here... If you attack, I will defend... I think that is purdy much human nature...

And if you attack my friends here I will defend them, too... Especially Ebbie who has more class in her finger nail clippings than you have in yer entire body... She is the sweetest Mudcatter I have ever met and if you were to sit down and talk with her for 5 minutes you'd be ashamed to ever say anything negative about her and you can take that to the bank...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: GUEST,Fantasma
Date: 20 May 08 - 02:54 PM

Sez Ebbie, one of the rabid miniature poodles who is constantly sniping at my heels here.

I know how much you love your Mudcat vendettas Ebbie, so I wouldn't want to deprive you of your joy.

Hate away at me all you want. It's consuming you, m'dear. And only you.

Kiss kiss!

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 May 08 - 02:19 PM

Oh, yeah. Self control and that poster to my mind just go hand in hand. lol

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: GUEST,Fantasma
Date: 20 May 08 - 10:49 AM

And I'll cross-post this to the "Largest Gatherings in History" thread too:

http://gamers.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/210208_games_characters.aspx

hehehe

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: GUEST,Fantasma
Date: 20 May 08 - 09:40 AM

Bobert, here is what is needed to soothe your poor, aching head about the criticism of your preferred candidate.

Do what I and many other people here who are capable of exhibiting self-control here.

If you don't like what is being in a thread, close it & don't go back. Stop making these misogynist, really disturbing comments about women, Clinton, and me.

For instance, I won't go into a thread about Palestine and Israel. Won't touch them with a ten foot pole. Same with anything to do with the the Troubles. Ditto threads about birthdays, Nigerian scams, and the most extreme good ole boy thread here, the Mother of all BS Threads.

There is but a bare handful of posts from me in the "Popular Views on Obama" thread, which now stands at nearly 2,000 posts. People are entitled to have a thread or two about the candidate they support, so I stay out of it.

I'm not coming after you, Ron or Amos.

It is quite the other way around.

Any time I or someone tries to express a critical opinion of your preferred presidential candidate, the three of you go into pit bull attack mode.

You cannot control or stop people from expressing their political opinions here, including negative opinions about your candidate.

So why are you so obsessed with continuing to try doing that? Your candidate has won the race. So what is in it for you and Ron and Amos to keep attacking people who don't support Obama?

And here and now, I would like to personally thank Jack the Sailor for pulling back from exhibiting the same behavior you three continue to exhibit. I for one, really appreciate him backing off.

The three of you need to take a long time out from this place.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 May 08 - 09:29 AM

Every politician, deep in his or her heart, wishes to get 75,000 or 150,000 or 500,000 very excited people to show up at a local appearance he or she makes. It's what they are aiming for. Some succeed, due to a unique combination of their own personal attributes and the general circumstances all around them.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing when it happens? Well, it could be either, depending on the nature of the politician, right?

If Obama would make a good president, then it's a good thing. If he would not, then it's a bad thing.

Celebrity Worship Syndrome itself then...can be a good thing...or a bad thing...or a neutral thing. Depending on the circumstances and how they play out.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Bobert
Date: 20 May 08 - 09:14 AM

Where I find fault with this thread is that it was yet another thinly veiled attack on Obama and/or his supporters...

No mention of the Clinton-heads, the McCain-heads, the Nader-heads, the Donald Duck-heads or the Who-Gives-a-Rats-Ass-heads...

This has been my beef with Fantz all along and I keep calling her on it...

Hey, I don't care if she hates Obama, hates me, or Amos, Ron or her next door neighbor... That is her right... But these threads that are started by her that have just one purpose, and that is to put down Obama and his eupporters it getting rather tiresome and juvenilistic...

I think one thread by her entitled "Why I Hate Obama and his Supporters" would do just fine...

B~

p.s. I don't think that Fantz is dumb 'er nuthin'... She seems to have a purdy decent grasp of lots of policies, politics and issues... Maybe just a tad misdirected... Okay, alot misdirected...

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: GUEST,Fantasma
Date: 20 May 08 - 08:44 AM

Actually jacqui, one need not be an artist to garner the level of attention of a Britney Spears. A good example is Paris Hilton, who of course bought her way into celebrity with the family fortune. JFK Jr. is another example. Other former presidents kids didn't rise to the level of celebrity that he did--even his sister didn't. And look at the way the American public became obsessed with his death.

Now, there wasn't any public funeral (just that abomination of a "public memorial service" that was done in NY without the approval or participation of the family) for JFK Jr that can be equated to the Princess Di debacle. But the fascination was there nonetheless.

If you look back up to the top of the thread (maybe I should cut and paste it down here again, so people actually know what I'm talking about) I am referring to an actual psychological profile of people who get involved in celebrity worship to varying degrees.

I don't really register on the scale at all, though I have a sister that registers on the "entertainment/social" level, except she doesn't really have family or friends who she visits around with about it the way many people do. She has something this psychological profile doesn't have on it, which is a natural curiousity about certain famous people.

For instance, after she retired, her & her husband were travelling the south & southeast in their motorhome, and she started hitting all the presidential libraries, the Vanderbilt place in NC, that sort of thing. They also went to a launch at the Cape in Fla. She likes to be part of historic things. The celebrity stuff, for her, is really just a time waster/relaxation thing more than anything else.

She is also a very outgoing, people oriented person. She likes to find people she admires, not has prurient interests in if that makes any sense. In other words, stuff like the Britney/Anna Nicole Smith stuff doesn't really interest her. But she loves to read about the actors and musicians she likes.

That stuff isn't really celebrity worship, IMO. So perhaps that is the reason it isn't included in the profile in the opening post to the thread? I dunno.

We do have certain fascinations with famous people that is perfectly legitimate, hence the popularity of biographies on TV, in books, in magazines, etc. We need to learn what makes one another tick.

But that isn't the phenomenon people are observing with Obama. This is like monster religious revival stuff--this is crowds like the evangelizers like Billy Graham get.

And that deeply disturbs many of us who have had very serious issues with the "Christian Evangelical White House" of the Bush years.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: jacqui.c
Date: 20 May 08 - 08:28 AM

The problem is that that a lot of celebrity worship comes about because there are millions of people out there who will pay good money to see the films, watch the sports, buy the music and the magazines produced and about these 'shining stars'.

Paul Newman, for example, first became known as a film actor/star. People paid to go see films in which he starred and it is those ordinary people who put him, and countless others, in the high earnings bracket that they enjoy. the fact that he has put something back into the community speaks well for him but probably doesn't matter a jot to those who want to know all the details of his private life, the juicier the better.

If Britney Spears' brand of music had not been popular with the teenies do you think that we would be reading about her latest problems on the front pages of the mags in the checkout queue? How many other sad lives don't we hear about because the person involved did not catch the publics' imagination?

It is in the interest of big business to try and titillate the general population's appetite for stories about celebrities and the pervasive presence of the media in all parts of the lives of most people makes this relatively easy to do. You own life seems dull and uninteresting? Never mind, live vicariously through the life of your favourite celebrity!

It is bread and circuses, just as in ancient Rome. The difference now is that there are a vast variety of celebs, one to suit just about every taste on the planet. So choose your flavour - sports, music, films, religion or even politics. Concentrate on your own special 'love' and maybe you won't see quite as clearly what is happening out there in the big world.

I was in the UK when Diana died and was actually rather sickened by the behaviour of many of my countrymen. I thought that the Brits had more class than that! I also found it offensive, a few months back, when Britney Spears' problems were considered important enough to warrant an airing on the nationwide news. It seems that we are really getting to where triviality is king!

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 May 08 - 08:14 PM

Well said, Amos, except about Paul Newman. Have you never heard of his Hole in the Wall Camps for seriously ill children? There's a lot of good in what the man and his wife do outside of Hollywood. Hell, they don't even live there.

I wonder who we will all worship next week? Can't wait for Janet to tell us!

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Amos
Date: 19 May 08 - 07:04 PM

I think there are distinctions to be made between those whose sole claim to fame is fame itself, and those who do something concrete. I put the Beatles in the latter category. Paul Newman? Well, maybe for his salad dressing. Obama? I'm betting on him for particular reasons, not as a fan. He had plenty of opportunities to take a nosedive off the welcome wagon, in my view, and he was balanced enough not to.

Casting the enthusiasm and hopefulness of people for a better future because of their choice of leaders as some sort of jejeune obsession is, on reflection, pretty uncharitable and even a touch anti-social. I am sure there are people who are madly obsessed with him in the same way rockstars sometimes induce young people to get, but on the whole it is distinctly possible that the hypothesis is a shitty one, fueled not by reason but by some internal bitterness. Sorry if this seems unduly harsh. I think the proposition is...what's the word...thinly disguised underhandedness.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Bobert
Date: 19 May 08 - 06:21 PM

She won't go there, P-Gator, 'cause she has a weak resume compared to lots of folks here...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: GUEST,Fantasma
Date: 19 May 08 - 06:17 PM

And don't let the screen door hit you in the ass on your way out.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: PoppaGator
Date: 19 May 08 - 06:05 PM

Race card my ass.

I read your diatribe about Protestant-evangelical messianic language, and it immediately occurred to me that MLK's message would fit your description of something you seeem to regard as an evil and scary phenomenon.

Believe me, if there were a Caucasian person who had so profound an effect on our recent history by articulating a radically and explicitly Christian message of non-violence, faith, and determination, I would have used that person's name instead of Dr. King's.

But Dr. King was the first and only example I could think of who would seem to put the lie to your rant. Sorry!

By the way, I'm sure I could match you percentage-point by percentage-point, and then some, if we were to compare our involvement with and understanding of black and/or poor folks. But let's not go there, huh?

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 19 May 08 - 06:02 PM

The worst thing about the last two statements is that these kids were left behind during the era of the "no child left behind act" and yet there are people here who would vote for McCain who would just continue the decline of American schools.
It should be about reading, writing, and arithmetic, I know, but with the current economy, the fact that wages have not for quite some time kept up with inflation, and the need for at least two incomes in most households, there needs to be more infrastructure created and dedicated to the children!

Sorry for the thread drift!

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: GUEST,Fantasma
Date: 19 May 08 - 05:56 PM

There are plenty of threads for debating the horse race. This thread doesn't need to be hijacked AGAIN by the Obama cult to shove their propaganda down our throats.

Back to the topic.

I have a confession to make. I had a conversation with my sister after talking to her about HER celebrity obsessions (did I mention she reads People Magazine religiously?), when she reminded me I had more than just the Beatles on my mind as a pubescent teen. For several years, I had 2 Paul Newman posters on my walls--one from Hud, one from Cool Hand Luke, and the Steve McQueen Great Escape poster w/him on the motorcycle.

I feel cleansed just admitting to it.

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: Amos
Date: 19 May 08 - 05:46 PM

What -- you think Hillary would be a better bet for them? Nader? What?



A

Subject: RE: BS: Celebrity Worship Syndrome
From: GUEST,Fantasma
Date: 19 May 08 - 05:38 PM

More to the point, who scares you so damn much, Poppagator, to make you play race cards like you just did, hmmmm?

I tell you what. You come work my job with 85% African American kids with 95% free lunch poverty rate for one god damn day, and then come talk to me again.

I work with the kids Michelle and Barack Obama are leaving behind.