By: Bobert Hibbill

Put quite simply, the celebrity paradox is the phenomenon of the public projecting veneration onto these megalomaniac-ego personalities because of the public’s sense of not feeling important. Many of the pundits and commentators that have talked about the paradox have stated the sycophantic tendencies in much of the public in regards to hero-worship of these individuals that are constantly seen in the media. And perhaps part of the blame rests within the media. But not entirely. Never entirely. Truly, much of the blame, just as with the economy, rests at the bloodied, degraded feet of the mass public. By extensively perpetuating what could only be called a massive trend in the marginalization of people, the public has created a reality out of fiction. With these Lance Armstrong bracelets that, rather than being a symbol of hope and courage as they were originally intended to be, have become fashion accessories to denote a particular coterie within society.

And these trends are cyclical. There is truly nothing original happening now within the realm of celebrity that hasn’t happened within the past several thousand years. Granted, technologies advance, but people never do in respects to celebrity worship. They actually seem to revolve around the pretense of celebrity to create their consciousness—or at least that’s an interesting hypothesis to leap off from. Perhaps out of feelings of doubt, marginalization, mortality, and the like, the public attaches to these figures in the media as representative of their generation. They became figureheads, symbols, embodiments of a generation’s greatness.

But (and this is the ironic part) these venerated projections are never truly representative of an epoch. In fact, they usually are the anomaly within a generation. Granted, it’s usually the anomalies that think outside the box and create great solutions to complicated problems. But I’m not talking necessarily about scientists, mathematicians, artists, or the like. I’m talking about entertainers. And while they do provide the much needed catharsis to break up the tedium of daily life, I’m here asking have these entertainers, these celebrities, pervaded the daily life too much? Have they pushed the boundary of the fourth wall? And are we facing a major identity crisis as a mass public?

The identity of the individual has never been individualism, not even at the height of the celebration of individualism. There are too many variables and contingencies that influence people, one of these contingencies, of course, being the celebrity, for individualism—the study and philosophy of the individual—to be the end-all, be-all of a culture’s makeup. Thus, the identity of a culture is never determined by any specific individual, like a celebrity, but is the ultimate characterization of a mass. And absolutely no singular person can fit that mold, no matter how gun-ho, Captain America they are.

This isn’t any sort of communist idealism that I’m indicating. Society is based off the mores that people within the community establish. Sometimes I think we forget that and we allow ourselves to fall prey to the pitfalls of celebrity-worship…to a horrifying extent. And it’s on both sides—i.e. those who hate celebrities and those who absolutely adore them. Worship makes no distinction, when looking at it objectively, between the two; but rather is merely an expression of aggressive attention. Thus, even those who say they absolutely hate Justin Bieber, like those who say they hate homosexuals and turn out to be gay themselves, are generally Bieber fanatics along with the rest of them. (This also probably means that Stephen King, despite his raving article, loves Stephenie Meyer and reads her books every night under his covers).

So what’s my point? Ignore them. Support your local musicians, artists, and politicians by going out to their concerts, gallery showings, and rallies. The world’s big. But actual talent and skill is never quite in the size (pun intended), but it’s in the spirit and identity within localism. Don’t fall victim to the marginalization of mob rule’s iron grip, but rather find your own damn niche and call it home.