Cult of Celebrity

I wonder if the celebrity worship we find ourselves with is inevitable.

I do not live in the same neighborhood as my co-workers; not even the same continent as some of them. We know each other at work, but we have no neighbors in common.

We are made for community, but the only people we know in common are those advertised by the media--the celebrities. I can connect better with you if I can make a stronger connection with the people we both know. So if I can say I met a singer you enjoy, I am more closely connected with you.

Therefore to stay connected with the people I meet I ought to pay close attention to the lives and doings of sports figures and actors and whoever is being served up as famous. Their doings need to become important to me--because you and I have no other neighbors. Voila: a cult of celebrity.

It is disturbing to have our interpersonal relations mediated by media tycoons.