Superstars come in many shapes and forms – politicians,
sports people, actors, pop stars, criminals, artists etc. The thing that unites
them is that they are created by a media that thrives on the best, the most
powerful and the most notorious people. They are only able to do this because
the society we live in needs heroes, demands superstars and requires some
distraction from the poverty of the ordinary person’s everyday life.
The famous reduce the rest of us to the masses – to step out
of the crowd you have to be different, a celebrity. What makes those who
achieve fame so special? Largely, it is the coincidence of a demand for
celebrities and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of people with a desire to be
special, coupled with greed and gross ego-centricity, which just reflects the
hierarchical competitiveness of society.
Celebrities detract from the real world (whatever that is)
i.e. they are a social control to keep our minds on something harmless and give
something harmless to aim for. For instance, the big break in the pop business
keeps thousand s of young people slogging away or thinking they could have the
next X Factor. Fame is indeed the spur.
Of course, the famous are in turn abused by the faceless
capitalists who encouraged their creation so that they can be used to advertise
commodities, while acting as a safety valve for the preservation of the status
quo. Rebellion can quite easily be turned into marketable ideology with its own
heroes.
The classification of humans on the basis of ‘good looks’
allows oppression in its commodity formats to reach deeper into our lives than
ever before. It instils hierarchies of beauty; beauty is not in the eye of the
beholder, but in the eye of the creator of celebrities.
There may be 10,000 people dead in an earthquake somewhere,
but the latest antics of Jason Donovan [1989!] receive the media and most
people’s attention. The desperation with which society creates superstars and
establishes images is staggering, but totally typical of spectacular society.
Those who have achieved fame have always shit on others to
get it, by clambering over the corpse of humanity … politicians by the graft of
party workers and back stabbing; military leaders by massacring civilians,
royals by oppression and imperialism, pop stars by killing music etc.
The worst part of this is that media stars create roles and
stereotypes which we are supposed to model ourselves on – of course, there is
always a choice to give an illusion of democracy (it takes all sorts to make a
world): royalists, soap opera viewers and pop stars creating the intellectual
abyss of youth cults. It all says that we should follow our selected hero and
not our own individual creative ideas. Role leaders speak for the group they
represent so that fashion is solidified and individuality is totally stifled or
ridiculed.
Even the ‘revolutionary’ left and right wing groups have
their gurus e.g. Tony Cliff or John Tyndall who think up the ideas and use
their followers to disseminate those, usually unoriginal, policies. Tony Cliff
is merely a milder and less obvious Jim Jones. It is a massive ego trip for
some screwed up lunatic in a society of alienated screwed up people. In a blasé
society it is little wonder that people want to rise above a cesspit of
mediocrity, but very few do it without the desire for power, to be superior to
others.
The problem is that replacing the famous only throws up new
figureheads e.g. abolish the monarchy just to introduce a politburo is just
going round in circles. Bigger cages, longer chains.
Perhaps it is better to just anonymously shoot your local
celebrity and disappear into the background with a knowing smile on your face.
The assassination of Olaf Palme proved it is possible to gun down a star and
get away with it. Every famous person who dies brightens the day – every
Ayatollah, every John Lennon, every Kennedy, every Sadat, every Rock Hudson.
There are so many of them that you are guaranteed at least a few each week. If
only they weren’t replaced.
Even those people with the guts to assassinate the famous
end up by becoming celebrities due their notoriety – Rasputin, Manson, Oswald,
Ruby, Hinckley etc. Their acts of insane resistance and defiance, however
commendable, tend to reduce daily resistance to a seeming pittance though, to
be fair, they do provide inspiration and a good laugh, showing more imagination
and impact that the revolutionary Left.
There is only one way to deal with the rich and famous …
NAIL ‘EM UP!
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