Gyms, Snow And Windfalls
February 2, 2007
Names, Faces, And Flaws
February 2, 2007
The how and why of the current state of politics in America cannot be understood in their proper context unless the education system in America is considered and understood. How is possible that entertainers become the adored voices of political ideologies? How is it possible that actors and actresses (some with barely a high school education) are considered to have more credible opinions than others that have spent a lifetime studying the issue at hand?
That isn’t to say that critique of government by ‘outsiders’ is without merit. There is certainly enough evidence to the contrary. Nevertheless, there is a huge difference between criticism of the administration’s policies as authored by Condaleeza Rice by Henry Kissinger or Zbigniew Brzezinski, than the criticisms offered up by Tim Robbins or Barbra Streisand. The fact that is not acknowledged by our educational system is indicative of a symptom of a much deeper and more serious problem.
These matters were discussed by Shmuley Boteach. Here is some of what he has to say:
Arguably, the biggest problem in American culture today is the fact that mere entertainers are its heroes. There is no precedent in any civilization in the history of the world for entertainers – actors, singers, dancers and directors – to be elevated to the highest positions of prominence in the culture. That’s why none of us can name actors and actresses from ancient Greece or Rome. They weren’t important enough to be remembered.
Sure, we can name the playwrights and we can name the satirists. We can name the politicians, the philosophers and the generals. Because literary, academic, political and military figures were always the personalities who dominated the cultural landscape. Whatever you thought of these pursuits – and many of the ancient conquerors were highly immoral men – their pursuits were at least consequential.
But entertainment? Lighthearted merriment? That’s what you did in your spare time, when you needed a break from the serious things. Prior to the rise of American popular culture, entertainers could never even dream of being the most important members of a society, engaged as they were in a frivolous past-time that helped the folks escape their solemn responsibilities for a short time.
In our time, however, the incredible has happened. The court jester has become the king. Those who play the heroes have become the culture’s actual heroes. Those who direct fantasy movies are directing the direction of our youth. And with entertainers as the principal people we look up to, so much of our society has become silly and trivial.
The consequences for the elevation of people who perform inconsequential tasks to the center of national attention are enormous. Even if our Hollywood celebrities were not the most damaged people in our society – drugged up, divorced, with even their kids in rehab – the results would still be tragic. By making fashion models our role models, Hollywood heroines our heroes, and singers into saints, we have created a shallow and vain society, distinguished not by sacrifice, but by indulgence. We have created a culture known not for virtue, but for vanity. And our country is becoming not more dedicated, but decadent.
And now you begin to understand why so many people around the world think we Americans are so stupid and shallow. It’s not because of Bush. It’s because of Hollywood. The very nature of entertainment is that it is something you do in your spare time. Entertainment is designed to be on the periphery, never at the center of national endeavor. Performers dare not replace professors, cinematographers dare not replace soldiers, and comedians dare not supplant cardiologists as a country’s most lionized citizens.
The future of the United States is not threatened by any existing foreign power. Less so is it threatened by any terrorist. Terrorists can harm us, but they can never defeat us. The only thing that can threaten the continuity of this great country is if it collapses from the inside. If its foundations become so eroded, its pillars so brittle, that its national edifice falls victim to the forces of historical inevitability.
We discussed the matter last year with Mamacita, teacher extraordiaire and author of Weekly Scheiss. In an email, she noted the implications of Boteach’s idea:
“I think he’s right.
So many people get their opinions and news from Bono and Susan Sarandon these days; it’s easier to WATCH and LISTEN, than to READ and THINK, and unfortunately, people who are thinkers and readers don’t have the limelight that the shallow celebrities have. And the few thinkers and readers who had limelight were often criticized for using it. Steve Allen comes to mind; I thought he was a genius.
And how did they get to be celebrities? Some of them worked their way up with talent and determination, but I think the majority of them lucked out with one photo or film and mysteriously they’re still being touted as a celebrity. Paris Hilton comes to mind; now there’s a role model for you.
Role model. That expression isn’t even used much any more. Sports heroes used to be role models, but now they’re nothing but big stupid whiny babies who chose big money and fame over education and blame their drug addictions on everything but the real source: themselves and their immaturity and appalling inexcusable ignorance. Movie stars used to be heroes, too, till all the infidelity and cocaine and domestic violence came out from behind the protective shield of an agent or studio and became something to emulate.
It might have become worse when television stopped ’signing off’ at eleven or so. Networks have to fill those hours with SOMETHING, and people who have lost the habits of reading and thinking and conversing with real people have to have something to make noise and keep them occupied. Doh. Duh. Time was when the Simpsons would have been nothing but a cleverly written animated half-hour, instead of an actual family to be imitated and admired.
I don’t believe in censorship, but sometimes modern celebrity whatevers and whoevers make me want to hide all the children of the world until the sensational journalists and photographers are all gone. That’s not going to happen now, because these sensational media people rule the world. We’re more interested in the Bush twins’ drinking problems than with the President’s official policies on….whatever he’s doing these days. People’s clothing is more talked-about than are their personalities.
I suppose I could drag in all kinds of things, like both parents working full-time so there’s nobody to give individual attention to the kids, or parents who use the tv as a babysitter so they can do their own thing, or parents who tell the kids to shut up and get out of the room so the parents can watch tv, or parents who don’t even come home at night, leaving the kids to watch Jerry Springer in all it’s trailer-trash glory, or the parents who are ON Jerry Springer regularly. But ultimately, I think maybe it’s parents who don’t know how to say ‘no.’
Most of us lead mundane lives, and celebrities are sparkly and rich and cool, and they hang out with other sparkly, rich, cool people. They don’t deal with mortgages and daycare and overdue bills and in-laws and unemployment and bad neighbors and eviction notices. They are kings and queens and elves and explorers and on the screen they wear gorgeous clothes and crowns and they find magic objects and get their wishes granted, and they overthrow stupid bosses and they always find love, true love. Sometimes, we assume their real lives are just like that, too.
Scenery. Beautiful scenery, where things are happenin’. Brad and Jen are JUST LIKE US, because they couldn’t make it either.
Julia Roberts, and Tom Cruise, make adultery seem acceptable. Kids? Shuttled from mansion to mansion. Just like ours, minus the mansion.
We like to see them rise, and we LOVE to see them fall. Haha, you can’t buy happiness! And neither can we. . . .
When do our kids see rabbis any more? When do they see any kind of religious or political or military or professional leader, except when they’ve been caught being naughty? I’m all for questioning authority, but kids are being raised to question it to the point of complete and total disrespect; and their parents are the same way.
Nothing is ever anybody’s fault. It’s always because of a condition, or a circumstance, and nobody should ever have to be penalized. Why bother to try, when the stupid people get the same rewards?
It all reminds me, sometimes, of the Greek gods and goddesses. They were designed by man to have all the magical and wonderful qualities known by that era, but, like men, they also had all the bad qualities. Myths seemed to love to show the gods at their worst, and the more like regular men they were, the more they were beloved.
Zeus? He’s just like me, underneath. Paris Hilton? Ooh, I love her shoes and that handbag! And her phone was stolen! So was mine, that one time!
I’m sure we’d be BEST FRIENDS if only they knew me. BEST FRIENDS, and we’d hang out all the time and go cosmic bowling on Friday nights, and they’d come over to my house a lot and we’d eat at Taco Bell and get a celebrity discount cuz Todd, at the drive-through window, does that for me now that I’m hanging with Paris.
I’ll keep writing to him/her; eventually they’ll show up at my door and we’ll be friends forever. I mean, if Stan had only waited a little bit longer, he wouldn’t have been forced to drown his pregnant girlfriend and him and that celebrity he kept writing to would be best buds. I’ll just wait. Yeah.
People we see the most influence us the most. We see celebs more than we see family members.
If an argument is credible on it’s merits, Hollywood actors and actresses are not needed to promulgate that idea. If an ideology is to be considered credible, adherents to that ideology are not more important or credible than those who birthed that ideology.
In addition, for an ideology to be credible, it has to be more than veneer deep. The entire ideology has to be subject to intellectual scrutiny- not just the ‘pretty parts.’ Maybe that’s why Hollywood is so attracted to half baked ideas. Veneer deep is Hollywood’s raison d’etre.
It is clear that the only reason that ‘names’ and ‘faces’ become more important the ideology itself is because that ideology is flawed and has something to hide- and hopes the ‘names’ and ‘faces,’ court jesters all, will detract from that ideologies shortcomings. That truth becomes clear when Hollywood figures are idolized for their support of their action or inaction on behalf of some of the most dysfunctional and cruel regimes in the world.
After America left Vietnam, 3 million people were slaughtered. The ‘names’ and ‘faces’ won’t acknowledge that truth because if they did, they would seen for the useful idiots and court jesters they really were. In their insatiable narcissism, they continue to insert themselves into debates and arguments for which they are ill equipped.
The same can be said for our educational institutions. There is a constant drumbeat and mantra that we are in a Vietnam-like quagmire. There is no acknowledgment that there might be another Vietnam-like slaughter were we to leave Iraq. Colleges and universities fall over themselves to recruit Hollywood actors and other agendized ideologues to speak at their institutions. Scholars and qualified critics of campus ideologies and agendas are barred and refused academic appointment and debate.
In a world without serious credible and respectful debate, there can be no credible ideologies or philosophies.
Mamacita is on the front lines of school, education and cultural realities. She spends more time with your kids than you do and she knows them better than you do. Anything you might have to say to the contrary or in rebuttal is anecdotal in nature and no more. She has seen and heard it all. Like it or not, she is reporting from the front lines. You may not like it, but please, don’t shoot the messenger.
