In Response to Megan Cooney (3/25/2010)

Q: “We idolize actors and athletes, but we search so hard for a scandal to bring them down. By doing so, are we just trying to bring down the people we have idolized so high?”

I do not believe that the search to bring actors and athletes down is as common as some people may think. There is clearly and obsession about scandals involving actors and athletes, but I believe this obsession is created from something different then people wanting to bring these actors or athletes down; this obsession relates more to the general interest people have in these actors and athletes. With that said, I feel that the people who want to bring these celebrities down are not the ones who idolize them.

I feel that to understand the obsession about scandals involving actors and athletes, we must first understand the general interest that people have of celebrities. Pop culture is interested in actors and athletes because most people are interested in anyone else who is more famous than they are. People in our society become interested in people who are famous because they are trying to escape from their own life. The obsession with celebrities is very similar to the purpose of reading a novel or drinking alcohol in many ways; people are just using these things as means to stop thinking about the stressors in their daily lives. If I read that some famous celebrity cheated on their spouse, I am interested not because I have always had interest in that celebrity, but because their drama-filled life is currently interesting, and I am trying to avoid thinking about my own life. Following celebrities is often the most interesting form of entertainment because the events are extremely dramatic, but it is all real.

I would not agree that we necessarily “search so hard” for scandals that will bring actors and athletes down. I think that people are extremely interested in these scandals, but I do not believe they go out of their way to look for one about their favorite actor or athlete. I understand that people buy celebrity magazines and read websites to find scandals, but I do not believe this is because people want to bring down a specific celebrity; people are just looking for a new story that will distract them from their own problems. With that said, people do exist who will try to bring down a certain celebrity, but I feel that these people are rare compared with the general population.

Many people do make negative comments about celebrities during scandals, and that is why I understand where your idea about bringing down actors and athletes is coming from, but I do not feel that this negativity is related to people wanting to bring their idols down. In general, the people who idolize someone that is in a scandal are interested in the scandal, but they do not want the person they idolize to go down. Sometimes these people will make a comment about a famous actor’s or athletes problems, saying that the famous person made a stupid mistake and is an idiot, but this relates to people trying to feed their own egos. People who idol a certain athlete or actor do not suddenly want their idol to have major problems; they are only interested in what is going on with their idol. Occasionally, these people will be angry at their idol, and they will tell others that they hope their idol has problems because they deserve it, but I do not believe that these people truly want their idol to struggle.

There are people who idolize athletes and actors, but I feel that you confused the people who truly idolize with the people who are generally obsessed with celebrities. If someone truly idolizes an actor or athlete who gets involved in a scandal, he or she will be interested in the scandal, but they are not trying to bring down their idol. The people who want to bring down celebrities are usually the ones who are obsessed with pop culture, and they never truly idolized the specific person that they want to bring down.

What do you think the obsession with celebrities says about our society as a whole?