celebrating celebrities

Today I was watching Paris Hilton's British Best Friend. This is now my second time in the past 3 months watching this show, and both times have been both entertaining and brain numbing. Never has something been so entertaining because it was so incredibly stupid.

For those that do not know the premise of the show, it goes as follows. A reality competition follows a group of British girls (and one very content boy) who fight to become Paris Hilton's British best friend. Paris puts them through various competitions and tasks to "prove their love for her" and show how much they really want her friendship. I am assuming she had a show called Paris Hilton's Best Friend, and is now searching for something more exotic (but only slightly). I am assuming next season, she will acquire a Latino BF.

Maybe it is just the people I surround myself with or the media I chose to attend to, but I had this notion that most people hated Paris Hilton; or at the very least thought her as a concept (rich dumb girl that does nothing and becomes famous) to be embarrassing to humanity and its race. However, on this show, the contestants are in complete awe of her. Here are a few examples:

• In a truth or dare game, one contestant was asked "What is the most important thing to you, and if Paris asked for it, would you give it to her?". The contestant responded that her heart was most important to her, and if Paris asked for it, she would give it to her. Talk about disgusting.
• One of the contestant's friends was asked how the contestant spoke about Paris. He responded that if the contestant ever had a God, Paris would be it. The blasphemy does not even bother me; rather its the sheer pathetic nature of this.
  

And of course, the contestants cannot stop raving about how Paris possesses the characteristics of a natural goddess. In their eyes, Paris is the pure depiction of mercy, love, and sensitivity. Not to mention, she is the portrait of wisdom and class. I do not think I need to explain the absurdity of this statement.

Nonetheless, watching (and admittingly enjoying) this show got me thinking of why people are so mezmorized by celebrities. I am not talking about loving Sidney Crosby because he is a great hockey player or watching all Matt Damon movies because you think he is a talented actor. I am talking about those nuts that consistently follow John Mayer on Twitter, the people that run those TV Shows that seem far to interested in Kate Winslet's pregnancy, or individuals that tell themselves that the Olsen twins are their biggest life inspirations.

I guess it really is not my say to pass judgement on how one distributes his or her respect, but at the very least, I question the motives or mentality behind this adoration. What makes someone reach this level of obsession with someone they have only encountered on television? Perhaps it is a desire for living like someone or something they are not; the idea of living vicariously through someone who has it all?

What many of these people maybe need to do is wake up from their dreamland, or as Mr. Matthers would say "snap back to reality". Most of these people are not really running from their horrible lives, but their mundane, ordinary, and boring lives. Perhaps these people need to be reminded that their "ordinary" lives are not necessarily boring, but rather there are more subtle excitements and joys of life they have not yet explored in their own lives. I think we all tend to wish we were someone else; wish we were doing something better. I think having a drive to live life greater is important, but I think there is a danger when we decide our lives would be better if it were not its own, but rather that of someone "better" or more "glamorous".