Congratulations, You're a Phony!
If there are seven signs of our coming doom this company is certainly one of them. Named Celeb 4 A Day, they allow average joes like you and me to pay for the privilege of being chased around by paparazzi for a few hours. Pay enough and they’ll even provide you with a publicist to keep the paparazzi at bay.
I probably don’t need to be snarky. The inanity of this is self-apparent. But, for the love of God! Is it not enough that the supermarket shelves are plastered in celebrity gossip? Is it not enough that CNN makes the pregnancy of Brittney Spears’ sister a lead story? Are all the Paris Hiltons and Lindsey Lohans and all the talent-less, personality-less, wax-molded reality “stars” not enough to fully satiate our cultural need for fame? People now want to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars so that they appear famous to all the absolute total strangers who happen to pass by their paparazzi lovefest?
Hey, I’m all for a little decadence in life. But I like mine with some lasting pleasure. So what if you’ve had four, five, six guys snap photos of you for an hour and had onlookers go all agape, trying to figure out who the hell you are. Look at you, you’re famous. Except you’re not. You’re a phony and when the photographers collect their check and leave, you’re still just some schlub who has to spell his name five times to the helpdesk guy in India.
Yeah, I’m probably missing the innocent joy in something like this. But, to me, our fame and celebrity addiction is nausea inducing. If we’re going to be a decadent society, can’t it at least involve old scotch and plates of foie gras?
I probably don’t need to be snarky. The inanity of this is self-apparent. But, for the love of God! Is it not enough that the supermarket shelves are plastered in celebrity gossip? Is it not enough that CNN makes the pregnancy of Brittney Spears’ sister a lead story? Are all the Paris Hiltons and Lindsey Lohans and all the talent-less, personality-less, wax-molded reality “stars” not enough to fully satiate our cultural need for fame? People now want to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars so that they appear famous to all the absolute total strangers who happen to pass by their paparazzi lovefest?
Hey, I’m all for a little decadence in life. But I like mine with some lasting pleasure. So what if you’ve had four, five, six guys snap photos of you for an hour and had onlookers go all agape, trying to figure out who the hell you are. Look at you, you’re famous. Except you’re not. You’re a phony and when the photographers collect their check and leave, you’re still just some schlub who has to spell his name five times to the helpdesk guy in India.
Yeah, I’m probably missing the innocent joy in something like this. But, to me, our fame and celebrity addiction is nausea inducing. If we’re going to be a decadent society, can’t it at least involve old scotch and plates of foie gras?
posted by Alan Stewart Carl at 10:16 AM
3 Comments:
My son and his friends pulled off a stunt like this once. They picked a photogenic member of their group and then all started clamouring for his autograph in a shopping mall. In LA. It didn't take long before passersby were asking for autographs and posing for photos with him too. When mall security showed up, they left, but at that point they had worked up a crowd of about 100.
That's high comedy. Your son may have a career in performance art.
The last thing that kid needs is encouragement! His entire life has been a performance. It's hard to imagine him NOT ending up on stage in one capacity or another - maybe more than one.
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