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Celebrity Obsession In America According Term Paper

Celebrities Tend to Make Bad Role Models:

Experience has shown that even people who achieve significant goals through their own hard work and the use of legitimate intellectual talents and business skills may still be flawed as people, sometimes quite significantly. Successful entrepreneurs, real estate moguls, political figures and wealthy investors sometimes exercise very poor judgment in their personal lives. A sitting two-term U.S. president embarrassed himself, his family, his office, and his nation by asking a White House intern to perform sexual acts with a cigar in the Oval Office and then perjured himself by lying about it defiantly.

Blind emulation, even of people who are capable of legitimate achievements, in spite of their shortcomings as human beings is one thing. It could be argued that despite his personal indiscretions, Bill Clinton still deserves attention as a public speaker by virtue of his positive human qualities and the knowledge and advice he offers in areas of his greatest strengths. However, it is quite another thing to worship and blindly emulate celebrities who only "achievements" are having been born into wealth, or with good looks, or athletic prowess. If there is no guarantee that achieving worthwhile goals through one's own hard work makes one an admirable person, there is even less reason to admire those whose fame or notoriety is not a function of any legitimate achievement or accomplishment.

Generally, it is obviously more likely (although obviously, no guarantee) that someone whose achievements relate to superior intellect will also be someone worth emulating in other respects than someone whose achievements are either nonexistent or relate more to natural abilities that are not inherently admirable. Two well-known examples would be Michael...

Michael Jackson's might be so bizarre that it may have undermined his long successful career, but Brittany Spears currently has one of the best selling new music albums, despite her most recent public performance that was generally considered to be a musical disaster.
Conclusion:

In principle, there might be some reason to admire or emulate celebrities for their specific accomplishments: conceivably, one could find something worth admiring in O.J.

Simpson's running, Michael Jackson's music production, or the way Brittany Spears parlayed her average vocal abilities into a successful career, in spite of all their apparent psychological defects. However, the blind admiration of fame for its own sake, or of anybody personally, without regard to their other obvious personal shortcomings is both ridiculous and also potentially damaging, especially to young people still in the process of formulating their personal values. Ultimately, the consequence of encouraging personal celebrity worship instead of admiration only for their specific accomplishments could eventually be a nation of violent thugs without musical talent and empty-headed teenage girls who think alcoholism, stupidity, and drunk driving are all "hot."

References

Gerrig, R.J., Zimbardo, R.G. (2003)

Psychology and Life 18th Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Henslin, J.M. (2002) Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. Boston: Allyn and Bacon

Macionis, J.J. (2003) Sociology 9th Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Sources used in this document:
References

Gerrig, R.J., Zimbardo, R.G. (2003)

Psychology and Life 18th Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Henslin, J.M. (2002) Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. Boston: Allyn and Bacon

Macionis, J.J. (2003) Sociology 9th Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
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