-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of joanna bujes Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 8:45 AM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: [lbo-talk] Celebrity gossip
Celebrity gossip is a form of bonding. It's really hard to gossip about my best friend or your worst enemy because it would take so much work to introduce these to a larger group of people that it would not be worth the trouble for a mere gossip.
So, instead, you use these place holders called "celebrities." They provide you with a short hand way of referring to a cluster of qualities (emotional, aesthetic, political); ultimately, the dialogue is not about these celebrities but about common mores, taste, ethics, psychology, etc. Most discussion in academia is exactly like celebrity gossip except it uses literary or artistic figures as celebrities, believing that the status of these figures gives added weight or depth to what is essentially gossip.
Then there is also the fact that "identification" is the easiest form of identity -- by picking idealized figures, identifying with these, and arguing passionately about their faults and virtues, we believe we are discharging our duty to reflect and know ourselves.
Sometimes I enjoy celebrity gossip and sometimes it makes me nauseous.
Joanna
Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>Kelley divulged:
>
>
>>'uh, I think you're over reacting. I'm the person who brought it up and I
>>love MM for this so much that I personally service him with a lifetime
>>supply of hummers. sheesh. not that he'd actually _want_ them but you get
>>my point, yah?
>>
>>
>
>Why do people who proudly espouse an ideology whose hallmarks are
>rationalism, historical materialism, and egalitarianism engage in celebrity
>cults?
>
>This is a bone fide question. Many people I've met love talking about
>celebrity figures, from movie stars to sports champions to famous literary
>and intellectual figures. In fact, discussing celebrities occupies most of
>their conversations. Just a few minutes ago a co-worker of mine came to my
>office all excited that Red Sox just won the world series.
>
>I am genuinely nonplussed. Frankly, I find such conversations and
>excitement over artificially staged events and personae extremely boring.
>Not only their outcome but even their taking or not taking place at all
have
>zero effect on the lives of most people, except perhaps those who either
>work for those events or bet money on them. Whether red Sox won or lost,
>what Hitchens said or did not say, or what Eminem sings about the US
>elections does not change even the smallest thing in how I, or people I
know
>live their everyday lives. Therefore, I genuinely do not understand why
>people find these staged events and personae so exiting.
>
>The Bearded One was talking about the opium of the people - but the folks I
>am talking about are not downtrodden masses toiling endlessly under the
yoke
>of factory regime. Can anyone who likes discussing celebrities on this
list
>tell me what I am missing? Again, it is a bone fide question, not sarcasm.
>I would appreciate some bona fide opinions on the subject.
>
>Wojtek
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