If there's one thing that is guaranteed to whip up the general public
into an emotional frenzy, it is a pointless celebrity story. This
past couple of weeks has seen two such stories: the sacking of Jeremy
Clarkeson and the exit of Zayn What's-his-face from boy band One
Direction. Both stories have led to a storm of speculation and
strong feeling from a baffled public who have seemingly nothing else
to occupy their time. I'm not going to sit here and pretend that
this is an amazing new phenomenon because I vaguely remember girls in
my class being positively distraught when Take That announced their
break up in 1996. Admittedly, I was relatively unmoved by the whole
thing. Come to think of it, I don't think I have ever felt any sort
of affiliation to any band or celebrity. Don't ask me how I occupy
my time and thoughts because I don't really have an answer for you.
All I can tell you is that celebrities and their goings on don't
really intrigue me and never have. What does intrigue me is that
fact that people, many of whom earn a mere pittance, can spare so
much time and energy on people whose lives are so far removed from
their own. Apparently the online petition to reinstate Jeremy
Clarkeson got over 1000 000 signatures. To place things into
perspective, over 1000 000 people decided that Jeremy Clarkeson's job
was worth giving a toss about. This is probably greater than the
number of people who would sign a petition to save the jobs of those
working in the NHS, local government and police force (many of whom
probably haven't assaulted colleagues but who, nonetheless, face
redundancy through no fault of their own). Again, this should come
as a surprise but doesn't.
Look, I don't want to get into a debate about what should happen to
Clarkeson because it's been debated to death by others. Besides,
that's not really the point of this post. My main concern here is
why, in the name of Hades, we are so hung up on one guy and his job
when hundreds, possibly thousands of people from all different walks
of life are facing losing their jobs. My guess is that we are just
not good at looking at bigger pictures. We can hear facts, figures
and anecdotes all day but they don't actually mean anything to us
unless we are personally affected. Only when we are waiting for
hours in A&E does everything begin to feel real. Until this
point, it is just an abstract story and something that is far too big
and out of our control. It is as though larger, national issues are
so large and unmanageable that even forming coherent opinions can be
daunting and somewhat tiring. Sure, we may discuss the privatisation
of the NHS with friends and colleagues, we may even sign a petition
to save our local A&E department when it is threatened with
closure. Yet, we somehow cannot summon a fraction of the vitriolic
energy that seems to be so abundant when having a heated discussion
about all that is wrong in the world. Why is this? It's not as
though we don't care. It's not as though we don't understand what is
going on around us. So why this apathy?
I don't know but my guess would be that we are surrounded by such
misery that we feel impotent in the face of it all. In the end, we
know that however much we may bitch on social media or sign
petitions, nothing is going to change. We will still be ruled by the
same social elite; we will still be stuck paying taxes to fund wars
that we disagree with and powerful people will continue to use their
wealth and influence to hurt and abuse others. Our collective
outrage will do nothing to alleviate any of this and will only serve
to further alienate us from those around us. Conversely, you can
bitch and debate about celebrities until the cows come home because
it is unlikely to be divisive. Even if your opinions differ from
those around you, it is unlikely to cause any lasting ructions.
Ergo, celebrities provide an outlet and a focus for all of that
misplaced social frustration.
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