Sudden Celebrity

Entertainers have been around as log as the human has needed to be entertained. That is, since there were humans. It has always been a necessity for people to be able to loose themselves in a spoken poem or drama or viral video, if only for a couple of minutes once in a while. Doing this allows us to put our own lives into perspective and to help guide our dreams, expand our creativity or to simply remember that one time Doug caught that fish and it was "this big".

Although entertainment has been common enough throughout the centuries the people that bring us that entertainment are (pardon the pun) dramatically different. In previous ages, entertainers were schooled in the arts. They were well versed in history, literature, makeup, costumes and so on and their profession was to be an actor or a storyteller. For the most part the entertainers we still mention today were at least by the end, intentional in their craft. However today it is a different creature that we flock towards.

Enter the sudden celebrity. This person has not ever even thought about being famous or being the one people look to. This person stumbled (sometime literally) into a video someone shot on their phone and BAM! Instant fame. This person has never raised his or her hand in elementary school and now they have people asking for their autograph and to have their picture taken with them. The rapid change from nobody to somebody is hard to handle. Ask "Joe the Plumber" or "Balloon Boy" or one of the hundreds of regular people that are thrust into the lime light by the masses begging for a minute of distraction.

Even in the last decade or so, we went from having "A List" celebrities to people that are famous now, just for being famous. Since when were famous people offered to do tv shows after they were famous? Shouldn't they prove first that they can be good entertainers before we dump on them the duty of constant celebrity?

I wonder if the history books will mention along with names like Thespis and Ariston will mention the cast of Big Brother season 13 or Antoine Dodson. Probably not. Not that those people are not special in their own way but let's not deem them celebrities just yet. And let's not rely on them or anyone else with that title to solve the worlds problems. Thanks for trying anyway Sean.