September 06, 2006
Celebrity worship.
Is it programmed into your DNA? Is it addictive? Is it good for you -- especially if you're a teen? Is it a savage new religion? What's the psychology behind it? Is it a screwing up the academic world? Does it signify cultural decline and confusion?
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Dammit HawthorneWingo I don't have time to read all these links - need to catch up on Defamer and Gawker and all the other gossip blogs - it's been an hour since I last checked......
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Since I got cable TV, I am astonished by the number of celebrity shows that are on around the 7-8pm programming block. To say nothing of the various MTV/MuchMusic channels that seem to be dedicated exclusively to 'Born To Be'-type bio shows and award ceremony broadcasts. Are networks really this hard-up for programs to fill air-time?
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gag and puke I can't believe the average joe and jolette are so caught up in the lives of these people--most of them stupid jerks who behave like spoiled brats needing a good slap. Isn't it more fun just to watch your neighbors? At least they're real!
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Well, I don't know about celebrities brought in to teach, but celebrity academics are their own problem. It's depressing when you see someone invited to give a very important address on something who isn't the most expert, but merely the most famous. I've heard historians described in the media as experts in fields that they are, quite frankly, not expert in, just because they are the ones in the reporter's rolodex (often because they've promoted themselves to the media). It's especially egregious when said "expert" is a crazy man whose fame comes from the contentiousness of his ideas, and whose actual arguments and evidence don't stand up to scrutiny.
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but celebrity academics are their own problem Or, when they are issued an honorary doctorate. That always gets under my skin.
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No - I'm thinking of people with doctorates, who then become celebrities.
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It signifies there are people out there watching television because they don't want to bother thinking, they just want to be voyeurs.
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No - I'm thinking of people with doctorates, who then become celebrities. Like Dr. Laura, with her doctorate in physiology? No, that was NOT a spelling error. The woman is a physical therapist, and not a psychologist.
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More like historians who are academic historians, but get hired to make tv shows not even in their field, and then all the public think they are the goto people. Like a certain crazy historian of the British Empire gets called a "first world war expert", when actual first world war experts get ignored. He doesn't understand military history, but now he's called by the reporters whenever they need a quote.
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The woman is a physical therapist, and not a psychologist. That explains her technique, then: try to pummel the pain out of the patient.