Tuesday 21 February 2012

In praise of the Z-list celebrity

They are the bane of our lives, aren't they? An endless parade of nonentities and makeweights who are famous, merely for being famous, in a kind of Möbius strip of incomprehensibility. And yet, there seems to be an endless supply of complete nobodies who are willing to line up and subject themselves to eternal scrutiny, people rummaging through their bins, deals with devils, etc., in exchange for the dubious benefits of celebrity.

But for the right person, those benefits are not at all dubious. I've previously blogged about how Jade Goody parlayed no obvious talents or skills into a huge sum of money before her untimely demise.

And then you read the bald life story of someone like Kerry Katona and all you can do is respect someone that has overcome all that and still stand up and make a life for themselves and for their kids.

And perhaps we have to wonder about the kind of society we have, where the only way for these broken, damaged people to make a living for themselves is to prostitute their souls to the world of media. Why is it that in the caring, considerate, decent society we have after decades of social justice and welfare, this is the only way these people can make a decent life for themselves?

Why is it that after so many years of welfare, social justice, every child matters, and every other bullshit piss-money-against-a-wall bit of socialist meddling, people are still in a place like this?

Why are socialist advocates so sure that channelling more money from one group to another is the way forward, rather than a society where there is genuine interdependence, where people have to rely on each other, rather than faceless bureaucrats, to make things happen and get through life?

As ever, I regard the welfare state as the cause of dreadful stories like this, rather than the solution.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Because people make a lot of money out of them and their 'brands'! Selling products, newspapers, magazines, TV shows!

Fidel Cuntstruck said...

I would add to Anon's post only this:

As long as we have a society populated by those who prefer to lounge in front of the TV and be spoon fed their entertainment then there is always an exploitable market for those who will eschew all dignity in the persuit of fame and fortune - but I know I'm preaching to the converted anyway

JuliaM said...

Anon and Fidel have the right of it - and expecting people to wise up and stop buying the stuff is a fool's dream.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Obo, what are all these 'caring sharing' blog spots doing? Has the old hard hearted but funny Obo been kidnapped?

I happen to like Z list celebrities, you can read in the newspaper about them buying a new set of gardening gloves and the challenge is to try and remember why they are famous in the first place.

Mark Wadsworth said...

"posts" not "spots".

Anonymous said...

Nonsense post! Freak shows existed long before the welfare state and private enterprise creates these non entities!