[ENC 1101] The Theme I am following II

One thing about the entertainment industry: it places regular people in a position where, because of their celebrity status, they are in a greater position to influence people in the society in which they live, if not around the world. Known by literally millions, celebrities and their lives are published on almost a daily basis in every media venue imaginable: Television, newspapers, radio, and of course, the internet. Whenever they express their views, particularly on a popular television talk show, it is almost taken as gospel, because the general populace attaches an almost reverent quality to the person speaking. They, at the most fundamental part of their beings, are just people like you and I, but their status in society has elevated them to an almost god-like status.

Little wonder then, that they what they say, or what views they express have a lot of weight attached to them, whether they have merit or not. According to IMDb.com in his biography section, Sean Connery, earlier in his career in an interview with Playboy in 1965, and later in an interview with Barbara Walters in 1987 made the controversial statement that, “…it [is] OK to hit a woman if [she] deserved it or needed it to keep [her] in line.” Now if any unknown citizen of any society had said such a thing, they might make the local news. If the statement was dramatic enough, it might be seen on the national news. They citizen would not, however have had the same impact as an actor like Sean Connery, because of the high status attached to them, even if the statement causes negative notoriety.

Fashion, dance, popular culture, and even societal values are very influenced by popular culture and the media. If one is wise, of course, they can distill the essence of what makes the most sense by using their common sense, and values they were raised with. However, when a large part of your target is youth, the youth tend to be more influenced by those in the limelight. And they grow older, with those “values” still ingrained in their psyches. The older I get, the more I am convinced that it takes a concerted effort on the part of parents to instill values in their progeny that aren’t influenced by the media, particularly celebrities. Hopefully, common sense will prevail…at least one hopes.