Why do people worship celebrities? No, really.

Written on February 7, 2011. Posted in Real World. 4 Comments.

So, I was initially going to write something whiny about how I don’t have as many friends online as I used to, but I got bored. So, instead I’m going to address a point that was raised in my English Lit class today (oddly enough, while reading Chaucer poem.) During the Middle Ages, there was considerable corruption in the nobility and clergy for a variety of reasons- anyone who’s taken a bit of history knows that. I think. One of my classmates drew a comparison between the corruption in the noble classes and the corruption of modern-day celebrities and politicians, which got me thinking: If famous people are so darn corrupt, why do so many people look up to them or even care about them?

Think about it. How many times have you watched the morning news and your stream of the week’s tragedies is interrupted by a report on Lindsay Lohan’s latest drug deal? I know it’s daily for me. (Yes, I have to watch Lindsay Lohan over my PopTarts on a daily basis, and that is not an exaggeration. I wish it was.) If people like her make the news so often, there must be some kind of popular demand behind it, otherwise NBC wouldn’t be making any money. The question is, why? It’s not like Lohan in particular has anything to offer our society. True, she was a cute child actress, once upon a time. But now she’s nothing more than a common criminal, so why is she so fascinating?

Celebrities and movie stars aren’t the only members of society’s “elite” that don’t show themselves to be worthy of our admiration- just look at our politicians. I understand why these people make the news, at least- if our elected officials are being irresponsible with our trust and our money, then I want to know about it. But why is it acceptable and why are these people continually elected? For our business executives, how many of them are able to get away with stealing from their own companies? Is it the way our country is run that promotes and rewards white-collar crime by politicians and business executives?

Maybe celebrities, especially ones that become famous overnight, give us a sense that we, too, can become famous and rich. Maybe the fall from grace of certain individuals gives us cause to feel superior about ourselves (after all, we would never do something similar in their situation- never!)—or- maybe when celebrities are shown to be corrupt, it humanizes them and makes them easy to relate to. Maybe we don’t worship celebrities and politicians for any of these reasons- I don’t know then answers.

The corruption of the upper class was responsible for many (or a very, very large percentage of) the revolutions that have shaped modern society over time. But when I look at today’s world, our upper class isn’t any less corrupt than the upper class three centuries ago. The possession of wealth, fame, or power doesn’t make a person worthy of our admiration. Until our society realizes that, we haven’t moved as far away from the medieval world as we think we have.

Disney World and some unrelated other stuff

Written on January 27, 2011. Posted in Family, Vacations. 3 Comments.

So, I’m back from Florida! It was quite lovely- the coldest day was in the low 60’s, which when compared to the fact that it’s around 12 degrees outside right now (yes, I know that probably seems relatively tame to some of you, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy it) was practically bikini weather. Well, maybe not quite, but it still felt really warm.

We stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside resort. (By the way, all links in the next two paragraphs will be a picture. From the left, that’s my dad, my sister and I outside our hotel room. Yes, I’m aware my younger sister is like three inches taller than I am. It makes me sad but I’m used to it now.) We’d stayed there once before, when I was 11, and it was nice- our room was pretty secluded, so it was nice and quiet most of the time. My favorite park in Disney World is probably Epcot- specifically, the countries, but I like the future-world part too. (I think Soarin’ is one of the best rides in the entire resort!) We spent some time in the Seas building on one of the days it rained, and my sister posed inside Bruce the Shark’s mouth, even though she is adamant that she doesn’t like Finding Nemo. (If only he’d really eaten her.)

We also spent more time than usual at MGM (well, OK, it’s Hollywood Studios now. But it was MGM the first three trips we made and I can’t get used to saying Hollywood Studios. Besides, it’s longer.) And I know that the Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground is for, well, little kids, but come on. We were in Disney World. They have this giant ant that’s kind of fun to sit on. (OK, left to right: my cousins Chris, Jessica, Samantha, my sister and me.) Our cousins and aunt ended up leaving Wednesday (we stayed until Saturday morning) so we got kind of a lot of time to ourselves as well as being able to spend time with them. Here’s my sister, my mom and I posing on a bridge in front of Big Thunder Mountain in Magic Kingdom. (I’m the short one. Of course.) Finally, of course no trip to Disney World is complete without character pictures, so here’s one of my sister, me, and my mom with Tigger. (Yes, I know. I’m a child. Don’t judge me.)

All in all, though, I guess I’m glad to be back- there’s something about being on vacation that just makes home seem really nice. Unfortunately, being back from Florida also means going back to classes, although truth be told I haven’t been doing a lot of that lately. There’s been kind of a lot of winter weather-related insanity around here lately. We didn’t even get a third of the snowfall amounts that we got in last year’s insane snowstorm, but it seemed like there were a lot more traffic problems than there ever were last year. For example: my dad left work at 3:30 yesterday. He got home after 11PM. (Traffic for the D.C. area sucks under ordinary circumstances, but it doesn’t suck THAT much.) People were abandoning their cars on the interstates. But hey, I haven’t gone to school for two days! Think of the positives…

Also, just a little note- there are a few more photos from my vacation in the Stock Photo section. They’re under Animals, and they’re almost all from either the Animal Kingdom safari ride or jungle walks. I also added some more flower pictures, but they were taken last May and don’t have anything to do with Disney World at all. I added a new web template as well, and that doesn’t have anything to do with Disney World either.