D. Newman - Celebrities and "The Nothing"

Celebrities are a fairly stupid bunch, and fairly vocal about it to boot.  A life on the big screen is usually preceded by one on a small stage.  The career begins

early on and doesn't allow for much educational development.  Those

exceptionally informative early years devoid of structured education are instead filled with perpetual attention and praise.  It seems stars are socialized from that young age to see fame not as an excessive state of reality, but a state of normalcy.  If ever that 'normalcy' begins to wane, no cost is spared in resuscitating it, self-respect or mental health be damned.

Stories of actors requiring therapy after an intense role are particularly curious.  Ridding themselves of the character they've mentally constructed proves too intense without professional assistance.  I surmise this is because they have very little naturally developed personality infrastructure of their own.  The years crucial to cultivation of the 'self' have passed, replaced by a blur of costumes in lieu of play clothes, makeup rather than mud pies, and classes to learn how to be someone else.  Too much acting, not enough being.

Perhaps this leaves them as hollow shells to be filled by the next character role, which of course is subsequently dumped yet again after the tapes are made.  Mr. Johnny Depp may provide a good case study of this phenomenon, as he seems quite unable to exude any unique personality characteristics in his private life.  His recent drunken appearance at the latest awards show seemed to me very unnatural, and full of subtle acting techniques.  As someone who's met enough drunks to supplant a mid-sized Asian nation, I know the difference between a faker and someone who's truly done-zo.

To the point: Celebrities, who often have oversized needs for eternal praise and approval, as well as potentially underdeveloped cognitive and logic skills, are hardly in a position to act as purveyors of public wisdom, despite their frequent attempts to.  This becomes all the more unfortunate since what seem to be their favorite subjects - socioeconomics, religion, politics - are society's most

important.  When they do weigh in, the two traits above may (and, I surmise, do) lead them to simply blurt out whatever platitudes will garner the most positive feedback.  Of course, this would mean the most politically correct party lines and buzzword trivialities of the week, no matter how easily disprovable or borderline retarded they may be.  Surely, then, with the lamentable amount of influence that crowd wields, the stupidity of celebrities is in large part directly responsible for the perpetuation of government sponsored cultural Marxism, a.k.a. political correctness - the strangulation of thought.

Despite this, celebrities of all sorts remain a permanent subset of the movers and shakers of thought-engineering.  Those at the height of that group, the Ruling Elite - a very factual label - will continue to use them and other such powerful means of influence to stifle individual thought, lest you get out of line.  The prevailing system of taxation, corporatism, socialism, and warfare-wealth redistribution must be kept unquestioned, didn't you know?

From this, I am reminded of that telling scene from "The Neverending Story."  Young warrior Atreyu is worried.  Something evil is approaching Fantasia.  It is "the Nothing."

As the land crumbles around him, the evil G'morck explains:

Atreyu: What is the Nothing?
G'mork: It's the emptiness that's left. It's like a despair, destroying this world. And I have been trying to help it.
Atreyu: But why?
G'mork: Because people who have no hopes are easy to control. And whoever has control, has the Power.

There is a Nothing approaching us, too.  It is the emptiness of mind.  It is resulting from the ongoing death of our previously prized institutions.  The wearing away of the family unit, individual rights, and the moral compass of Judeo-Christian values are destroying the western world.  It is our despair.  Make sure you are not trying to help it.