Celebrity Worship- A Symptom Of End Stage Infantilism-

Celebrity Worship- A Symptom Of End Stage Infantilism- 

Many of my readers will bristle at the above headline. Good. It should cut deep, not just itch. 

Without getting into specific cases, I'll make a few points and keep this short. In the 1960's, there were many celebrities, entertainers, and public figures who got behind the Civil Rights movement. Harry Belafonte was one example, Kirk Douglas was another, and many more musicians, actors, athletes like Jim Brown, Bill Russell, and writers whom we all know. They gave tons of money, got into good trouble, antagonized J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, put their physical safety on the line by marching in the South, and risked their careers. They were leaders of a movement that after 400 years of getting fucked by America took history in their own hands and decided to peacefully defy unjust laws. 

They went through a lot more than we have, and realized that they needed to do something different. And after they won, they didn't sit back and celebrate. They pivoted from just the issues of desegregation, voting rights and civil rights to go out and lead the anti-war movement, and fight for economic justice. They continued to fight to advance and safeguard their previous gains, but did not demobilize, in fact they expanded their purview. They started out small and isolated, but with effective leadership evolved into a mass movement. 

What they did gave people courage, and also a kind of cover to stand up to the hateful ignoramuses in their own families, social circles, churches and jobs. We here, today, are not there yet. Not even close. 

There are celebrities today doing the same kind of good things, standing up to MAGA, getting people registered to vote, funding causes, etc. These are all good things. But in a vaccum created by our current sideline mass spectator status, their efforts will just peter out. 

The difference between 60 years ago and now is that our modern celebrity watchers stay at home. They watch podcasts, cheerlead for prosecutors, post on whatever social media they use, share TikTok videos, and hide in their houses behind their privacy settings. And they think they are doing something by clicking "like," sharing, putting up or retweeting memes that already have 3 million shares, or replying to others posts with emojis, happy face, angry face, sad face, care face, etc. They even think they have more impact when they use their personal Avatars. Meanwhile the MAGA fascists have been at work taking over the courts, state and county elections apparatus, and state legislatures. They are nuts, but they leave their houses in order to impose their insanity on the rest of us. 

Already people will have their defenses up, and will tell us about their A list of celebrities who are doing so much, and how much their followers are doing. And how they have so many obstacles in their personal lives which limit what they themselves can do. 

The truth is that we are mostly hamstrung by fear, cynicism, pessimism, and demoralization, a sense of littleness, and much of what we say is a way of protecting ourselves from the appearance of not caring. So, too many "followers" talk about what other people are doing, those who are "important."

But what are those followers doing besides nothing? Do they realize that there is no one more important than they are? Clearly not yet.

The worst form of self-delusion is the fantasy of an online revolution which will lead a successful resistance to fascism. The  reason I write with the polemical edge I do is to get people off of their devices, help them to break their celebrity/entertainment/social media addictions, pick up a clipboard, and walk the fuck out of their front door in order to actually start organizing, instead of being a community of spectators. I would be happier if I had zero readers because everyone was too busy out doing things instead of reading things like this. This is not to say no one is doing anything, because they are. If we are serious however, we have to ask, "is it enough, and is it in time?" 

The things which our well intentioned celebrities are doing won't amount to diddly-squat if more people don't find the guts to go outside, and do what social justice activists did 60 years ago. So the problem we have with celebrity watching is with the watchers, not the celebrities themselves. Relative to the 1960's, our liberals today are more reminiscent of the characters in H.G. Wells novel "The Time Machine," the "Eloi." who have adapted to being invited for dinner every day by the underground cannibals, "The Morlochs." 

In order to establish a durable form of social justice, you actually have to risk something personally. There is no risk in being a living room bound celebrity groupie. 

The point at which people realize that they have nothing to lose is the point where they become willing to risk themselves, and real revolutions become possible. Too many people today have short term survival as their orientation, despite the fact that their chances of survival in a Trump/MAGA dictatorship are nil. 

 In a real sense, the next step we take after clicking "like" or the share button is the only one that matters, because our safety, security, comfort, and privacy will all be scattered to the four winds if we don't take that step. 

Sorry, not sorry. And be assured I'm tougher on myself than anyone, and I'm right there with you. 

Let's get our asses moving, we need a Blue Wave landslide, and just saying we are getting more people to vote isn't good enough. We need a juggernaut of a political machine of activists on the ground to make sure people can vote, and that it is counted. We need to be able to overwhelm the MAGA vote stealing/suppression apparatus. Clicks won't do that, real people will. 

And time is short.9