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I No Longer Worship Celebrities
I’m old enough now to see them and me for who we really are.
All influence is immoral — immoral from the scientific point of view.’
‘Why?’
‘Because to influence a person is to give him one’s own soul.” Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
If this year has shown us anything, it has shown us two things which are we spend entirely too much time focusing on the affairs of people with money and status, and also that we give them too much credit for being spokespeople for their audience. From Desi Banks to Kevin Hart, we see over and over the danger of viewing people as more than what they are. Instead of judging entertainers on the merit of their ability in a craft, we instead focus on their responses to various issues that they haven’t shown an ability to handle and when they fail it crushes us.
Seeing how Talib Kweli went out this year on Twitter helped drive home that point to me. Here was someone who I had listened to for the better part of a decade and a half, and now here he was obliterating his legacy with a Twitter squabble over a minor issue. His lyrical ability is unquestioned and in some aspects so is his commitment to hip-hop, but his track record of respecting and treating others with respect is abysmal. He’s not the first nor the last…
