Charlie Sheen Shirts

Little did Mr. Warhol know how prophetic his words would be, and more importantly that he would be turning in his grave about how pathetic our definition of celebrity has come to be. Celebrity as defined in the Oxford English dictionary is: a preponderant person. The state of being well known. So while one can argue that the definition of celebrity has not changed, the respectability and synonyms that used to be associated with it have changed rather dramatically; namely, hero, luminary, notable, and personage. One used to join together celebrity with the heroes of science, theatrical luminaries, big names in sports, a preponderant of the concert sTAGe or even a personage in the field of philosophy. And I seem to remember that talent also seemed to be an implicit part of the requisite. Clearly, these associations no longer apply or have been broadened pretty dramatically, to the point where they come to be thoroughly meaningless, in my mind, when they contain today's' reality Tv stars. I admit that I feel ashamed and embarrassed to live in a community that not only lauds the likes of Charlie Sheen, Tia Tequila and Omarosa but also think them celebrities. If anyone among my reader habitancy has been worried about 2012 being the end of the world, fear not because the apocalypse has been upon us for practically a decade now, in the form of reality Tv.

The sad truth of our more modern and civilised world seems to be that anyone who is willing to stand in front of a camera and rant or embarrass themselves in some way has come to be entitled to their 15 minutes by naturally uploading it onto YouTube. The content and substance seem to mean nothing anymore, in fact a quick hunt of the most favorite videos of the day will spin that the most inane, asinine and meaningless ones are the most popular, by far. anyone who has something useful or meaningful to contribute is lost in a sea of mediocrity and mirth. This sad realisation becomes even more depressing when one begins to realize that these mostly transient and meaningless bits of content are also being praised for the talent that produced them. While the digital world seems to be hastening this deterioration of cerebral pursuits, it is hard to ignore the fact that even among the ranks of the more bona fide luminaries today, there is a lot left to be desired both in terms of their lack of respectability and their contributions to society. The attract and mystique of the movie star and the stoic character of world leaders and politicians seem to be fading Faster than we can type 140 characters.

As much as I love the capability for real-time updates and sharing that services like Twitter and Facebook have ushered in, I also believe that personal boundaries are still de facto necessary. In fact, they are needed now more than ever before. So while I enjoy hearing about my friends' newest escapades in a weekly or monthly dose, I equally have zero interest in knowing about the personal weekend antics of my Congressman from the 15th district of New York. 20% of politicians, who use Twitter, modernize their streams with personal information. Transparency in politics is great, but I am pretty sure this is not what America's forefathers had in mind. Granted there is much greater way to personal information today. The glare of the media spotlight is much stronger and the newsMen might be less disciplined than they used to be. Still, habitancy have the capability to operate and limit what they do and say both in public, and in response to vapid accusations, salacious rumors and torrid gossip in the press. Take Denzel Washington, for example. I applaud his decision to keep his underground life private. Being a huge star, if he can obsessively limit the estimate of personal information that trickles into a morbidly thoughprovoking world, then I have to believe so too can others to a greater degree than they tend do today. Sadly, discretion no longer seems to be the better part of valour, today.

Another concern is our addition tolerance for what is deemed acceptable and responsible in our society. The level to which our standards have diminished to an alarming degree is obvious when we laugh, sigh and naturally turn the page at Madonna's newest hobby, that of adopting (buying) children from distinct parts of the world. Or when we seem perfectly content to move on with a minor slap on A-Rod's Wrist for what amounts to cheating by taking steroids, albeit earlier in his career. And that it took the reckless and criminal endangerMent of a child, in the Balloon boy saga, to finally create some semblance of collective outcry. The lengths habitancy are willing to go to gain their 15 minutes of fame is a sad testaMent to the state of our community today. Even crashing the White House's first State evening meal seems only to be shocking because it might have endangered the President and Indian Prime minister (who is no. 1 on most terrorist's hit lists). And possibly this is in part because the lines have come to be blurred between reality, and politics. For one it seems that good, bad or ugly the type of publicity does not seem to matter; reality Tv aspirants just want their payday and politicians their name in the headlines. From Sarah Palin's mudslinging family feud, to Governor Mark Sanford's tell-all affAir, or Tom Delay's turn as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, to a stand-up comic being elected to the Us Senate from Minnesota. One wonders when these two worlds will collide or worse yet that they already have and we are just too jaded to have noticed. In fact, I just heard that two previous Real World contestants, Sean Duffy from Real World Boston and Kevin Powell from Real World New York show, are inspecting runs for Congress. As I ponder this, I realise that my introductory shock and outrage has begun to fade, and acceptance fills this space. I cannot help but wonder if they might de facto do a better Job than our politicians in whether Party have been able to do.