{"id":3379,"date":"2008-06-05T14:07:25","date_gmt":"2008-06-05T20:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cherscholar.com\/cherblog\/politics-and-celebrity-obsession\/"},"modified":"2023-02-20T08:43:04","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T15:43:04","slug":"politics-and-celebrity-obsession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cherscholar.com\/cherblog\/2008\/06\/politics-and-celebrity-obsession\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics and Celebrity Obsession"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Olympia\"<\/a> There are two peripheral subjects I\u2019d like to talk about this week.<\/p>\n

For one, during my morning radio this week, the movie Moonstruck<\/em>was featured prominently. Apparently a New Yorker named Harriet was thrown out of the Democratic Party\u2019s Rules and Bylaws meeting last weekend (the one regarding the Florida and Michigan delegates) for refusing to stop sounding like Olympia Dukakis in Moonstruck<\/em>. The Stephanie Miller Show<\/em>kept doing funny between Harriet\u2019s \u201cyou\u2019re throwing the election away and for what..?\u201d with Cher\u2019s Moonstruck-<\/em>mom\u2019s \u201cYour whole life\u2019s goin down the toilet.\u201d Then they\u2019d do the Cher drop \u201cSnap out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the record, Cher was supporting Hillary. I liked her reasoning: men have mucked it up for too long. However, I have been supporting Obama because every time Hillary gives a speech or makes an argument in a debate, she talks with the same spin that makes me crazy when the Republicans do it. I know Hillary is supposed to be a great gal behind the scenes; I know Obama and Hillary have basically the same platforms; I know Obama could be a slick as slick is, too, just like any other politician and not the wonderkind we're all making him out to be. But I have more respect for the campaigns he\u2019s run thus far, including his civility under fire, his financial acuity with his fundraising, and his leadership with his staff. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n


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And because<\/em>I\u2019m a feminist in 2008, I have the freedom to vote based on issues beyond gender. It\u2019s one of the perks of being a free-thinkin gal. I\u2019d definitely support Chelsea\u2019s bid if she ever chose to make one. I\u2019d also vote for the fabulous Barbara Boxer and would have loved to have seen a President Ann Richards.<\/P>
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In any case, here’s Olympia\u2019s breakfast scene with Cher (and those fabulous eggs, too): http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Dh_P3hKKuoE<\/A>. Unfortunately no “You got a love bite on your neck” or “Your whole life\u2019s goin down the toilet!”<\/P>
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And here’s Harriet: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KACQuZVAE3s<\/A><\/P>
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Last week I finished the book \u201cWhy is it Always About You? The Seven Deadly Sins of Narcissism\u201d by Sandy Hotchkiss, a book my therapist recommended to me because she has ascertained I grew up with a level of dysfunction this book would pertain to.<\/P>
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But at the end, the book talks about cultural narcissism and how celebrity obsession contributes to it. Actually, it’s a bit of astute pop-culture commentary, which is what I study on this site and over on the site Ape Culture.com<\/A>, and what I participate willingly in as a Cher-obsessed American. I\u2019m in the thick of it, so to speak;and yet I\u2019m compelled to reflect on it like an outsider. In one way I can have my cake and eat it too. But on the other hand, that means I\u2019m still fat. <\/P>
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Here is the excerpt from the book. We should think about this with our current particular celebrity obsessions.<\/P>
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Distortions of Reality: “Image is Everything”<\/em><\/P>
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From political leaders to sports “heroes,” from business moguls to entertainment figures, the people who seem best able to evade consequences in today’s world are those who can fabricate and project the images we want to see. Manufactured image is one of the pillars of power, and people–along with those who would aspire to power–rely on “spin doctors,” agents, publicists, press secretaries, and media consultants to control how we perceive them. We look on with jaded eye, knowing we are being manipulated but enjoying the show. Eventually, reality grows so distorted that we no longer know who are what to believe. We find ourselves in a narcissistic funhouse without a clue what’s behind the mirrors. We become mistrustful of our own perceptions, alienated not only from each other but from ourselves as well.<\/strong> <\/em><\/P>
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Yet we can’t seem to tear ourselves away from the illusions. When image is everything, we lose our appetite for what is real. We stand before a groaning board of pretty puff pastry and think we are about to eat a meal. A proliferation of images without substance stimulates our senses but leaves us spiritually malnourished and craving more. So we return to the buffet again and again. Though they are no more than empty calories, we internalize these images as cultural ideals, and they provide the scripts by which we judge our own worth and that of everything that touches our lives. It is through them that we come to know what is beautiful, what is good, what is desirable, and what has meaning.<\/strong><\/em><\/P>
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The power of images is an extremely seductive force. Ask the 1,840 American girls under the age of nineteen who had breast augmentation surgery in 1998…The majority of these teens raided their college funds…”<\/em><\/P>
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With those thoughts rambling around my head,  these questions result:<\/P>
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