Culture of celebrity has crossed over into politics
The culture of celebrity giveth and the culture of celebrity taketh away. If you don't believe it, just look at Sarah Palin and Michael Jackson.
The collective preoccupation with celebrity may have originated in Jackson's entertainment milieu, but its dynamic of relentless scrutiny and remorseless — frequently cruel and satiric — comment now dominates much of our political journalism as well. If one takes the Alaska governor and her lawyers at their word that no devastating scandal looms, then she seems to have imploded under the weight of the political celebrity in which she initially reveled.
Who can blame her? Unless you've been schooled from adolescence — as Jackson had been — in the show-business ethic that any publicity is better than none and that taking oneself seriously is original sin, it can't be pleasant to hear yourself referred to as "Caribou Barbie" and to have your family made the butt of jokes. That, however, is the price of fame these days. Palin appears to have buckled under it, and her rambling holiday weekend news conference was one of those oddly disassociated discourses in which distressed Republican officeholders now seem to specialize.
Whatever she intended, it was difficult not to feel that one was watching Palin deliver her own political obituary. The culture of celebrity can be unforgiving of those who swim against its virtual tides.
Jackson, on the other hand, had all his unsavory controversies and off-putting personality traits washed away — not, as tradition would have it, in the "blood of the Lamb" but in the cloying sentimentality of the 24-hour news cycle, which has become one of the celebrity culture's great enablers.
A decade ago, University of Southern California cultural historian Leo Braudy realized that the culture of celebrity had entered a new phase — "certainly different in the quantity and the available media and the kind of penetration of imagery that washes over us every day and the inescapability of it," he said then. "It's possible now to keep watching the same story again and again 24 hours a day, and it gets that kind of drumbeat in the blood that there are certainly precedents for in the past but never so extensively."
Braudy's remarks in that PBS interview were prophetic, even though they could not fully anticipate the influence online journalism — with its preoccupation with "hits" and "traffic" — would come to exert over much of what remains of the serious news media.
Recent comments
To think she came this close to being in the vice presidency....
No celbs for prez | July 12, 2009 at 7:10 p.m.
- BYU spikers end season with a loss 12:55 a.m.
- Cougars beat Utes in overtime 12:50 a.m.
- Iverson may be headed to 76ers 12:34 a.m.
- Credit Coug defense for win 12:33 a.m.
- Aggies blow away T-birds 12:32 a.m.
- Mo steals show in Cavaliers' victory 12:31 a.m.
- Editorial: Facilitate Big Brother? 12:22 a.m.
- Mom befriends wife of PTSD vet 12:21 a.m.
- Political clash over U.S. debt 12:21 a.m.
- Cougar defense rose to occasion 12:21 a.m.
- Cave to be sealed with body inside
- Predicting the unpredictable: BYU wins
- Vegas, Poinsettia bowls or bust
- Glover gives Utes last-second upset
- BYU football: 5 keys to victory
- Cougars turn back Wildcats'
- Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
- Running game key to BYU offense
- Woods, wife unavailable for interview
- Idaho woman dies after fall
- Cougars beat Utes in overtime
394 - Thunder rolls by Jazz
136 - Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
130 - Cave to be sealed with body inside
115 - Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
115 - Editorial: Poor welcome for Palin
113 - Rivalry Week is highly profane
88 - Hall's legacy measured today
75 - Y. focused on 10-win season
73 - Letters: C02 causes warming
70
It's BEER, not acid people! Some people love having it sprayed on themselves....
I believe Max Hall cemented his legacy tonight with his lack of...
I find it interesting that these comment come after a so-so performance in a...
If you really think BYU is more arrogant than USC or UCLA or so many other...
cougars baby!!!!!
I have one word for the BYU AND UTAH fans: TCU!!!! hahahaha
Two great examples of lack of class surfaced tonight: Pete Carroll, USC's...
Don't forget my favorite Max stat. 2 out of 3. Yeah, I bet that...
Thanks for the comment Max! I hope you keep on playing just like you have...
Neat article! (Yes, I'm a little biased :) It's been an exciting time to be...

