Yesterday in International Forum we discussed fame, and were given the information that most people, when asked, would prefer to be a celebrity’s assistant over being a Senator or a CEO. My friends, all very intellectual, were outraged. Personally, however, I agreed with this idea.
On a general note, the majority of American citizens don’t have the skills -or the wish- to be politicians, so asking them if they want to be a Senator is like asking me if I want to be a professional baseball player. Furthermore, I don’t think many people actually know what a CEO is, past being really rich, and again, most people wouldn’t have the ability to perform such a high-stress job. I think this information about the job preference has less to do with people’s lack of intellectualism and more to do with the jobs offered instead. I mean, short of people who do speech and debate, what kind of person aspires to be a Senator? It wasn’t a fair choice.
On a personal level, however, even with my political ambitions, I would still prefer to be a celebrity’s assistant (although I do have some standards for which celebrity that may be). There are several reasons for this.
First, I want to be a fiction novelist. I don’t have any aspiration to be in charge of something important, like a constituency or an entire state. I also am not a business person, so being a CEO wouldn’t be very fulfilling.
Second, with my future career plans in mind, being a celebrity’s assistant would open up so many opportunities to me. I would get to travel, meet other celebrities, and learn about the inner workings of fame. There isn’t a question how much material that would afford me, for books as well as blogs.
Finally, celebrities have influence. My friend Mia was furious when I made this note during class, but it’s true. As a celebrity, you already have media attention. So when you have something to say or something you feel strongly about, you can say it, and people will listen. They may not take you seriously, but they will hear you. Why else do charities and organizations have celebrity endorsements? Because of the influence they hold. Why wouldn’t I want my share of that influence? I have plenty of opinions and ideas, but no one past the four readers of this blog to tell them to.
I don’t think my wish to be a celebrity’s assistant over the other two options undermines my credibility as an intellectual. It has nothing to do with my need for fame, and nothing to do with celebrity idolization. It’s simply a sector of life that I find fascinating and rife with stories that I could someday tell.
Hm, this is something to think about. I agree with you on many levels, and I’d also like to add the politicians aren’t trusted by the general population. Being a politician would be amazing, because you could have a direct say in things such as the health care bill and taxes and whatnot. However, it would also be an extremely stressful and challenging job, like you mentioned.
Now, on the side of being a celebrity’s assistant, I’d also be very selective at the celebrity I assisted. The other thing you would have to think about is, you would always be in their shadow. It would never be about what YOU needed or what YOU wanted, it would be about them. That would be difficult for me, personally.
All in all, I do believe, like you said, this is an unfair choice. And I aspire to be neither a politician or a celebrity’s assistant.
🙂
Great blog post.
Screw you, Bri, for misconstruing my rage. I was furious when you said celebrities have power. They obviously have influence, albeit shallow. They have giant buckets of money to throw at charities and, as you said, media attention with which to shift the world’s center of compassion. But they do not have power. Power implies the means to make a meaningful change in things that are important. Lady GaGa is influential (and awesome!), but not powerful. Henry Reid, powerful. Beyonce, influential. Mitch McConnell, well… You get my point. And occasionally power and influence overlap. I would say that Oprah and Bill Gates have power and influence, but that is because they are more than celebrities; they are the heads of massive empires. But it does’t matter how much attention Brad Pitt brings to childhood hunger, the most he can do is encourage people to donate to some random charity. And that’s nice. That’s wonderful. But it’s not powerful.
It was an unfair choice, though. I think everyone with half a brain in that class (maybe ten kids) would agree.
Just because not everyone in that class CHOOSES to study instead of go to a dance doesn’t mean they aren’t intellectual. People have different views on how they want to live their life and personally I would rather be your average joe than stand out for being a know it all. Grow up and stop undermining people just because their views do not coincide with yours, have some “tolerance”