Milton wrote, “Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise.”

By this standard, how many of the world’s famous citizens deserve their fame?

Given that a number of our greatest scientific and political minds have devoted themselves to help solve our planet-wide environmental collapse, why are these men and women relegated to virtual obscurity? Certainly they are among the greatest examples of Milton’s “clear-spirited?”

How many Nobel Peace Prize winners can you name? Compare that to the number of Grammy winners you can list. Grasp my point? It isn’t your fault . . . we simply don’t value heroes any longer. Instead, we cherish entertainment personalities and self-anointed celebrities (see WHY I’M FAMOUS for details).

Enjoy this great essay by Amy Henderson, entitled “Media and the Rise of Celebrity Culture.” Written in 1992, the past fifteen years only highlight the clarity of Henderson’s insight.

Tags: celebrity, Ruminations

This entry was posted on Monday, January 8th, 2007 at 9:40 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.