The Pop Culture Problem.

Pop Culture, the idolization of the life and acts of others. That pretty much sums up the root of most social problems in the United States. The US, more than most countries, idolizes individuals and gives them a tremendous amount of weight, not from great acts or titles but for simply being 'popular'. You can trace these roots in American society back to the 20s-30s with athletes and the birth of Hollywood.

During the turn of the twentieth century baseball was becoming ever popular and voice based films were coming to life. We as a whole began to idolize individuals for acts that were no great educational feet nor were they any substantial act. We pay vast amounts of money and devote inordinate amounts of time to entertaining ourselves. Athletes and Hollywood types are making fist loads of cash for nothing more than entertaining. Aside from Athletes, the vast majority of entertainers from Hollywood do nothing more than 'look' pretty. But America is hell bent on paying for this glamorization of nothingness. As a friend told me the other day when returning from a stay in LA, "I don't care what Paris Hilton had for breakfast, why is that in the paper?".

America needs to realize what is important in life and what is not. Somewhere along the way we lose our path and begin to put stake and faith (and fortune) in the hands of the undeserving. You can do an at home test for how out of touch the US has become with what matters, ask a neighbor to tell you the three branches of government in the US and the chain of succession of leadership to the third level...when they break into a cold sweat, ask them if they can name three major sports in the US or if they know who Lindsey Lohan is.

There is an old military ad that, to me, makes a lot of sense:

"If there was a story about your life, would anyone want to read it?"

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Herniated Disc

Fox News or CNN?