The One About Famous People.

We need to realize something 

The power of the internet has given us the opportunity to tap into the world’s limitless knowledge and wonder - but, as silly humans, we have chosen to squander this ability by obsessing over the rich and glamorous. With this eternal wealth of information, we decide to fill our heads with every last detail of our idol’s lives. (how does that really make sense?)

Sokka would probably use the internet to make plans to defeat the Fire Lord.
We should all learn from his example.

Stalking is no longer an issue, but more of a household fixation. We see no problem in creating a false, one-sided relationship with some foreign figure because we admire their talent, personality, sense of humor, or - here’s the big one - their unbelievably good looks. Simply put, man was not created to idolize man. 

That is what famous people are - human. Yes, they are funny, but so are the people you have right in front of you. (I heard once, long before social media, that when you thought someone had a great personality you asked them to be your friend in real life. What! Crazy right!?) This is what we should be focusing on: real life. We are gaining nothing by listening to a youtuber talk to us through a screen. We seem to forget that those youtubers are also alone, staring at a screen. (The same goes for bloggers, I'm actually in the middle of class right now, shhh...) 

We have fabricated the idea that these people matter to us, that they understand us and that they are our friends, but that is the furthest thing from the truth. Our generation is starving itself of real, human interaction. We've become dependent on the famous; they provide us with a sense of comfort requiring minimal effort on our part. They make us feel welcome with their winning personalities, and shout outs to “all my fans!” We convince ourselves of their love, and we lose sight of our value beyond their eyes. Our self-esteem becomes a puppet on a spring controlled by their every move.

Every human wants to feel important, we want to know we left a mark on this world. We see celebrities as the short cut to immortality - if I can only get them to notice me, maybe others will notice me, then I will be important. For some reason, we think it is important to prove ourselves as their biggest fan! 

But we fail to examine what kind of mark that celebrity is actually forming. Will it really last? Is it really helpful? Many don’t care what kind of mark they have left, as long as other people know their mark is their. Much of the famous live under the philosophy of quantity over quality and (just like politicians) they make it all about what the followers want. They stand for nothing until the topic become popular. We as fans have crafted them and build them up to be our Greek gods; without our prayers, they would cease to exist. 

Their mark on the world is written in pencil; their claim to fame has no substance. Think of all the great engineers and thinkers in this world whose names we may not remember, but whose legacy and ideas have lived with us and influenced our world in ways we do not even realize! Do they not deserve our praise? The TV personalities' lazy example of influence has proven detrimental to our ideals. 

We mimic their personalities, repost theirs jokes, and resort to stealing their content just to feel popular. I found myself as a victim of these tactics when I decided to look up a music video my friend and I made for fun. As I looked on youtube, I found a video with the same title which turned out to be our exact video downloaded and re-uploaded by another user. While inspecting this youtuber, I found out their entire page was nothing more than the plagiarized videos of others. This girl clearly enjoyed this videos, but her main concern was how viewers would associate that entertainment with herself. 

This is what obsession has done to us. We forget our own potential and creativity. Instead of crafting our own ideas to share, we seize the path that was already proven successful. We can’t believe in ourselves enough to try something new.

Now, I know this isn't really something you want to hear from a freaking blogger, but we need to stop putting out faith into people we don't know. The chances if you even meeting One Direction are slim to none - I can't even think of one famous person I have met before!

Being "famous" is not a bad thing, honestly - I applaud you for working to make it to the big times! But, you don't need fans to be successful. What really matters is the people we already have in our lives everyday - friends, family, neighbors, co-workers. People that will not just influence us - but people we can equally influence. We have power, we have opinions.

"Friendship is one of the strongest bonds ever made"
                       - a quote someone has probably said before

We need to realize we have the capacity to act, and not just be acted upon. (2 NEPHI 2:14,26)We are stifling our own potential by hiding in the shadow of the famous. We don't need them. We need those who love us as much as we love them. Your ideas do not need to be world wide in order to be important. What matters is that you make the most of the soil you are grown in, we have to live our lives to be our best, and not sit around and wish for the day when we will be discovered.

This could go into much deeper levels, but I think I am going to leave it there. Hopeful, we can all think about what we are letting influence us and how it is really effecting us. I, for one, know I have some priorities to sort out . . . now, I should pay attention in class . . .

Fair-faring, friends!