People love celebrities. Entertainers, TV commentators and sports figures who achieve fame are worshiped, and when they die, are mourned by millions of fans who really didn't know them. I have never felt any kind of personal connection to any celebrity and therefore am not affected when one of them dies. The only reason I was interested in John Lennon's death had to do with the fact he was murdered by a nutcase obsessed with the novel Cather In The Rye. In order to better understand the celebrity worship mystery, I asked a psychologist friend to explain it. He said it was simple: celebrity worship is the product of our fear of death. He asked me if I'm as disinterested in my own death as I am in celebrities. I confessed that I'm not a fan of death anymore than I am of famous people. I guess that made me an oddball. But that's something I already knew. But as far as I'm concerned, celebrity fawning people are just as odd as me. Solving the celebrity worship mystery made me feel a lot better about myself. I'm an oddball, but at least I'm not alone.
Thornton P. Knowles
Thornton P. Knowles
If it ever came down to a choice of worshipping Michael Jackson or Lady Gaga or spending all my time worrying about death, I'd easily choose the latter.
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