The Problem With Politicians, Role Models, Idols, Icons, And Entertainers . . . . .

 

Lets start with entertainers. Entertainers, by virtue of the extraordinary talent that allows them to do whatever it is that they do, have no choice but to be eccentric extroverts. In a nutshell, that explains why the late Michael Jackson was the way he was – “Wacko Jacko”.

That eccentricity is what made him such a good entertainer, and such a horrible role model for the average kid to want to follow. I believe that, like most other entertainers, Jackson was hooked on something, either prescription drugs or something else that has not come to the light of day as yet, but something nonetheless.

Look at other entertainers that have been idolized in the past;

Jimmie Hendrix – died as a result of an overdose of drugs.

Marylyn Monroe - died from an overdose of prescription drugs.

Elvis Presley – Same as Marylyn Monroe.

Mama Cass Elliot – death due to drug overdose.

Kurt Kobain – committed suicide while high on drugs.

Janis Joplin – death due to drug overdose.

That is just a few of the more famous ones out there. The gutters are lined with the wasted bodies of those who never made it to the big time, but got caught up in the drug craze of their so-called idols.

Certain sports figures also come to mind, like;

Michael Vick – convicted of running a dog fighting arena.

Steve McNair – murdered by his mistress while cheating on his wife.

I could go on with the other sports figures that have taken performance enhancing drugs in order to set records in their respective sports, who have been caught cheating on their wives, gambling against their own teams then doing their best to make that team lose for their own monetary gain, and acting like complete idiotic fools in public just to be the center of attention.

Let us not forget the political figures who have sought to be idolized while secretly doing drugs (Marion Barry – the DC Mayor), cheating on their wives (Bill Clinton – our President) and many other political figures that have committed various sundry and notorious things.

Why do we Americans insist on putting these people on a pedestal? Do we secretly wish to be as despicable as they are? Do we want our children to grow up to live in such a disgusting world as that of the drug addict? You know something? I really do not believe that is what we want to be like or our children to be like, I really don’t.

All we have to do is look around us for the real role models. They are everywhere;

Policemen who put their lives on the line for the average run-of-the-mill person on a daily basis.

Firefighters who enter into burning buildings to save people they do not even know.

Doctors who perform hour upon hour of meticulous surgical procedures just to make someone feel a little better or remove a cancerous tumor.

Paramedics are another type of hero that most of us take for granted.

Even the grocery clerk and stock person who see to it that we have everything we need to sustain our lives right at our fingertips.

All we have to do is open our eyes to the everyday world around us to see those who make our lives possible, tolerable, and livable. They do their thing day in and day out without any fanfare at all, and most of us do not even appreciate their effort at all – let alone notice that they are there.

Yet when someone can sing, dance, play a musical instrument, act, or play a game we idolize them and put them on a pedestal just like we do some politicians – and just like most politicians, a good number of these entertainers do nothing more than let us down in the end . . . and we still idolize them.

Yet we ignore the real everyday heroes who are out there doing what they do each and every day without fail.

We even ignore our military men and women who put themselves in harms way – just like firefighters and police officers – so that we may have a better and safe life to be lived in relative freedom.

Yet we idolize the politician and entertainer who would be most delighted if we Americans gave up our freedom to live in poverty and tyranny while they lived high on their pseudo ivory pedestals.

I know that it is puzzling, to say the least. But that is what we do, we Americans, we just continue to make the destructive political and entertaining lifestyle our role models, idols and icons.

And that is the entire problem out of its nutshell.