Special priority being given to a select few is nothing new. Politicians, actors and athletes dominate headlines because of the positions that they hold. Sometimes they deserve those positions, sometimes they don't yet have them anyway. With the internet age that we're in, a statement that's made however simple or stupid can be "breaking news."
Twitter has made that all the more prevalent with their trending topics. I think it only makes the folly of the whole thing more noticeable, yet it goes unnoticed or at least ignored. To wit, I just looked on Facebook a few minutes ago and one of the trending topics was a statement by George Clooney saying that Donald Trump won't win the election.
Okay. Cool. That's an opinion. One that's held by millions of American's right now. One that I kind of side with. Not to get too political but I wanted basically every other Republic nominee to make it where Trump has now made it. But it's also just an opinion.
Why does George Clooney's opinion matter so much to people that it becomes a trending topic? He's an actor. Maybe he's even smart but he's ultimately just another guy. His opinion shouldn't matter yet it does. Which doesn't make sense to me. I'll keep going off in a sec.
To call it an issue is a stretch but I'm not sure what word would be more accurate so I'm going to run with that one for now.
It was an issue created year's ago, maybe when executives started television maybe even earlier then that with newspapers. At least in the time of the newspaper the people doing the reporting had degrees and thought through what went into each printing. So I think TV may have been the dawn of the current state of giving voice to the undeserving.
This isn't meant to be some proposition to disband the way things are because those of celebrity do have special ability to make things in this world happen. Another recent example of what I mean is that Adrian Peterson has been giving away thousand's of dollars of his own money to relief work for flooding in Texas. That's a celebrity making a positive impact, which deserves recognition. It's not a tweet, opinion or a statement, it's a decision that's significant. That should get recognition, not an actor's opinion about the election or anything else.
We far too often elevate things that do not deserve it. Opinions of individuals given so much esteem because they preform on a stage, field or court. But why? I don't get why the voices of those people are given special privilege in the current din of voices. I know that Youtube, Twitter and Facebook factor in but that doesn't answer it. But I don't have the answer, which is frustrating to be honest.
It may be especially annoying for me right now since I've been double timing it on blogs the last couple months. This one is for life updates, general opinions and whatever else I come up with. The other is all about sports in the region. I've cross posted on popular fan sites for the Vikings and Timberwolves and gotten some hits but haven't been able to get anything recurring yet. There are reasons for that and it's all good, for now, but it does lead to the point.
I may be just a guy from Fargo, but I've seen the uniqueness and greatness of what people from here can do, can be so I don't really think that should be a limitation. I don't want popularity, it's too often a crutch for people and I don't want any crutches yet it seems like popularity or notoriety are the only way for people to pay attention. Maybe I'll catch a break somewhere along the line or maybe one of the ideas I have will pan out and then options would be opened for me. But I'm getting off track.
People may have special privilege with what they think, say and do but that doesn't mean they deserve it. Short of a collapse of civilization I don't know how it could end but if people thought it should that would maybe cause it. But that's unlikely to put it lightly. So I'll just keep ignoring the popular drivel that comes out and instead keep humming along with my little voice in the din of the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment