Think of a person you envy who's multi-talented, innovative, influential, famous, successful, or any combination.
Did you also think of Niel Degrasse Tyson or Elon Musk. No? Whatever. You probably thought of a celebrity, and you're not alone. I want to talk about how we raise strangers to hero or role model status. How we can both deify them and cruelly punish them. I think it's a problem.
Consider how this person came into the world. He/She was born from a human being and born with the same tools you were to become talented, innovative, influential, famous, and successful.
Celebrity Worship
In social media, I observe high levels of mental radiation - a condition I call Celebrity Worship. When the worshiped screw up somehow, it's bigger than any natural disaster. It floods news feeds, news channels, memes. It's pandemonium. They let they're fans down. Everyone has an opinion about it. We're all so disappointed. No one imagined that he was capable of such horrors.
He's not allowed to behave that way, because he's held to a higher standard. He's not like regular people. He's...
He's exactly regular people. He's just a man.
To Envy Strangers
I understand the reasons we idolize the intelligent, accomplished, and successful. Envy can be healthy when it's used for motivation. I don't understand why we elevate other people to an imaginary plane where mistakes aren't made.
The judgmental attacks on someone who's made a mistake that any other human being could make boils my blood. Who are we to judge anyone else? It looks even more ridiculous to be offended or
/noun/ fallacious perception of having been harmed by another; display of behavior consistent with symptoms of butt-hurt except that victim has no direct connection to source" rel="noopener noreferrer">pretend-hurt when the person's actions don't affect you directly.
I'm kind of a thoughtful ass hole, so I'll say things like, "Did you send Kim K. a text to tell her how upset you were?", "What did Kanye say when you messaged him about it?", "Does that mean you and Colin aren't going on the cruise next summer now? Didn't you already buy the tickets tho?" Gives me a chuckle and jabs in my point too.
Unhealthy Obsession
What is this sickness, this obsession with needing to cut successful people down? In The War of Art, author Steven Pressfield gives the best answer I've found yet. In the chapter Resistance and Criticism, he writes "When we see others beginning to live their authentic selves, it drives us crazy if we have not lived out our own...Individuals who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize others." I can think of so many examples. How easy is it to shrug off a buddy or family member's pitch for a business idea or a recent achievement when you have nothing going for yourself at the time? It's like "Nobody got time for that!" How about when Teresa from the neighborhood finally opens a restaurant after years of everyone bragging about her cooking, and you declare that her macaroni & cheese was no better than your grandmother's then drive your family to Golden Corral on Sundays right past her restaurant? We do it, and I needed to understand why so I could stop.
If I understand it, I can explain it to others to get them off the drug too. Success shouldn't breed animosity,
