Monday, April 18, 2016

Celebri-TEA---smallest cuppa is more than enough

Author, screenwriter, TV star, Alan Alda, is truly a celebrity. Just his name brings his face to mind. Just a glimpse of his face or the sound of his voice usually brings his name to mind.


But....what I appreciated in his book, Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, was his understanding of the impact of celebrity on our lives---not always in a positive way. 

Celebrities are affirmed by # of hits on their FB or number of retweets on their twitter accounts, to mention a few. Name recognition becomes key. Everyone "knows" the Kardashians, who are famous for being famous!

USA Today keeps us abreast daily of WHO is "trending." Naturally, celebrities are always the ones trending! That's what trending is----more media exposure.

"Google Trends" in 2005 had Angelina Jolie trending back and forth as a popular search term with Hurricane Katrina (Oct.) When she and Brad Pitt announced a baby, (Dec) the search term, Angelina, got more attention ("hits") than the Iraq war. (Alda, p. 185)

Familiarity. Their names can be bantered around as if they are family members or BFFs. Politicians used to court celebrities---now they try to become celebrities themselves. Name Recognition is so powerful.... (Alda, p. 186)

Felons have been elected to office because their name is known----at least in our town and in DC. 
In our culture, these days celebrities can win without qualifications. 

That's a cuppa celebri-TEA I don't want to serve to anyone, much less sip for myself.
But God....reminded me of my responsibility--thanks to Lo's scripture choice during our prayer time.
This small pre-election cuppa celebri-TEA was more than I could swallow during the debate debacles.
Once the election winner is confirmed, I will honor Titus 3:1, regardless of the outcome---celebrity or not.