Pick up a newspaper, switch on the television or open up Yahoo on your Internet browser and the likelihood is that you will be faced with some lame story or other centered around a celebrity. We have always been celebrity conscious in some way but if you go back a few decades, the celebrities of the world were genuinely famous people who had achieved something worthwhile.
We now live in a society where some people are famous for being famous. Do something outrageous, get your name and face on the front page of a tabloid newspaper and suddenly your are a full-blown celeb. It has now reached epidemic proportions where we are constantly bombarded with so-called news stories about these "famous" people that are anything but newsworthy. What is it that Paris Hilton does anyway?
This obsession with celebrity culture is absolutely everywhere. Take a certain John Smeaton as an example. This was the airport worker who came to the aid of the police when two extremists drove a Jeep Cherokee full of explosives into the doors of Glasgow Airport. Commendation to Mr Smeaton. Well done! Does his action really merit being given a column to write in a national newspaper? Am I dreaming or was he actually invited to the USA to give advice on security? He punched a guy! How on earth does that qualify him for the new positions he was given. How did it all happen? Because he became a celebrity overnight. That's how.
Now that the world of television has also become obseesed with lightweight celebrities, we are now consigned to watching popular game shows that have these second-rate individuals as contestants playing for charity. We want to see real people win real money! Let the program makers donate cash to charity, get rid of the celebs and give us our game shows back.
Please get rid of the glut of celebrities who are forced upon us by the media who erroneously believe this is what we want. Bring back real people and "get the celebrities out of here".
Grant