Over the past months, notable role models and powerful leaders, built up into almost demigod statuses by the public, have been harshly dethroned by various allegations. This past week, celebrity South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius was arrested after being accused of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Though Pistorius has been released on bail and has yet to go on trial, this instance was one of several disquieting incidents where riches turned into rags. We all know what happened to Lance Armstrong, the former seven-time Tour de France winner-turned-America’s-scoundrel. And just this academic year, along with the cyclist’s admission of using performance-enhancing drugs, General David Petraeus was felled by a sex scandal, the details of which shocked the country. But was our shock justified? As this kind of fall from grace happens, we must ask ourselves if we, as a society, hold a degree of responsibility for such repeated occurrences.
We can only be disappointed by the demise of these larger-than-life figures because we are their creators. As the Washington Post noted the week after news of the Petraeus affair broke and the man behind the voice of Elmo was accused of sexual misconduct, “When you help construct a statue it comes almost as a surprise to discover the feet are still made of clay.” We thrive on building myths around human beings, as well as participating in their destruction at the first whiff of scandal, hungrily consuming the tabloid stories that result.
This cycle has been repeated ceaselessly for promising politicians — Eliot Spitzer, John Edwards, Mark Sanford and Anthony Weiner — as well as for sports stars and celebrities. Knowing the pervasiveness of the phenomenon, getting caught with your pants down on the Internet — sometimes even literally — seems incomprehensibly insane.
Perhaps that is the point. When people are the subject of media profiles that make them appear more than human, the hagiography engenders judgmentally-focused expectations from the public. The only question left to ask, then, is why we should even participate in the media circus in the first place.
When we create these superhuman personas — whether athletes, musicians or the like — we lose sight of the realities of being a person with both strengths and flaws. Achievement is certainly inspirational, and admiration of those who have reached outstanding levels of success is understandable. However, it often leads to disappointment, which in turn leads to cynicism. Instead of idolizing those who are prominently accomplished, we would all be better off recognizing the humanity of those who seem so perfect. When we put people on pedestals, we are asking for them to fall.
We have a tendency to create idealized figures that seem so perfect they cannot help but let us down in some way when they reveal their humanness — but we do not have to end celebrity as a concept. There is a way to look up to people without deifying them — to pay respect while critically engaging and questioning them.
Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editor, Daniel Jeon, and its members, Georgia Angell, Sam Choi, Nick Morley and Rachel Occhiogrosso. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
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