The Age of Celebrities Must End

Sorry Taylor and Travis, you’re not schoolteachers and definitely not one of us.

A billionaire singer is marrying a multi-millionaire jock. Cool. Millions of people have taken to social media to explode with tears of joy. Taylor found her man. I can’t even breathe right now.

Shit.

I'd better tread lightly here. I’ve seen the vitriol Swifties hurl at anyone who slights their best friend, Tay. I wish the couple nothing but happiness, so much so that I lost my voice screaming to celebrate, but enough is enough.

When the couple made the announcement, Taylor’s caption was “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.” Umm, run that by me again. I’m all about being creative, but what does that even mean? She’s a pop star. He’s an NFL player. I don’t know any teacher who pulls in the kind of dough they do. Is this our collective warped version of the American Dream? Two insanely rich and attractive celebrities getting engaged and posting on social media like they are “one of us.”

Sorry, Swifties, she’s not. Talented? Hard working? Pretty? Inspiring? I can’t argue with any of that. But call me old fashioned, because I have a disdain for billionaires regardless of who they are. Jealousy? No doubt, but it’s also hoarding.

My problem isn’t with Taylor and Travis. I’m sure they’re fine people. They’re just products of the American system where we worship jocks, singers, people who play pretend for a living (actors), and social media influencers who are essentially hired guns by Corporate America. None of these jobs actually matter. How many of these people had to show up for work during the height of the pandemic? These jobs are not essential to our society. Clearly. If that’s the case, which it is, why are these people paid like royalty and worshipped like gods?

Americans know more about our favorite celebrities, jocks, and the make-believe characters on our screens than our neighbors. We memorize the stats of our favorite athletes but can’t list all the ingredients in our food. Credit card debt and a second mortgage to ensure we get tickets to the big game or show. Can’t get enough of seeing who’s wearing what at fancy award shows and galas, wishing to be them. But why?

A lot of the time, the rich and famous wear clothing or jewelry that costs more than most people make in a year or seven. Excessive? Duh. Americans are starving and unable to pay for basic expenses. But did you see Blake Lively’s $30,000 jeans?

Every athlete or celebrity has a nonprofit, brand, clothing line, podcast, signature dish, and a zillion other products. Does this create jobs? You bet. Do these jobs actually help the world besides making someone really rich and a barely livable income for me and you? Seriously. We don’t have clean water in America. Our food is loaded up with cancer-causing chemicals. We have urgent care centers because too many people are sick; there are not enough doctors. We work too hard, are underpaid, don’t eat real food, and spend our lives running from one crisis to another just so our children can do the same thing?

Now look, entertainers are humans, too. I can't confirm or deny that the Suits who handle them are, in fact human though. I don’t blame celebrities for accepting what they’re paid. That’s the game. Earn as much as possible. There’s the problem. Our country is ass-backwards. People are paid according to the amount of cash they can create for others. What if we paid people for their value to society? Teachers, nurses, public works, soldiers, food service, construction, farmers, and anyone who had to show up to work during the pandemic would be paid the most.

How do we always ignore the glaring issues tearing apart our country? There’s a big playoff game tonight. A new season of my favorite show is streaming. My favorite artist is in town. My favorite celebrity couple got engaged. What was once an escape has become a distortion.

There’s a simple way to change how we worship celebrities. Don’t unless you plan on on being a celebrity. Why should the average person care about a basketball player giving his thoughts on politics? Or a tennis star commenting on how to invest. I’m not saying entertainers' opinions don’t matter, but to the average American, they shouldn’t. We live in two different worlds.

Want to worship someone? Join a religion. If that’s not your thing, think about the single mom holding down multiple jobs to provide for her family. The guy who wakes up at four after going to bed at eleven to go to a job he can’t stand but needs to for his daughter. The student juggling a full class schedule and a full-time job. That’s worth celebrating. It’s who America really is. We need to start reminding ourselves of that.