As IF Times

Source: NFL free agent Ryan Russell reveals hes bisexual in letter he calls my truth

In this current era of pervasive self absorption, the word “celebrity” has lost all meaning.  People in societies everywhere have always been fascinated with the lives of those apparently leading more interesting ones than their own.  The rich and powerful to be sure, but also the famous by virtue of their appearances in popular entertainment.

In America, that fascination focused on Hollywood stars beginning in the 40’s and 50’s when actors were credited with the personas they portrayed in their roles. Larger than life characters such as John Wayne, Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe and other assorted entertainers of the day provided ample headlines for the common folk just plugging along in their comparatively dull lives. Some may recall a very minor actress named Rula Lenska who did hairspray ads for Alberto VO5, supposedly a celebrity, but whom no one had ever heard of.

To this day, tabloids are still bursting with breathless headlines on the activities of the current crop of “celebrities”.  We’ve long passed the Brad and Angelina stage and have now moved on to various one hit wonders who are having their 15 minutes of fame.  The real outlet for celebrity adulation has moved on to new platforms now that the internet has become as common as wall outlets.  Social media is now the medium for spreading fame and notoriety.  Presumably, the exploits of everyone and anyone can be offered for the world to ogle.  It’s the democratization of fame.  Let’s not kid ourselves, what we are fed is still manipulated by small cabals of influencers; someone always runs to the front of a mob and pretends to lead a parade.  But notionally, we can now be exposed to the banal utterances of anyone who has opposable thumbs.

Now we are free to consume stories like the one in the linked article in which the hero exposes his personal truth to a presumably rapt audience.  No one has heard of the guy before, but he obviously thinks that his revelation is important enough to share with his fan base of 3.  The modern narcissistic selfie culture has made everyone think that their mundane exploits and banal observations are worthy of exposure on par with those with genuine accomplishments.  If a guy gets exposure for finding a cure for snoring, that’s one thing, but to expose your sexual proclivities, your preferred handbag, your recent meal at a chi chi restaurant is to spread spam.

This self delusion of importance has affected every level of society.  Consider the present crop of characters vying for the Democratic Presidential nomination.  It would be impossible for a screenwriter to make up the nutters that constitute the contenders.  Most of them are so deluded in their self importance and abilities that in another time, they would be confined to padded rooms wearing suits with the fancy arms that tie at the back. The idea that any of them have any standing at all speaks volumes about the makeup of the general population that first elected or supports them.  The message is that being a rational person with simple math skills is not really that important in potentially guiding the path of 330 million people.  Apparently being gay, or a skateboarder that fries burgers and changes tires, or a believer in healing crystals, or claiming native heritage, or a member of a visible minority, or a believer in junk science, or having sat in elected office for over 40 years is enough.

You would think that the democratization of information would allow people to make more critical judgments of the world and those around them.  But the opposite has happened.  Instead, people gravitate to those that reflect their own sensibilities and “truths”.  In doing so, they elevate those fringe people who would otherwise just mercifully and harmlessly yell into their own voids.  Fame and the delusion of its importance is a drug that has permeated all of our modern culture.  It allows for confirmation and self aggrandizing on a scale never before seen in history.

If you’re the Queen of Instagram, ie: Kim Kardashian, you may have a coterie of groupies hanging on to your every wardrobe malfunction.

But for all of the other would be celebrities out there, you’re all a bunch of Rula Lenskas.

link More than half of Americans back Obamas Koran apology | Reuters.

When you first read this headline, the natural response is, HUH??  That is until you read further into the article and find out that sample size is a whopping 1143 people…online.  That’s not even a population size large enough to cover Sandra Fluke’s activities at Georgetown.  The average person will not figure this out.  The headline will stick with them and before you know it, the narrative is that half of the population of over 300 million people in the U.S. are supportive of Obama’s apology for the burning of someone’s religious books.   This is the same crazed logic that brought us Climate Change, (nee Global Warming) because someone thought some penguins were missing.

Reuters has not historically been a dubious news source, but when they print outright laughers like this story, it casts skepticism on all of their news stories.  It is unclear when they made the decision to move into the tabloid business.  I guess this particular headline sells more than “Insignificant sample of online geeks think Obama apology is a good idea”.   This headline is the political equivalent of a “Lindsay Lohan Goes Wild” story in the entertainment hype pages.  This so called conclusion cannot even be characterized as a leap of logic, it more closely resembles someone being fired from a cannon into the next county logic.

If statistics are to be deployed in support of some conclusion, then the authors should at least be bright enough to use some valid ones.   Or at least have more respect for the intelligence of their readers.   Interestingly enough, during the 2008 Presidential election, a convincing 96% of Black voters pulled the lever for Obama according to Politico.   This same survey showed that 54% of young white voters also voted for Obama.  To this day, many will deny that these statistics are any indication of racially influenced voting.  I suppose there’s always that 4%.  This same leap of logic is being used to characterize the Occupy Wall Street crowd as the “99%”, a narrative that some math challenged people actually buy.

We conclude then, that journalism schools do not have a mandatory introductory course on statistics as part of their curriculum.   If ‘journalists’ insist on quoting statistics to support their arguments, this should be a minimum requirement.  Otherwise, just stick to telling stories using creative writing skills.  At the very least, there should be disclaimers at the end of stories similar to what you see attached to the end of pharmaceutical commercials wherein all the possible risks are listed.  In the case of news stories, they can say something like, ” statistics quoted may or may not have any connection to the intended conclusion, they are only added to imply validity”.