What are we 7 years old? Only the pre teens are holding these folks up as role models. Fair? What does fair have to do with it?

The very best role models should be the parents.

Let’s be honest.  Everyone in the public eye is a role model whether we like it or not.  Think about it.  How do you form opinions?  How do you decide what type of person to be?  Who do you want to look like, act like, be like?   Who do you want to vote for?  What helps you decide what’s right and what’s wrong.  We’re taught right and wrong at home, at school and in our religious centers.  What we do with that knowledge when we go out into the world is a decision we make and one that is influenced by those with whom we associate and the people we admire.  The younger we are the more attention we pay to the glamorous and popular.  We try to emulate them. We are impressed with their fame and the wonderful lives they seem to have.  We seek the attention and adulation they receive from their fans.  What should be and what is are frequently two very different things.

I just finished a biography about Marlon Brando, Somebody: the Reckless Life and Remarkable Career of Marlon Brando by Stefan Kanfer. Brando would have done better focusing on his craft, rather than belittling his talent while demanding justice for (fill in the blank.)

I have to relay one moment from the book: In the film The Young Lions, where Brando plays an overly blonde Nazi, he fought with the director (Edward Dmytyrk,) and at one point in the script he wanted to have his character, Christian Diestl, make a speech about racial inequality in America and the Scottsboro boys.  When he also suggested that Christian (in his death scene) wind up twisted in barbed wire and arms extended like a wounded Christ, co-star Montgomery Clift said, "If he does, I quit." He didn’t.

 As for George Sanders as Addison DeWitt in All About Eve…between him and Thelma Ritter, they have a quote to cover every occasion in life.  "Miss Casswell is an actress, a graduate of the Copacabana School of Dramatic Art."  That pretty well sums it up.

I’m chuckling over here. Obviously I have more of a life then to follow some stranger in their life style to make them even a consideration of a role model. 

We’re all human, we all make mistakes.  A role model should be yourself living the best that you can, treating others like you wish to be, and holding close and dear compassion, faith and private praise in yourself that you have made the difference, no matter how small in anyone’s life that you touch or have contact with.

Sorry, but the media taking pictures of a stranger and no matter how much they are dressed up and primped, does not make a role model, otherwise I would say Barbie would be top on the list. :grins:

What next?  Rock Em Sock Em Ken doll with a bruised Barbie?

To me a role model is someone who invests in their time to better their community.  Not to sell or promote a product, but actually makes a difference in their hometown, and those around them for the betterment of all.

Want to brighten a stranger’s day?  Have money to blow?  Go into a nursing home, or a retirement home staffed with you with a bunch of cosmetologists once a month to give those people pedicures and manicures, and allow them back some dignity while their own families just leave them there with health care to enjoy their own personal lives and live off the finances they some how were able to get their hands on that once were their parents.

When my father died, my mother thankfully was allowed to stay in her own home to live out her days peacefully.  Finally her health took a turn and she had to go to the hospital (not even a week later, she passed on in her sleep while there.).   I give thanks to the Standish Hospital in Michigan who did all that they could to revive her, but it was her time.

Not all hospitals are staffed properly to care for so many, but every once in awhile, you do find a good one.  For those, I salute your dedication and compassion.

The public only sees what the Media shows us about these people.  Not their total private life, their private family, friends, etc.  Thank god.  Give those poor people some dignity and privacy they deserve.  Bad enough they have crazy hours they have to be on the set to make a movie, or they have to leave their family to promote a film.  But my god, how would you, the normal joe want to have media right outside your window 24/7?  ::shakes head::

Role Model?  Keep it real!

"Rihanna, Chris Brown and Other Celebs – Is It Fair to Hold Them Up as Role Models?" My answer to your question is a big fat NO! What do they accomplish in society other than making movies, selling music, and engaging in self destructive behavior?

Is it fair that celebrities are held up as role models?  I don’t think that fair even plays into the equation.  It just is a fact of life.  These people are highly visible to everyone, more than (as mentioned above) the more deserving people who often go unsung and unnoticed.

Actually, the Rihanna/Chris Brown situation did have a silver lining.  It reminded the American public at large that domestic violence still exists and that it knows no boundaries.  Domestic violence happens in rich households, poor households, gay households, straight households, young households, old households.  What Rihanna’s unfortunate experience did was reopen the eyes of America that domestic violence has NOT gone away and start an important dialogue.

As far as being role models,  parents indeed (as Ms. Lori says) should be the role models.  That however is not realistic.  What parents CAN do and should do is remind their children that celebrities are people, not deities.

And it wouldn’t hurt the press to stop with the death watches (how sick was it last week when it was a minute by minute update on both poor Natasha Richardson and Jade Goody??), the train wreck watches (Britney Spears:  I never liked her, but the fact that the woman came back at all after being scrutinized so closely is AMAZING and she has my respect now), and the "let’s beat that man off the pedastal" campaigns (think Hilary Clinton last year, now it’s on to Obama).

Fair.  What in life is fair?

If you are successful people will want to emulate you.  If you thrust yourself into pop culture you are banking on generating a base of fans to ensure that your career will be profitable.  If you have a fan base there will be people who will copy you in small ways and large.  If your career reaches a decent level of success people will not only seek to look like you but will want to copy your very essence and "be" you to some degree by imitating your life choices.  Your continued success will serve as permission to copy the poor choices you make.  Our society generally equates financial success with achievement and a life well lived - regardless of whatever mis-adventures the rich person gets up to. Kids copy what they admire most.  They are fed a pop culture diet rich in highly paid, immature and publicity seeking celebrities who have ridiculous lifestyles and suffer only minor consequences while they see Mom, Dad and John Q. Public chasing their tails and getting nowhere. Is it fair that parents who work hard and try their best to parent intelligently have to fight against the twisted narcissistic and permissive western culture of "if it feels good do it"?  Fair simply doesn’t factor in.

Note to Jamie Gertz:

You are always a joy to watch.  I do watch Entourage along with my husband (the real fan).  The show usually does not make an ass of anyone who does not deserve it.  I hope you didn’t let them make an ass of you - you’re so much better than that!