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WORSE ROLE MODELS... CELEBRITIES OR POLITICIANS?

10/28/2013

I’ve been noticing a trend on Facebook, which seems to mirror real life. When an athlete or entertainer makes a mistake, no matter how great or small that error, detractors jump all over that person, eagerly pointing out the said athlete or entertainer’s flaws. I get that this sort of criticism comes along with wealth and fame, but to me, it only wreaks of envy.

Why would anyone in their right mind expect “perfect behavior” (what ever that means to the individual) from athletes and/or entertainers? I can understand kids thinking that their favorite rock-star, athlete or actor is perfect, but adults? You’ve got to know better. I’ve learned one thing in my 43 years of existence… I’m never surprised when a person… any person… makes a mistake. Hell, I make at least a dozen mistakes every day, before noon! So, do I expect perfection from any human? No, I do not. I do, however, expect better behavior from people in certain lines of work.

All living things are incredibly flawed. It comes with the territory of being a carbon based life form. If no gazelle ever made a mistake, lions would either go hungry or feed on another animal. Mistakes are what life is all about. They are also a great measuring stick of someone’s intelligence. The more a person repeats the same mistake; well… we can deduce that person to be “dumber than the average bear”.
There are also different levels of mistakes. If a person keeps picking the wrong lottery numbers, we consider that to be “unlucky”, but in reality… he’s making a mistake. His intention is NOT to pick the wrong numbers, but he does it anyway. The good news is that by this action, our “unlucky” error maker is only hurting himself.

On the other hand, there are more serious mistakes, for example… drunk driving. We know that it’s wrong to do, but many of us either do it or have done it, anyway. Some of us (for example… me) have done it plenty of times in our younger years, but were “lucky” enough to have never caused an accident. Others aren’t so “lucky”. There are people in this world, who’ve literally driven drunk one time, and got into an accident. The truly unfortunate ones even went a step further and accidentally killed someone, due to their error in judgment.

In many cases, we’re defined by our mistakes. I’m sure every reader can think back into his or her past, and think of at least one mistake each and every one of his/her friends made. We all seem to have the ability to “run other people’s lives perfectly”, but when it comes to our own, the decisions we make always seem to get a bit cloudy. Often we get caught up playing the “what if” or “could have, should have, would have… but didn’t” game.

I stopped caring about what athletes and entertainers do when they’re off the field, stage or movie set, a long time ago. When it comes to athletes, I care about how many touchdowns they throw or run for, or how many goals they score. To me, THAT is an athlete’s value… how well that person entertains me when I’m watching him or his team. If he happens to be a “boy scout” off the field, well… that’s a bonus! Why do I think this way?

Look at it like this. I’m coming up on my mid-40’s and have been fortunate to have lived a pretty full life. It was a life filled with mistakes, but it’s OK because I’ve learned from them. I remember what it’s like to be in my 20’s and to be “on top of the world”. When sexy women are throwing themselves at you, and all the drugs you could ever want is there for your taking, free of charge… well… it CAN very easily give you a “god complex”. The younger and more inexperienced a person is, the easier it is to get caught up in press clippings. Throw into the mix the amount of “yes-men” surrounding that person, who’s only concerns are to make the young star happy so they keep their job, it’s a recipe for disaster.

Athletes often tend to make bad life choices because they never have to grow up. They’ve been fortunate and talented enough to get paid a lot of money, for playing a kid’s game. Entertainers are no different. At the same time, most of them DON’T pretend to be perfect human beings. In fact, quite often some of them even love to play the “bad guy”, to garner more media attention. Whose fault is it that they behave this way? Partially their parents, but many of them seem to come from broken homes. Partially the media is to blame, because when an athlete either makes a mistake or does something stupidly over the top for attention, the media grants their wish and covers it to death, which leads me to society.

These multi-millionaire athletes and entertainers act the way they do because society allows them to get away with it. Sure, every now and then, when a celebrity makes a horrendous mistake, we throw the book at him as to say “No… no!” But, for the most part, it ends up landing the said celebrity a pretty sweet financial deal, whether through a company sponsor, or it puts that person back into the spotlight, and lands him/her a well-paying movie deal. What exactly is the athlete/entertainer’s incentive to correct his/her behavior, when it “pays to be an asshole?”

Like I said earlier… I don’t expect my athletes and entertainers to “do the right thing” when out of the lime-light. I do, however, expect much better behavior from politicians, but rarely get it. These people run for office under the premise that they ARE “a better person” than their opponent. Look at a guy like Rick Santorum. This guy thinks he’s so perfect, he’d make Jesus feel uncomfortable. Is he REALLY as perfect as he paints himself to be? Of course not! In fact, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if, at some point in the future, he gets busted having gay sex in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. Seriously… I’ve never seen anyone more homophobic than this guy!

All of that aside, how many of you hold your elected officials responsible for the lies they tell during the elections? How come you don’t hold these people accountable? Politicians can lie, cheat, steal… simply do pretty much what ever they want once they get into office, because society doesn’t pay attention. People are too busy reveling in the downfall of the latest celebrity or off-the-field antics of some dumb jock.

The next time you get all “up in arms” over some idiot athlete, who got into a fight in some after hours club, simply ask yourself, “Why is this news worthy?” This guy’s behavior hasn’t changed since the time he was a kid, the only thing that’s changed is the size of his bank account. With that action, he is only hurting himself and the people around him.

However… the politician, who gets elected into office, can hurt his entire community, city, state or even country and no one is the wiser for it. He dresses sharp, is clean cut, flashes a smile and repeats the same lines of bullshit his predecessors have been reciting for centuries. Yes… the politicians can get away with selling America and her rights to the highest bidder, so long as they don’t get caught on the receiving end of a blowjob while in the oval office. As we all know, sex is the most heinous of crimes, and must be dealt with severely.

Do I care about the actions or opinions of athletes and/or celebrities? No. Do I care about the actions or opinions of elected officials? Yes! You should too, or before you know it, you won’t even have the right to cheer for the idiot athlete of your choice.

- Attila

"Because You Shouldn't be Afraid to Chase Your Dreams"

a book by: Attila Domos
Available at Amazon & Kindle

Attila Domos: Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 6:01

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WORSE ROLE MODELS... CELEBRITIES OR POLITICIANS?

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