Obsessions

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I've been thinking for a while now about the obsessive nature of a lot of people these days. And just a few minutes ago I was having a think to myself even more about the subject of idols and how much of an impact it has on the young (and in fact older) people of today. It appears to me that as soon as someone becomes a little famous, people latch on to them, following them on all social media, crying and screaming when they meet them and treating them like absolute royalty. Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of celebrity gossip, I love hearing about the Kardashians, Taylor Swift and all the Victoria secret models, but it just actually frightens me a little to see the extent to which people go to meet, and get these celebrities to notice them!

For example, as I was having a think on my walk, I realised that people idolise Taylor Swift. I adore Taylor Swift and have done for many years and I'm glad she's finally getting the recognition for her music and personality at last. But I realised that people idolise Taylor swift and many others for being able to make a good tune; obviously it's a little more than that but when you break it down it just seems absurd. Even more ridiculous is someone like Kim Kardashian, people idolise Kim for being attractive and living a life that, to many, is the dream. It's crazy! 

What I find quite frightening is the reactions to the youtubers. In the past year or so youtubers have gained an immense amount of recognition and a massive amount of fans. These fans are scary, no joke! They scream when they meet them, wait outside their houses and attribute their happiness to the 'celebrities'. I can see how the videos can put you in a good mood and can help you in some circumstances, but I find it quite worrying when the fans' whole happiness is simply embedded in the 10 minute video of a person they've never met! 

People are really obsessed with fame, you see people comment on people such as Zoella and Karlie Kloss things like 'I love you', 'you're perfect' etc and it just baffles me how someone can admit they love someone having not even met them! 

I also had a thought a while back that if ever you wanted to feel good about yourself just know that if you were famous, people would undoubtably call you perfect. And scarily it's true, the people who you would arguably never look twice at in the street if they weren't famous are suddenly being called perfect! I may sound blunt and I'm all for positive vibes, but perfection? Really? 

I suppose it may be due to my Christian perspective, but there appears to me to be a correlation between the world becoming more secular and the obsessive ideology which is continuing to emerge. As people no longer have God to praise and worship and celebrate for his blessings; people turn to everyday people. And for me this is proof of God's existence, the amount of times celebrities have gone to rehab because they can't cope with the pressure (see Britney Spears and shaving head incident) is astounding, a normal human is not capable of the amount of praise and essentially worship that is thrust upon them from fans all around the world. But because people no longer have this relationship with God, they place their admiration onto celebrities. 

I can say this with confidence because it happened to me before becoming a Christian and as I was coming to terms with my faith. In 2012, the Hunger Games was due to come out, and I became almost obsessed with the stars of it, watching every interview and seeing every film with them in that I could. I followed them on Twitter, tried to message them, learnt everything about them even down to height. And looking back now it was so consuming, what did I gain from it?!

I feel so much more liberated now not having any idols and not feeling constricted to anything or anyone famous, only checking up on Karlie kloss and Taylor Swift for the fun of it and most certainly not obsessively. 

I think it's so sad to see the deterioration of people's individuality because of their obsession with celebrities, and I have so much hope for the generations of today that they will force themselves out of that pointless obsession and into a liberated world. 

I'd also go so far to say that the obsession of today has led to the social anxiety which is more frequent now, as well as (arguably) the doubling cases of eating disorders which are being dealt with. Through checking up with celebrities constantly and obsessively keeping track of every aspect of their lives, people are losing touch with their own lives, envisioning their life to be easier and more like the celebrities if they lose weight and if they copy every element of their life - leading to people not going out or spending more time on their own analysing these people (which through watching films and videos they arguably are!). 

I really wish such an obsessive idolistic society wasn't a reality, it is definitely unhealthy for people, both the celebrities and the fans, and I feel as though many increasing difficulties would be resolved or decreased in severity if everyone stopped being so frighteningly obsessed! 

I commend you for reading all of that; this is something I've been thinking about a lot recently and I hope you've found this interesting and agreeable! Have a lovely week, 

Fran x

*photo credited to google images