Sharon Osborne is right, the cult of celebrity is making our children stupid

The first question readers might ask is, can anyone married to Ozzy Osborne and having their own reality show spout the truth? The answer on the cult of celebrity, yes. Sharon Osborne is right that the cult of celebrity detracts from honoring true heroes and destroys any attempt to instill positive values in children. We have a whole generation of young women who are intelligent and could have wonderful careers and families who now aspire to be nothing more than highly paid sluts and whores. More about that later. In Sharon Osbourne: The dark side of fame...and why the cult of celebrity is destroying today's children Sharon says:

How depressing that the loftiest ambition a child of 14 can summon up is to have breasts the size of barrage balloons. It was bad enough that she regarded 'being famous' as a worthy goal - not 'being talented', you note.

When Ozzy was starting out as a musician in Black Sabbath, for him and his contemporaries fame was simply a by-product of doing something they loved, not an end in itself. Of course, they wanted to be successful and to make money, but they certainly didn't expect it and that wasn't the reason they were in a band.

Today, though, young people regard fame as a birthright. They have a sense of entitlement the size of one of my houses.

I recently heard about the work of an American psychologist who discovered that in the Fifties only 12 per cent of youngsters agreed with the statement, 'I am an important person'. By the end of the Eighties, that figure had risen to 80 per cent. I think we can all guess what it is now.

Children leaving school today no longer want to be doctors or lawyers or architects. All I ever hear is 'I wanna be famous', or ' I wanna be a celeb'.

There is an epidemic of fame-obsessed youngsters - aged between ten and 25 - who wrongly believe celebrity is a shortcut to wealth and happiness, and who are convinced it will bring them everything they want. An entire generation that doesn't understand that nothing worth having comes easily.

I'm not a politician - and that's politics' loss - but it seems obvious to me that many teenagers part company with the schools system with little or no actual education.

And because the traditional family unit has more or less collapsed, these children probably haven't been brought up with any real values. We used to call them latch-key kids. How many people do you honestly know who sit down together and have a family dinner every night?

You preach, sister!

We have a truly pathetic story out of Seattle about Ashley Cole, the British soccer star, and Ann Corbitt, a legislative aide for a Seattle City Councilmember. The SeattlePi.Com has details of this fame obsessed young woman. Of, by the way, did I add he was married? The PI blogger who writes a column as the Sexpert details the sordid affair in Seattle Woman Who Split Cheryl and Ashley: There Had to Be $

Seattle city government aide Ann Corbitt has shaken the soccer world, helped bring down UK power couple Cheryl and Ashley Cole and made herself famous.

But goodness -- what for?

The aide to Seattle City Councilman Tom Rasmussen took a starring role in an international sex drama over the weekend when British tabloid News of the World published her account of an alleged one-night stand with British soccer star Ashley Cole.

The tell-all came complete with "he saids," "she saids" and the kind of pillow talk only the likes of The National Enquirer would run this side of the Atlantic.

One of the most right on analyses about the the current crop of young women who are not looking for love in all the wrong places, but looking for cash in exchange for sex comes from Dr. Pepper Schwartz in Is Using Sex for Fame the New Normal Dr. Schwartz says:

Evidently, according to her, the surprising news that he was married enraged her (she said he was so tender and taken with her it did not occur to her that he might be married…). So, not only did she admit to the affair, the interview she gave the English tabloid press is so sexy it could be published as a page out of a soft porn pot boiler. She gives a move by move description of the seduction, detailed color commentary about their love making and includes her not always flattering impressions of him out of bed. (She did compliment him as a lover).

The description would hardly have been more detailed if we had been there to watch it happen. Furthermore, when the reporter called to find out more from the woman, she was referred, by the woman, to her publicist in England! (Most Seattleite office assistants do not have a publicity agent much less a European "handler"). So back to the original question- was this woman's conduct, "normal"?

My answer is I hope not, but I fear it is becoming more normal all the time. There seems to be a new standard: it is that you can, and perhaps should, do anything for fame, or money or any combination thereof. This means having sex with someone, much less an intimate conversation is at your own peril. There is no contract of conduct between the two of you. Celebrities be warned: these days you are just grist for the mill: or put another way, this might be a good time to rethink your policy on non-monogamy.

I find this unfettered worship of fame, money and notoriety both odd and sad. Did the newest "Monica Lewinsky" not notice what happened to the actual Monica? Did she have to become a character in a soap opera or could she just say "no comment" to the press? [Emphasis Added]

Like Sharon Osborne and Dr. Schwartz, methinks this hooking for dollars is sick. I am not letting Ashley Cole off the hook. Some where along the way this manwhore lost the ability to care about anyone but himself. Actually, the definition of a true man is someone who can care deeply about others and their family. Calling him a lame excuse for a husband doesn't really describe it.

I'm sure Ann Corbitt's family and friends are so pleased and proud that she instead of using her intellect and professional abilities to work for the good of God, country, or a cause greater than herself was instead rewarded for humping a married man with a probable payoff of six figures. So, Paris Hilton types of which Sir Anthony Hopkins said at a Seattle PI Post

"You look at fashion magazines and you think, 'What are we living in?' You look at the red carpet, Paris Hilton, you know, these people and you think, 'Is there anything going on up there?' It's a mass enslavement and it's kind of fascism. And it's the androgyny of it; the androgyny of the human soul. I don't think people think any more. But maybe I'm just old."

No, Sir Anthony you are not getting old. What you are stating is that any society in order to survive is going to have to transmit survival values to its children.

Survival values are positive values and Denise Witmer's summary of Teaching Positive Values and Morals, Why It is Important? describes some positive values:

Values are the desirable principles in someone’s character that society considers worthwhile. Friendliness and courage are values. Morals work with the judgment of values as they emerge in actions. ..

• are successful in their relationships with other people. They know how to treat another person with respect and know how to earn respect from other people. They are the type of people who you find you want to be friends with.

• contribute positively to society by reaching beyond themselves out into their community. They get involved and help where they can.

• take responsibility for their actions. They try to fix any mistakes they make. They are capable of feeling a sense of accomplishment when they finish a task. People who do not have base values aren’t even able to feel good about doing something right.

• are capable of learning and growing both socially and emotionally.

• are generally happier. They grab on to the best of what life has to offer them. They can see the light at the end of the tunnel when life gets tough.

Success in life is picked up in bits and pieces along our journey.

As a society, we are either not transmitting good values and/or not rewarding those who display good values and really are the heroes who make this world a better place to live. Probably the answer is yes on both counts. Corbitt and her ilk are not heroes, they are whores and the only question these bimbos ask is Visa, Mastercard, or American Express?

Dr, Wilda says this about that ©