One of the facts of life in a city like Toronto is that at some point you'll probably spot a celebrity. Maybe not someone like Brad Pitt, but definitely a small-c celebrity - someone who is easily recognizable, and everyone would know, but isn't hounded by paparazzi. In the 3 years we've lived here, we've seen several, and even met one or two. People like Luba Goy, of Air Farce fame, or Rex Murphy, who looks intelligently perplexed even when all he's doing is riding an elevator. I met Ben Johnson one day, the sprinter who introduced my generation to the concept of steroid use when he was stripped of his gold medal back in 1988, and TC has had dinner with Adrienne Clarkson, the former governor-general.
I could keep going, but I'm not telling you all this in order to brag about how many 'famous' people we've seen. We're not celebrity watchers, and I honestly think that our society spends way too much time following the activities of people who have done absolutely nothing to warrant that kind of attention in the first place. As such, we make a conscious effort not to support that kind of behaviour - we don't watch those entertainment shows, or buy any of the magazines. It just doesn't interest us.
What does interest me, though, is that despite my belief and my efforts to abstain from the cultural celebrity obsession, whenever I've seen or met anyone recognizable, my immediate reaction has been one of excitement and I felt the need to tell someone about it. Why is that the case? What part of the human psyche makes us want to associate ourselves with someone who we don't know and who don't know us just because they are 'famous'? Why do we place such value on these people that the thought of any kind of connection with them is an exciting prospect?
Don't get me wrong - I know that they're people too, and there are some celebrities who I think it would be interesting to know. I just can't help but think that if we equally valued the people around us, we'd be a lot farther ahead.
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