Who are your role models?
Maybe it's just me, but our role models and heroes have gotten significantly worse in recent years. In the past, people would strive to be like Eisenhower, Martin Luther King, FDR, JFK, RFK, Jackie O, Eleanor Roosevelt, Susan B Anthony...presidents, and other highly respectable men and women. Today, it seems like that has shifted. People no longer care about morals when selecting a role model, all they care about is on the surface. Think of the most public figures today: George Clooney (I guess he's alright...at least he stands for something), Donal Trump, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Warren Buffett and worst of all, Britney Spears (Jessica Simpson) and Paris Hilton.
Before we had a poorly trained Chimpanzee "elected" president, the position was something that oozed respect. It was as if we had a automatic male role model (with his wife as a great role model too) who stood for patriotism, education and accomplishment without being born into the position. People like Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton personified this, though the first Bush and his wife were quite respectable during his tenure even though Babs' star has severly faded since Katrina. Jimmy Carter has spent every moment since he lost the 1980 election making the world a better place, using his former position as a tool to bring about social action. MLK fought the FBI, rednecks and history to bring about a new era in race relatoins. Eleanor Roosevelt held no formal power, but she transformed the way the first lady was looked at, and did some things (like chair the committee that composed the Declaration of Human Rights) that made a huge difference in this world. These are people who did things not for themselves, but for the greater good, at times putting themselves in harm's way to bring about a major change.
Now compare those people to Warren Buffett, Donald Trump, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Brangelina. Buffett is worth over $40,000,000,000, but only gives about $4,000,000 to charity. People flock to him as if he is a prophet (and he might just be, considering that he's the second richest man in the US despite the fact that he didn't do anything himself, he just invested in others), and consider him a role model simply because he's amassed great wealth. Bill Gates has about the same amount of money, but he's given more to charity than anyone in history. Trump is just a jackass. He takes pleasure in firing people, was born into great wealth, yet went bankrupt, faced legal problems because he's a tax cheat and somehow is one of the people most looked up to in this country. Trump is also known for incredibly paltry charitable donations as well.
Now lets move on to the superstars. Most superstars are people who are born with something that makes them a star. They generally don't strive for years to become a superstar, they achieve stardom before they are 30. How can a 16 year old popstar be a role model when she's not even an adult. But girls listen to what Britney says more than what the City Council says. When Britney said "I think we should follow the president no matter what (or however she said that)" it may have set back the progress of Democracy amongst teenyboppers, since they will probably follow what Britney said to a T and never question the President. Why is Brad Pitt a role model? You wont look like if you try, he was born looking like that, and there's a reason why he's on every magazine cover. There are only a small handful of these types of stars, the ones who have the $25,000,000 paycheck and paparazzi posse. The rest of those in Hollywood are struggling to get by, working tables at some local restaurant known for being the place where someone was once "discovered". It's a very shallow goal to become a famous actor/actress/model, but look around myspace and see how many "models" you can find. I was a model as a kid, made $125 an hour and have had offers to go back, but it's such a vapid and shallow industry that I'd rather struggle to make it based on my skills and dedication and not my movie-star looks.
Paris Hilton...do I really need to say anything here? She's a rich girl, spoiled rotten, never exposed to anything other than the rich and shallow society of Southern California until she was given her own TV show. "The Simple Life" was a personification of everything that's wrong with this nation. Girls follow her, imitating her style (showing as much skin as possible, wearing rediculously hideous bug-eye sunglasses), her mannerisms "That's hot", and following every little club outing and sex scandal as if it was actual news. I'm sorry, but if I was Conrad Hilton, I would be appalled by my daughter being anything like Paris. She's a vapid, moronic, ignoramus who shows no real compassion for anyone who isn't in the same social group as her. I'd disown her and give every penny of her inheritance to schools and youth programs. If I was worth as much as Conrad Hilton and had a daughter, I'd be sure that she was highly educated, learned responsibility from a young age and didn't gain stardom for being a drunken slut.
While I cannot really say that I have a specific role model, I have used a conglomeration of many people to create my own ideal image of what I should be. I will never be president, nor do I think I will be as rich as Warren Buffett, but I know that I will succeed because I have spent my life trying to build myself in the image of MLK, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and the people I've met along the way that gave me a new perspective on life. Teachers, coaches, even teammates have had a bigger impact on who I am and who I strive to be than any of my favorite baseball players. Why don't we see more about men like Raoul Wallenberg, who saved the lives of thousands in WWII only to be killed in a Soviet Prison just a few years after the war? I just hope that we don't find this generation growing up with President Brad Pitt and VP Britney Spears.
Before we had a poorly trained Chimpanzee "elected" president, the position was something that oozed respect. It was as if we had a automatic male role model (with his wife as a great role model too) who stood for patriotism, education and accomplishment without being born into the position. People like Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton personified this, though the first Bush and his wife were quite respectable during his tenure even though Babs' star has severly faded since Katrina. Jimmy Carter has spent every moment since he lost the 1980 election making the world a better place, using his former position as a tool to bring about social action. MLK fought the FBI, rednecks and history to bring about a new era in race relatoins. Eleanor Roosevelt held no formal power, but she transformed the way the first lady was looked at, and did some things (like chair the committee that composed the Declaration of Human Rights) that made a huge difference in this world. These are people who did things not for themselves, but for the greater good, at times putting themselves in harm's way to bring about a major change.
Now compare those people to Warren Buffett, Donald Trump, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Brangelina. Buffett is worth over $40,000,000,000, but only gives about $4,000,000 to charity. People flock to him as if he is a prophet (and he might just be, considering that he's the second richest man in the US despite the fact that he didn't do anything himself, he just invested in others), and consider him a role model simply because he's amassed great wealth. Bill Gates has about the same amount of money, but he's given more to charity than anyone in history. Trump is just a jackass. He takes pleasure in firing people, was born into great wealth, yet went bankrupt, faced legal problems because he's a tax cheat and somehow is one of the people most looked up to in this country. Trump is also known for incredibly paltry charitable donations as well.
Now lets move on to the superstars. Most superstars are people who are born with something that makes them a star. They generally don't strive for years to become a superstar, they achieve stardom before they are 30. How can a 16 year old popstar be a role model when she's not even an adult. But girls listen to what Britney says more than what the City Council says. When Britney said "I think we should follow the president no matter what (or however she said that)" it may have set back the progress of Democracy amongst teenyboppers, since they will probably follow what Britney said to a T and never question the President. Why is Brad Pitt a role model? You wont look like if you try, he was born looking like that, and there's a reason why he's on every magazine cover. There are only a small handful of these types of stars, the ones who have the $25,000,000 paycheck and paparazzi posse. The rest of those in Hollywood are struggling to get by, working tables at some local restaurant known for being the place where someone was once "discovered". It's a very shallow goal to become a famous actor/actress/model, but look around myspace and see how many "models" you can find. I was a model as a kid, made $125 an hour and have had offers to go back, but it's such a vapid and shallow industry that I'd rather struggle to make it based on my skills and dedication and not my movie-star looks.
Paris Hilton...do I really need to say anything here? She's a rich girl, spoiled rotten, never exposed to anything other than the rich and shallow society of Southern California until she was given her own TV show. "The Simple Life" was a personification of everything that's wrong with this nation. Girls follow her, imitating her style (showing as much skin as possible, wearing rediculously hideous bug-eye sunglasses), her mannerisms "That's hot", and following every little club outing and sex scandal as if it was actual news. I'm sorry, but if I was Conrad Hilton, I would be appalled by my daughter being anything like Paris. She's a vapid, moronic, ignoramus who shows no real compassion for anyone who isn't in the same social group as her. I'd disown her and give every penny of her inheritance to schools and youth programs. If I was worth as much as Conrad Hilton and had a daughter, I'd be sure that she was highly educated, learned responsibility from a young age and didn't gain stardom for being a drunken slut.
While I cannot really say that I have a specific role model, I have used a conglomeration of many people to create my own ideal image of what I should be. I will never be president, nor do I think I will be as rich as Warren Buffett, but I know that I will succeed because I have spent my life trying to build myself in the image of MLK, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and the people I've met along the way that gave me a new perspective on life. Teachers, coaches, even teammates have had a bigger impact on who I am and who I strive to be than any of my favorite baseball players. Why don't we see more about men like Raoul Wallenberg, who saved the lives of thousands in WWII only to be killed in a Soviet Prison just a few years after the war? I just hope that we don't find this generation growing up with President Brad Pitt and VP Britney Spears.
posted by Dan Pasternack at 3:24 PM
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