In reading over some of my posts I realized I come across as a bit of a name dropper. Ugh.

I think name droppers are usually insecure people, and/or people that think dropping the name of a well known person somehow gives them credibility or maybe a little bit of the power of the named person. I don’t think I fall into either of those categories. Despite my recent odor problem, I don’t consider myself to be insecure. And as far as power goes… Well, I’m a stay at home mom – the only power I need to wield has to do with fighting stubborn laundry stains.

That being said, I think I’m “doing it wrong”. I don’t drop names in the hopes that you’ll think I hang out with famous people. Quite the opposite actually. If I have named a celebrity in a passing post, you can bet I don’t know them. I only ever mention casual run-ins – which happen constantly if you live in LA longer than 10 minutes.

If I have a story that paints a celebrity in an unfavorable light, I tend to keep it to myself. Maybe they were having a bad day. We all have less-than-perfect moments.

I do happen to count a handful of well-knowns among my friends. People very successful in their chosen professions. People you would recognize. I will never write about them without their permission. I’ll probably never write about them period, unless they happen to be involved in an epic, post-worthy adventure with me, at which point I will change their names so as not to detract from the awesomeness of the story. I’m professional like that. *cough*

The public’s fascination with celebrity has always struck me as an interesting phenomenon. Why are people so quick to name drop? Why was the magician at Karis’ school so eager to tell us he had recently done a magic show for Sasha Obama? I think it has to do with our primitive brain. Back when we all sported uni-brows and grunting was an acceptable form of communicating, we knew what a dangerous world it was out there. We took comfort in the familiar, because familiar things were less likely to eat us.

Nowadays, though we are only rarely ever eaten while going about our daily routine, we still tend to fall prey to that herd mentality. Though we don’t actually know the celebrities we see on our t.v. screens, we recognize them, and in so doing, we subconsciously take ownership of them.

Living in LA helped me remember that celebrities are just people. People that have good days and bad days. People that make mistakes. People that struggle with hidden demons. People that live their lives in a fish bowl. Yeah, we tell ourselves that the celebrities signed up for fame, and shouldn’t complain about things like the paparazzi. They’re rich – they have their huge bank accounts to comfort them. But if you take a minute to think about what that kind of life must be like – it’s tragic.

I can prove my point in two words. Mel Gibson.

Then man has some serious issues to work through. Imagine having those same issues. Now imagine having to work through them in front of the world, while being mocked and ridiculed. We feel betrayed. Turns out Mel Gibson isn’t the hero we’ve all seen portrayed on the big screen. Yeah – no shit. He’s an actor. His choice of profession doesn’t give us the right to humiliate him. I’m guilty of it too. If you follow me on twitter, you may have read my tweet about Mel’s rant. It wasn’t a cruel tweet, but I still put my 2¢ in to the bucket. So I’ll take this opportunity to say, “Sorry, Mel. No hard feelings?” (Mel Gibson is a regular reader of this blog, ya’ll.)

What? Mel Gibson’s latest embarrassment isn’t enough of a point? Fine. Fill in any pop star/starlet that got their start on Disney. That oughtta  keep ya busy for a while.

Have a great day, Internet. I’m off to rejoice in my anonymity.  Maybe I’ll pick my nose in rush hour traffic today, or fart in an elevator. The possibilities are endless!

Tweet This Post