The Dark Side of Fame

I was reading through my open tabs the other day, and noticed this headline: Chris Brown storms off the set of GMA.

Chris Brown was over at GMA, pimping his new cd, and the interviewer (Robin Roberts, whom I've never liked as an interviewer, and you know how I've feel about other ABC interviewers) kept bringing up his past with Rihanna (the singer); the restraining order, the domestic violence classes, etc. He performed a new song, then reports have, 'let loose'.

Look, I get that what the guy did two years ago was pretty despicable. Roughing up a girl that you are supposedly dating (and who knows what else) is a scumbag thing to do. But does he have to answer for that for the rest of his life? Especially when he's trying to do something that he's getting paid (probably a lot of money) to do? And what does someone expect when you poke a bear with a stick? Is he not ever allowed to move on?


Then, of course, we have the news that Fr. Corapi has been suspended. I've already written a little bit about that here: You Must Be Satan.

All this has got me thinking about the dark side of fame: the sense of entitlement, the power-tripping, the adulation, the sense no wrong could be done. And when someone gets caught doing something wrong, most often the response from authorities is a slap on the wrist (see almost any celebrities caught driving drunk). 

How would someone ever be successful (who has faith) in that kind of environment, where you are encouraged to be your own god and worship at your own altar, and sacrifice to that god?

And no, I'm not trying to compare Chris Brown to Fr. Corapi; I'm just thinking out loud, as it were, about how when someone is looked up to (for their acting ability or their spirituality or their sexual prowess) in such a way - how hard it would be for someone like that to be a saint. No wonder so many saints from ago did penances, wore hairshirts, secluded themselves, etc. It would be a constant reminder that you aren't as important as you think you are; that there is a god, and it's not you. It's hard enough as a 'regular' person to think that the world does not revolve around me, to be humble and go to Confession and Mass. 

All this really means that it's already hard enough to think that ultimately my opinions don't matter, writing this blog.