Everything that is twisted and wrong in our modern obsession with 'celebrity' has been seen in the UK 'news' (#NotNews) in the past few days. On the one hand, we have the brilliant Dr Matt Taylor. A dedicated, hard-working, genius, responsible for helping the ESAs Rosetta probe travel 4 BILLION miles across the solar system to land a module on the surface of a comet. The first time in history that this has been accomplished. A massive human achievement. Over 20 years in the planning and the result of targeted research and investment. That is NEWS. Despite this wonder of modern science, Dr Matt Taylor was not a household name and he became famous and was abused on social media for wearing a shirt, created and given to him by a female friend as a present. Most people had no idea who he is and what he and his wonderful team were doing or have achieved. They have 280,000 twitter followers. This man and his fellow scientists should be celebrated for their amazing talents, not reduced to tears on live TV by abusive comments about his choice of clothing. "But he wore that shirt..." Get over it. Pathetic. His shirt is not the news.
On the other hand, we have seen a fat, lazy, unintelligent, untalented, unmotivated, moron quit from a once in a lifetime opportunity on a TV game show. Gemma Collins (who?) has left 'I'm a Celebrity..' and the 'news' (#NotNews) is all over the front pages, TV and online. With over 1 million followers on twitter and despite having no discernible talent whatsoever, social media nearly went in to meltdown. She is famous for being famous, a vacuous blubber of celebrity bile. The idea that she gets to keep any of her unearned appearance fee is disgusting. Donating the full amount to some weight loss charities would be the best thing she has ever done.
Something is wrong with that balance, our celebration of fame. We should celebrate genius and talent, hard work, dedication and intelligence. That is where to look if you want positive role models for the future. Not mediocrity, banality and stupidity. #celebrity
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