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Thoughts For Thursday: Snow, and Does Fame Make People Dumb?

December 8, 2011 · 22 comments

in Commentary, Thoughts For Thursday

First of all, I must rant:

Tis The Season For The Weather People To Drive Me Crazy

One of my biggest pet peeves is weather related.  I love snow, and I always get excited to hear about a good snowstorm that will cancel school.  So today, the ‘teaser’ on the news was “accumulating snow coming tonight, details in 10 minutes”.  I waited the ten minutes and the “meteorologist” then revealed that we are expecting about half an inch of school overnight.

Now, our school has a pretty liberal closing policy, but I don’t think half an inch will force the school to be closed.  Why would you define half an inch of snow as ‘accumulating’.  I think I would call that a ‘dusting’.  Anything for ratings I suppose…

Does Fame Reduce Brain Cells?

I want someone to conduct a study that tests brain function before and after someone becomes famous.  Of course, it would hard to know who was going to become famous before it actually happened, but you could start by testing high potential athletes and and anyone on reality TV.

Let me discuss some recent examples of stupidity:

  1. Ndamukong Su, Detoit Lions.  How many stupid penalties does one football player have to commit?  I am sure athletes get frustrated when getting smacked around, but that is part of the game.  Su stomped on someone’s arm, got suspended for a couple games, and then decided to drive around recklessly while on his NFL-imposed ‘break’ and smacked into a tree.   Thank God nobody was killed, but people easily could have been.  Passengers in the car also state that Suh lied to police about the accident and described how they were being tossed around like rag dolls in the car while Suh was driving.  It will be interesting to see if Suh learns any lessons, or continues his “I can do whatever I want” type attitude.
  2. Rima Fakir, Former Miss USA.  Ms. Fakir is also from the Detroit area, and she allegedly drove around with an uncorked bottle of champagne, weaved in and out of traffic, and got pulled over.  When the police asked for her driver’s license, she instantly stated she was “Miss U.S.A.”, which I assume she figured would get her off the hook.  Well, even beauty queens can get in trouble when they have a blood-alcohol that is two times the legal limit and decide to drive around with open alcohol in the car.
  3. Alec Baldwin, TV and Movie ‘star’, possible future Canadian.  So Alec Baldwin enjoys playing the scrabble-like game Words With Friends on his smartphone, and he doesn’t think airline or FAA regulations should stop him!  He delayed a flight an hour and was eventually booted from the plane when he refused to stop playing his game, and he then went on to Tweet negative things about the airline and also included very insulting comments about the flight attendant.   It is also reported that Baldwin was very rude during the whole ordeal.  My question is, what exactly makes Baldwin think he does not have to adhere to standard rules?  It is so hard for me because I love how he plays his character Jack Donaghy on ’30 Rock’, but I am not a fan of Alec Baldwin, the person.  (He finally apologized for the uproar, although the apology did not state he would stop acting like a petulant child in the future.)

I recognize that there are many famous people out there that are well-behaved.  However, I just shake my head over the antics of those that do absolutely stupid things, and put their entire future at risk.  Most famous people (with the exception of a Snooki) probably work incredibly hard to get to where they are- don’t they realize it could all disappear in the blink of an eye?

What do you think?  Are you a big Alec Baldwin fan?  Do you know anyone that fell off their pedestal over something stupid and preventable?

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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }

MoneyCone December 8, 2011 at 9:42 am

Anyone else? Let’s see… how about that BayWatch guy David Hasselhoff? Ok he wasn’t on the pedestal to begin with, but his drunken rant was cringe worthy.

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Kris December 8, 2011 at 9:54 am

I think Hasselhoff is HUGE in Germany for some reason, so maybe it was his international fame that caused an issue??

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Roshawn @ Watson Inc December 8, 2011 at 11:06 am

There’s a sense of entitlement prevalent that can be intoxicating. Sometimes the people we elevate are so different from the cleverly crafted personas that we cherish. Quite honestly, sometimes I rather not know because it’s so disappointing.

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Kris December 8, 2011 at 4:28 pm

It is funny how entitlement is so prevalent even among those who are not in a position of power or notoriety. I have no idea what fame or power are like, but from the outside, I think I like my simple life just fine.

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Jon - Free Money Wisdom December 11, 2011 at 8:05 pm

I agree, Kris. It’s sickening. This sense of entitlement is so prevalent — even with “normal” people living a simple life. Someone said don’t be big, don’t be little, just be medium. I’ll be medium.

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Kris December 14, 2011 at 10:28 am

I agree with you Jon, medium is a good thing for sure. I see it so prevalent with even teens that think they are above it all, often times because the parents have money or whatever. I don’t know what will knock these kids into reality, and maybe nothing will.

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Linda December 8, 2011 at 1:14 pm

I think things like your examples above happen every day. We just don’t hear about them because the people who are involved aren’t famous.

I was saddened to hear about Alec Baldwin’s latest social gaffe. He was in the news just last year (I think?) for holding a very ugly and public cell phone conversation with his daughter. There was a lot of public censure for that and he was able to apologize and explain enough that people backed off. This situation is very different.

People with a high public image need to understand they are held to a higher standard for public conduct. I’ve been on plenty of flights where people ignore the flight attendants trying to enforce FAA rules. On one flight the guy was so rude the flight attendant threatened to kick him off the plane, too. As I said, these things happen all the time.

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Kris December 8, 2011 at 4:27 pm

I know they happen all the time, but you would think those in the spotlight would behave better because they (in a sense) have more to lose. Meaning, bad publicity means less advertising, less roles, etc.

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Krantcents December 8, 2011 at 2:39 pm

You are presuming these famous people were smart before they became famous. They became famous because of a special talent that has nothing to do with intelligence.

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Kris December 8, 2011 at 4:26 pm

Very true KC. I guess I was just assuming…

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Christa December 8, 2011 at 3:19 pm

I agree with the entitlement comment. Celebriteis get built up so much that they think they should have special privileges. Unfortunately, this can lead to very childish behavior when they don’t get what they want. Of course, some celebrities manage to stay down-to-earth, and I applaud them.

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Kris December 8, 2011 at 4:12 pm

It is funny because I too appreciate the people of celebrity or who have power and can actually keep a level head. I wonder if stars were always getting in trouble, we just didn’t know about it because the media wasn’t all over everything.

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Jenna, Adaptu Community Manager December 8, 2011 at 3:44 pm

Oh man, Ndamukong Su is all over the news here in PDX. Really annoying, wish people could focus on bigger problems.

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Kris December 8, 2011 at 4:12 pm

I assume the accident must have happened near where you live? I know I am sick of it all in Detroit too. Why can’t he just play the darn game and forget all the antics?

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Jenna, Adaptu Community Manager December 12, 2011 at 6:43 pm

Yeah. He went to a local high school, so he’s in town for the holidays and/or because he’s currently suspended.

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Invest It Wisely December 9, 2011 at 12:32 am

Yeah, half an inch is a dusting. Get 10 inches and then we’ll talk. 🙂

So Alec Baldwin refused to put down his cellphone or something like that? Seems like a pretty lame way to get kicked off the plane. Guess it’s too much self-centeredism for him!

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Kris December 14, 2011 at 10:33 am

Well he wanted to keep his wifi or 3G connection going, and nothing should have to stop him! Unfortunately, stupid stunts are not an anomaly for him.

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Invest It Wisely December 9, 2011 at 12:37 am

Did you read this! http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20519658,00.html
That has to take the cake…

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Kris December 14, 2011 at 10:32 am

Oh my gosh, what an absolute idiot. Boy how his star has fallen. What makes people act so foolishly? I also love how these idiots delay flights and everything.

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First gen American December 9, 2011 at 4:14 am

I think stupidity holds no prejudices against wealthy, religion, race or gender. You’ll find idiot people doing dumb things all over the place if you look for it. Celebrities ae just a bigger target to pick on. I don’t think I would like fame.

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Kris December 14, 2011 at 10:30 am

Fame sounds awful. I hate attention anyway, so I don’t think I could handle someone watching my every move. Not to mention, people would be incredibly bored following my life as it is.

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