We already know the common desire to be rich and all that. Under capitalism, you can potentially become a rich business owner who lives off the work of others, rare as it may be. But even though it’s still significantly more realistic than what I am going to talk about, it’s boring and you would usually just get millions of dollars and live quietly and out of the publuc eye.
But what about the celebrities? If anything, it’s even easier to desire to be one. These people often do stuff that are actually interesting: some are business tycoons, sure, but you also see a lot of TV/internet/radio/etc. personalities, actors, artists, musicians, film directors, etc. And many of them gain even more wealth even faster than the example in the first paragraph.
Yet the majority of people who try to follow their path are broke and/or have to work a second job just to survive.
Imagine how many people dream of being able to create amazing works of art such as songs, movies, paintings, etc. and to gain at least some recognition for it, whether it is big or small, but will never (or will barely) get the opportunity. The capitalist class does not find them useful enough to be anything more than a poor wage slave, not a rich one.
It’s as if celebrities just exist as pawns of the capitalist class to convince the working class that their dreams can still be achieved under capitalism, when that is simply not a reality.
I don’t think celebrities will cease to exist under socialism, and they certainly didn’t in past/present socialist societies, but at least it will be far more meritocratic and the overall desire to become a celebrity will go down anyway.
What are your thoughts?
I would rather a world without celebrity. I think the desire for that position has a few factors. Humans seem to have a possibly innate desire to live forever, which can be partially realized by becoming a historical figure and living in the minds of future generations. The most capitalist reason is its tie to wealth, hence people saying they want to be “rich and famous”, and of course wealth is directly tied to power and influence. The most communist reason is the desire to be accepted and appreciated by such a great number of people and feeling useful just as your own person. The grossest reason is a perpetuation of the great man myth, our indoctrination to the false belief that progress only comes from exceptional individuals, and of course if you’re not exceptional that means you’re inadequate.
Basically, I think if you make a pros and cons list of the effects of celebrity culture, the cons handily outweigh the pros. Especially because much of the not bad reasoning is satiated in a culture of cooperation and true meritocracy, that is an ideal form of communism.