Tom Thumbling Celebrities

The talents of Tom Thumb and Jenny Lind were certainly exaggerated, which helped them be more successful. The interesting thing about popularity is that it is independent of beauty, talent, or importance. Popularity depends entirely on the belief of the public that a celebrity if popular. It is all in our heads. Thus, when Tom Thumb was portrayed as being wildly popular, he became wildly popular.

There are such celebrities today as well, I believe. I remember recently when David Beckham came to America. He moved to California. Generally speaking, the lives of celebrities in California don't merit coverage in my hometown newspaper in Montana. But I believe Beckham did. He really isn't all that cool; he is a big-wig soccer player with a face that apparently attracts women. But his coming to America was a big deal because the papers covered it. If no one had paid attention to his coming, it wouldn't have been popular news. The newspapers fed off of the popularity they percieved Beckham as having and increased that percieved popularity by making a big deal out of him.

Another celebrity who the media "created" in my mind is Miley Cyrus. She is a cute girl and has a good voice, but there happen to be a lot of cute girls with good voices in this world. Because Disney created a hype over her, she now has hit songs on the radio and gives concerts for thousands of screaming teenage girls. Miley is popular because the media created her popularity. Both of these celebrities are talented, but their popularity is largely a fabrication.

I don't believe there are flat out lies about these celebrities, as there may have been about Tom Thumb and Jenny Lind. However, there is borderline deceit in that the media gives them more coverage than they necessarily deserve, thus creating their importance.