Famous People

Do you know any famous people? Every meet any? How about rich people? Put both characteristics together and you get the rich and famous. So how about it, ever meet, make friends with or otherwise come in contact with someone in a higher social class than yourself?

I have. More than once and a few are even people I consider my friends and would gladly welcome in my home. My reason for this has nothing to do with their notoriety or public life. Famous people are famous by definition because a large number of the general public know who they are. To me this isn't a big deal. People may know who you are, so what.

I have met some people on the national political scene. On the state and local level there are politicians that take my call and see me when I ask. I am acquainted with a number of people that have considerable more money and influence than I.

The larger the person's public status or their alleged wealth the greater the number of other people that seem to feel they have a right to the details of a intimate nature. In some cases, like persons seeking political power, certain details involving character are very important. For some reason the human race likes to "get the dirt" on others. In most cases its a matter of morbid curiosity and a deep seated desire to see someone with a slightly better life take a shot in the chops.

Three people come to mind right now. The first is a guy I know and had a negative experience with. He died and it's made international news. I was asked to attend the funeral. I declined. One is a friend of my wife. He's famous right now because he murdered his ex-wife and now has the attention of a news starved public. He'll soon slip from public attention but the damage his rage caused will rock our circle of friends for years to come. The last is a couple I "know" in a superficial way. They really aren't into the celebrity scene but they have a small amount of public attention. Recently some unfortunate events have happened to their family. When that information became public it turned into an opportunity for some mud slinging.

For some reason people like to see other people hurt. The more affluence, fame, or "Christian" that person is rumored to be the juicier the story and greater the glee in the feeding frenzy.

Here's the deal as I see it. You wouldn't care one bit about so and so's divorce, murder, legal problems, untimely death, kid turning out bad etc, if they weren't famous or richer than you. The issue isn't that some people with good lives have problems. The issue is some people take a special kind of satisfaction in seeing harm come to those perceived as their betters. Which is worse?