Louise Roberts: Fame is a privilege — not a licence to be entitled
Celebrity, like any privilege, should be exercised responsibly. It does not gift you the right to be inconsiderate, writes Louise Roberts. But that seems to be the terrible message to our youth.
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If you had a childhood where heroism was taught and humility, decency and patience were drummed into you daily while you chewed your Vegemite sandwiches, you’re part of a lucky breed.
Delusions of grandeur were a parody played out on daytime TV and if you were wrong, you owned it and copped the punishment.
But celebrity entitlement is now the accepted virtue. It’s not enough for the likes of will.i.am, the Veronicas and even the eternally deluded Prince Andrew to unobtrusively enjoy their atmosphere of privilege.
They have to behave appallingly as a way to draw attention to how the rules of civility – the ones you and I live try to live by – simply don’t apply because they are in a different human league.
With the old virtues and values we used to admire (heroism, loyalty, patriotism, and so on) left by the wayside, to say nothing of any idea of selflessness for the common good, our culture too often sends the message that fame is the greatest aspiration and marker of success.
It’s an insidious influence that we have to work harder than ever to filter from their lives which are choked by social media and the internet.
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I once described it as the coalescence of the Kardashian: taking what is slavishly absorbed online and merging it with real life. It’s not enough to demonstrate traditional values like honesty and respect — it’s constant firefighting against the message that it’s OK to destroy someone, or act like your parents forgot to teach your manners, because they have inconvenienced you.
Let’s take a couple of recent star examples.
How hard is it to give your full attention to a stewardess doing a safety demo while sitting comfortably in your airline seat?
Is it really such a frightening inconvenience to hoist your own luggage into the overhead locker?
And surely you would remember to offer sympathy to a victim of a paedophile as part of a conversation about said paedophile.
Instead egotistical introspection is the calling card of celebrities who want to live in a mirrored cocoon while confident the rest us saps will rotate past on a conveyor belt of worship.
Our unpretentious, nonplussed demeanour as Aussies is so precious we only remember how precious it is when faced with celebrities who refuse to admit they are in the wrong.
Wrong not to listen to the in-flight instruction so the Black Eyed Peas star will.i.am said the Qantas crew member was racist. He knows the procedure before takeoff so why didn’t he take off his noise cancelling headphones?
Using Twitter as the petulant name and shame weapon of choice, he identified the highly-experienced flight attendant to his 12.8 million followers. “.@Qantas Your #RacistFlightattendant was beyond rude & took it to the next level by calling the police on me. thank god the other passengers testified that SHE was out of Control the police finally let me go. Imagine if the police were as aggressive as (the employee),” he wrote.
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Then this as a follow up, after the horse had bolted and countless keyboard warriors had already piled in: “Please do not send hate … this type of disrespect and name calling is uncalled for.. I don’t support abuse and attacks like this..I hope that everyone can be more compassionate and understanding towards one another..because it was a lack of compassion that caused this.”
Ah, no.
Wrong too were the Veronicas whom Qantas says refused to follow cabin crew instructions and got into an argument, meaning they were “offloaded” before the Brisbane-bound plane took off.
There were reports that the sisters wanted airline staff to move their bag when they couldn’t reach it themselves but were advised that it was against company policy for health and safety reasons.
Again on Twitter, Jessica and Lisa Origliasso said it was an “incredibly intimidating and confusing” cabin baggage dispute.
In an interview this week, Jess added: “At the end of the day, for us it’s about truth, integrity, honour, love — truth it’s a funny thing when you live in the world that we live in it has to be used responsibly.”
Yes, celebrity like any privilege has to be exercised responsibly.
And a very Royal wrong if you’re Prince Andrew or rather the Prince of Breathtaking Insensitivity. The man who trades on calling himself “the son of a monarch” said it was “convenient” for him to stay in Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion after the sex trafficker was freed from prison.
The most fleeting of regrets and no self-awareness as he pressed the point how what a useful contact revolting Epstein had been. No matter then of Epstein underage and now destroyed victims.
Celebrities are often not equipped with a surfeit of humility, decency and honesty.
How about remembering your own name so you don’t have to bleat: Don’t you know who I am?
Their only conclusion is that they are better because of the preferential treatment that floods their lives. They believe they deserve better. They believe they are entitled.
That may play well on social media but it is toxic in real life and while we can distil hypocrisy beneath the glittery facade, let’s not forget our kids still need guidance on that.