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Celebrity status not what it should be
The Gazette Opinion Staff
Dec. 17, 2009 11:02 pm
Duane Schmidt (Dec. 13 letter) is right. Tiger Woods' agents, lawyers and managers should have explained to Tiger that allowing his image to be marketed by dozens of sponsors is inviting the public to know what he is really like. End of privacy.
Tiger is being destroyed, as he was made, by publicity. But at least Tiger originally earned his celebrity status through many years of amazing accomplishments. Too often today the media awards great fame to people who have done little or nothing to deserve it. Fame in America seldom means accomplishments in the sense of true and lasting worth.
The balloon boy's parents and the White House party crashers craved fame, and got it. It even makes me uncomfortable to see how slickly Sarah Palin cashed in on the fame game, receiving publicity far beyond what a former half-term governor of a sparsely populated state deserves.
Celebrities used to be the likes of Albert Einstein, Joe DiMaggio and Ernest Hemingway. Yes, there was also Zsa Zsa Gabor, but she was the exception, and didn't want to become president.
Today, nobodies are puffed up into celebrities, while those with real accomplishments are ignored. Why is Paris Hilton a household name but not orthopedic pioneer Ignacio Ponseti, who died Oct. 19 in Iowa City at age 95 after a lifetime of amazing accomplishments?
Dorothy Burrer
Cedar Rapids
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