Why do we love celebrities?

Today's fun fact:  My favorite movie is Pirates of the Caribbean.  

Let's do a little activity.  First, name 5 winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine.  Got it?  Maybe?  No googling!  Ok.  Now name 15 actors.  Next, how about your state representatives and senators?  And for the last category, list 15 singers.

How did you do?  I'm guessing that you aced the actors and singers, and could've gotten way more than just 15 of each.  And you maybe got 1 Nobel laureate and possibly your district representative and a senator for good measure?  

I recently did an activity like this during one of my organization meetings at school, and I completely failed on any category that wasn't pop culture related.  At first I blamed myself for being totally ignorant about my government or important scientists.  And while I am definitely responsible for my own ignorance, I also think there is another culprit.  Check out any website like Yahoo, which has news stories on the main page.  Other than the how-to cooking articles and heartwarming stories, every article is about a current movie being made, or what Leonardo DiCaprio eats for breakfast, or how many people watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians, or who is performing at the Grammys.  And this really made me think about who we hold high in our society and who gets virtually ignored.  

Now, there's nothing wrong with enjoying your favorite actors on the big screen or learning every fact about the latest British boy band.  I am totally guilty of this.  But the thing that people tend to forget is that these famous people are just people.  Robert Downey Jr. isn't actually Iron Man, sad as it is to think about.  He's a person whose job is to act in movies.  Same goes for singers.  They provide entertainment for us with their music.  If they weren't idolized as they are, they could have a second job as an elementary school teacher or something.