Opinion
The Highlander
Page 3 April 2014
Teenagers go crazy over celebrities By Shayan Mandegarian Staff Writer
Her phone buzzes during a lecture to inform about about how her favorite celebrity just posted a picture on Instagram, she sneakily pulls it out to see the picture and the next thing she knows the bell rings and she missed the lecture. She goes home after school to ask some friends online if she could borrow the notes from today’s lecture, but she ends up scrolling through pages of celebrity posts on Twitter. Before bed she checks on Facebook to see some new celebrity photos and statuses for a few minutes and looks up at the clock which reads 2:00 am. Teenagers are obsessed with celebrities. Everyone has different levels of obsession whether it being simply a fan or practically stalking that celebrity on social media all day. How does one become a celebrity in any society? In the past, someone could become famous for accomplishments in fields like war or science, but also could become an infamous celebrity by becoming a dictator or even a mass murderer. In today’s society, one could achieve fame by doing something like campaigning for a cause such as people like Martin Luther King Junior and Cesar Chavez who have national holidays made in their honor. But there’s another way to become a celebrity in any society that never fails to succeed, entertainment.
In today’s society, people become rich and famous for being good at entertaining people with their movies, songs, TV shows, and sports. But this was even true for people in the past, people like William Shakespeare could become famous for older forms of entertainment like playwriting and novels. Celebrities have always been a prevalent force in society and especially so today, but when is too much? In early 2013, a bunch of avid Justin Bieber fan teen girls who believed a Twitter rumor that Bieber was smoking marijuana started a “#CuttingforBieber” trend and would physically harm themselves because of what they believed happened to their beloved Bieber. Crowds of people flock the streets causing havoc and destruction when their favorite team of celebrities lose, or even win, a championship. In 2011, when the Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup, angry Canucks fans went on a riot in their city. They torched cars, attacked firefighters, and looted stores, causing an estimated 5 million Canadian dollars in damage and 140 injuries. All of this because their favorite team lost a game. On the less extreme side, celebrity influence has disappointing effects on western society. It seems that people these days would rather read about what their favorite pop star said on Twitter than hear about important world events.
The first hits that put up on Google or Yahoo search lists are stories about A-list celebrities. Also, teenagers are obsessed with following the trends of famous actors or models they see and do anything to become like them, which is the driving cause of the current body image craze. 47% of girls from grades 5 to 12 said that they wanted to lose weight because of magazine pictures and 69% said magazines changed their idea of what a perfect body is. In the most extreme example, Justin Bieber fan Toby Sheldon spent $100,000 to make his face look like his idol. Celebrity culture does have benefits though. The music and film industries together make a revenue of around $27.3 billion, which greatly spurs the economy. Also, it makes entertainment available and affordable for the masses. Music provider iTunes sold around 25 billion songs last year. Plus, around 1.36 billion movie tickets were purchased in the US. Celebrity culture also allowed Twitter to be worth around $18 billion as of 2013. Having readily available entertainment can take people’s minds off harsh realities and leads to a generally happier population. Like anything, celebrity culture has positive and negative effects on society and should be taken in moderation. It is a great source of entertainment on a global level and provides money for the economy.
Are nice guys actually as nice as they seem? By Shira Stein Scotscoop Editor-In-Chief
Some people have, at one point in their life, heard a guy say, “But I paid for dinner and pulled out her chair and I didn’t get anything. Nice guys always finish last and that’s not fair.” This is the idea that pervades the thinking of most “nice guys.” This is the guy who says that women only date the “bad boys” and that women owe men something after going out on a date. Some girls today would admit to having experiences not wanting to dance with a guy, but not wanting to be a prude and say no. This view of women by men causes women to not feel like they are allowed to express their true opinion, lest they be called rude names for “leading the guy on.” But, if these women don’t protest and they allow the men to have their way, then they are called loose and said to have no morals. There are two different types of nice guys: “nice guys” who are motivated by their want for sex or a relationship and the ones that are kind just because he wants to be, and he doesn’t have any ulterior motives. Being respectful to someone does not mean that they owe you something. This kind of nice guy can misinterpret the situation with a woman and think that they should be given what they want because they treated the woman with human decency. This “nice guy” thinks that being placed in the friend zone is the worst outcome possible and that means there is no point in staying in contact with the girl. This view that this type of “nice guy” holds is one that sees women as an object to take care of and then abuse. Some say that women are only worthwhile when they are putting out. The problem is that many “nice guys” don’t realize the damage that their view does to themselves and the women and girls around them. The idea of the friend zone originated from the television show “Friends” in 1994 while Ross was pining over Rachel. Joey told Ross that he was running out of time to change their friendship into a relationship and said that Ross was the “mayor of the friend zone.”
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Part of the problem is that society and the entertainment we watch perpetrate these ideals. In the show “How I Met Your Mother,” the main character, Ted Mosby is always turned down by beautiful women or ends up dating the wrong girl. In the end he marries his “perfect girl,” but [spoiler alert] he ends up with the woman he wanted since the beginning, who only saw him as a friend for so many years. These nice guys think that by being placed in the friend zone they are being told that they are not good enough for the woman to see as a potential boyfriend. They think that the friend zone is an excuse for women to not say their true feelings, but it is a way for the woman not to lose their relationship entirely when she doesn’t feel the same way as him. This damages their pride and feelings, which is why these friend-zoned guys will sometimes talk badly about the woman who friend-zoned them. Songs like “Nice Guys” by YouTubers Chester See, Ryan Higa, and Kevin Wu say that the “nice guy” will never get the girl unless he becomes a bad boy. But, the public sees time and time again that guys who think like that don’t get girlfriends. Wu said in a video on his channel KevJumba six months ago that: “[he’s] 23 and [he] hasn’t had a girlfriend in over three years.” Ironically enough, the video for “Nice Guys” debuted in 2011, so since he said publically that he bought into “nice guy syndrome,” he has not dated any girls. Who wouldn’t want to date a guy that believes women owe them something for being decent in the most basic way? Let’s look at the word nice. When a girl goes on a date, the her friend will usually ask: “How did it go?” If the girl answers with “He was nice,” then that means she has no interest whatsoever. Women don’t want a guy who is nice. They want someone who is more. Nice is seen as a boring word to describe someone who they don’t Photo by Scott Schulze like all that much. Just because a guy treats a women with respect does not mean she owes him anything. The “nice guy syndrome” needs to cease.
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