"Mad Idol Disease or Just Escapism?"
You can find the article at this address:
Mad Idol Disease, Celebrity Worship Syndrome, Celebrity Obsession Syndrome...it's called many things, and you probably have a very good idea of what I'm talking about.
I often make fun of people who care [I]too[/I] much about celebrities, but am I overstepping my bounds by quickly judging these people. If there truly exists a syndrome associated with obsession over celebrities, then these overzealous fans can’t help themselves.
Psychologist Doctor James Houran of Southern Illinois University School of Medicine determined there truly was a condition associated with obsession over celebrities. He surveyed over 600 people, and created the “Celebrity Worship Scale” to identify the severity of the condition in each individual.
People who are “mildly afflicted” admit they have a passion for a celebrity and spend a great deal of time talking about the object of their interest (in this case, their celebrity of choice).
The next group is “moderately afflicted” feel a deep personal relationship with their celebrity. The example given in the article is considering “Robbie Williams is my soul mate”.
The most severely afflicted believe their celebrities are familiar with them on a personal level. They would do anything for their star. Just about anything, anyhow.
This appears to be a serious problem! If Celebrity Worship Syndrome is a real affliction--which it appears to be--what else do we expect next? Worship of video games? Obsession over food? Bulimia? Oh wait, these already exist…
My point goes to this: Some of these disorders don’t even exist in other countries. This leads me to this conclusion: It is our culture that is giving us mental disorders. If we as Americans weren’t so materialistic, fat-hating, entertainment industry obsessed people, there would be no bulimia, or celebrity worship disorders, or Chuck Norris.
Nah. Chuck Norris would probably still exist. Shucks.
