Today’s Celebrities: Good or Bad Influences

In today’s society, there seems to be an alarming rise of trends. This trend doesn’t seem to affect a specific age or gender. It causes people to begin crying, screaming and in certain instances, commit acts of insanity. The trend I’m speaking of is celebrity idolization. Over the past generations, fans have become more and more obsessed, and have begun becoming more violent or hysterical, depending on the person. In a world where social media has become a center for passing information, could celebrities be a positive or negative influence on us? During the month of March, famous star Justin Bieber was in Italy performing live in concert. During one of his songs, “OLLG (One Less Lonely Girl)”, a young girl was picked from thousands of his fans to be on stage. The young girl was awestruck and thought her dream came true, only to have that dream turned into a nightmare. Following the concert, the young girl, Georgia, began receiving threats, among which was one of wanting to throw her down the stairs. The threats were so bad that Georgia had to deactivate her Facebook and Twitter account, and her parents had to take her cell phone away. (Justin Bieber Fans Threaten To ‘Throw Girl Down Stairs’ After Gig, www.gigwise.com, Michael Baggs http://www.gigwise.com/news/80556/ justin-bieber-fans-threaten-to-throw-girl-down-stairs-after-gig). Unfortunately this is a mild story compared to some of the others that are out there. John Hinckley, the would be killer who tried to assassinate Ronald Regan, had an unhealthy obsession with Jodie Foster. John Hinckley first saw Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver, and soon after, enrolled in Yale just to be close to the actress who had also started school there.