This was written a while ago by the remarkable Ben Stein, but just came to my attention via Snopes
Here is a taste of what Ben Stein thinks about stardom and hero worship:
Beyond that, a bigger change has happened. I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to.Read the whole thing, you'll be glad you did. Posted by Vox at August 16, 2004 02:24 PM | militaryA real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit, Iraq. How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a "star" we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model?