Gods of America
A wiki/essay by Anthony Ussery
Before I begin, I must state that the name of this wiki itself is slightly fallacious. This is not solely about a fatal flaw in America, but rather one inherent in the entirety of Western civilization, the spawning pool and hotbed of which is found here in the United States of America. However, panning through possible titles brought up several less-than-great things I could have named it, and the name American Gods is already a book by Neil Gaiman. Thus, in the end, the catchiest thing I could think of without spending hours poring through the probabilities was this—Gods of America.
As of now, only minutes from the twenty-ninth of January, 2005, I have experienced a recent resurgence of this issue in my mind after a long hiatus of complacency. It has always been something important to me, especially given my inclination toward freeing my mind of any programmed predispositions I can identify and potentially neutralize without totally reshaping the essence of who I am. It started again with a harsh realization, one that cannot be helped and which seems relatively harmless, but had (just like so many things as of late) a quite adverse effect on my present psychological state. The end? Hopefully the downfall of everything this embodies. The problem? Good question. Let’s get down to business.
When I say America, bear in mind I mean the Western world. America is plagued by a problem, one I wish to God I could deprogram from its societal framework: We have rejected the presence of divinity, and in its place made gods of men. I say this with nothing but my own understanding in mind, with no real affiliations to any set religion, but having been raised on Christian values in a fairly liberal yet structured household. This has instilled within me Western ideals such as monogamy, humility, and just general selflessness. It has long since come to my attention that we, as a people, truly do worship those the media has come to introduce as celebrities.
By definition, to “worship” is to hold a deity, object, or whatever in reverence. Whenever you look at some massive crowd of bodies writhing in screaming euphoria at a concert, ecstatic at being bathed in the radiance of a figure like Marilyn Manson or HIM or whomever the big idol of the day is, you see an example of our worship of fame. Whenever you overturn a rock and a colony of Orlando Bloom fans are uncovered, this is testament to the truth of our American weakness. Remembering all those stupid little girls who screamed in ear-piercing shrill voices for Justin Timberlake and (was he part of the Backstreet Boys or ‘N Sync? Well, either one.) whichever group applies to him shows a memory of past examples of this. Lines of fans at a convention trying to get a signature from Leonard Nimoy for themselves are another example (eh, sketchy one, but you know the types). Sure, don’t get me wrong, Manson has some good songs, and Orlando can act and has decent taste in what scripts to undertake; however, one must remember to objectify the product of their deeds as simply that: Merely a byproduct of a human being creating or performing something anyone else could conceivably do.
As I type this, I acknowledge that I am nothing more than human. I am mortal, crafted of flesh and blood, bone and sinew. I have both strengths and weaknesses in my mind and my body, and never shall I claim perfection in anything I do and mean it. One must come to realize that everyone they see in movies and on stage is exactly the same as I am: A human being. Homo sapien. The descendant of past primates, attributing its very existence to whatever being first gave birth to life. If I so chose, I could destroy any of them with my bare hands, martial skills allowing. They eat, breathe, digest, and (ahem) conduct other business in the exact same way any other person would. If Johnny Depp lured my fiancé away and had his way with her, I would tranquilize him, drag him off to an abandoned silo, torture and mutilate him, break his limbs, sever his genitalia, stuff them down his throat, force-feed him sulfuric acid as a chaser, stretch his shattered bones out on the rack, and finally offer him eternal repose in Hell with a rusty machete just as soon as I would the next guy who did it. What is it, then, that makes them worth our worship? Why would millions of people nationwide pay their hard-earned money just to watch some guy play a guitar? Talented as he is, you can hear someone just as good play the same song for a two-dollar cover charge with your friends any day. Truth is, there is nothing about the lead singer of AFI that distinguishes him in the eyes of an enlightened individual from any other monkey-spawn populating the planet.
Anyone from any walk of life can be the victim of this disease. The girl who buries herself in celebrity journals, the supposedly-“faithful” wife who drops all her vows when Generic Famous Guy A takes a sexual interest in her, the groupies and roadies who practically LIVE in the “stars,” the masses of aforementioned screaming fans, most anyone sheltered in pop culture is either stricken down with the syndrome or in need of a reality check.
When it comes down to it, a number of people should be ashamed of themselves for this. I see too many self-proclaimed Christians who, in reality, worship the gods of America. This is the first and, in my eyes, most important group I will point out. Remember, if you will, the very first Commandment. This is the most important of them all, as I’ve heard, and this is the one America has managed to subvert most effectively. When it comes down to it, celebrity worship is a sin, and we fail to ever repent from it. A Christian must remember that there are two main levels of importance he/she must be concerned with: God, first and foremost; and humanity, the sheep to whom the Shepherd must tend. No matter how famous, sheep are sheep, and are above no other sheep. If someone looks out his window and sees the livestock, and one happens to be standing on a hill, he will think nothing of it. So does God see us all, Johnny Depp included. To exalt him or anyone else as being above us is exactly the same as raising and worshipping a golden calf. It is, in fact, a cult.
So many people these days claim to be independent thinkers. They believe themselves to be individuals (see Conformity, Inc. for my further grievances against these types), unpolluted and untainted by the world around them; that they are untethered minds, existing alone, operating in a seamless pocket of lucid reality. Ironically, most of these people find themselves taking most of their own “individual” thought from their own idols. Some even go so far as to resurrect old dead idols and worship them. Those “intellectual” types who find themselves totally worshipping the Cure, Black Sabbath, or whomever are really doing nothing more than letting themselves be programmed. Commonly, they claim atheism. Shows what they know… They should be ashamed.
Anyone with values that totally disappear with the passing of some celebrity needs to be shot in the face. As I stated before, there are times in which married people, even faithfully-married people, will cheat on a spouse at the whimsy of some celebrity. People will do anything for an autograph, regardless of what they believe in. Values, morals, ethics, all synonymous with “nil” when whoever the hell plays Spike walks this way.
Finally, another CI grievance, people who are totally against the popular people. I mean, looking at that head cheerleader, what’s so special about her? Ooh, people like her. She’s popular. But living a popularity contest is such a bad thing, right? Well, now that we’ve ranted about that, let’s go back and decorate all our crap with Good Charlotte stickers. Sure, switch the band name out with whoever you want. The concept is the same.
I digress, I’ve ranted on and on endlessly, perhaps to no avail. Perhaps there’s nobody out there like me, who have rejected the TV and the radio, who don’t care who won American Idol, who don’t have the slightest clue who on Earth who Viggo Mortensen is (and who, frankly, couldn’t care any less) (Actually, I just found out who it was before I finished writing it. Confound this curiosity of mine. I knew I’d heard the name somewhere), or who don’t really even like standard mainstream music. Perhaps nobody else realizes what I’ve come to realize; that American society is subverting little by little everything we once were. If so, that is quite disheartening.
But I cannot help but think about it with distaste. In response to my outlook, especially to the vehemence accompanying my statement of these beliefs, I have received a number of offended attempts at damaging the integrity of my defense. My best friends have been won over, as have those who actually mean something to me.
A few things I’ve heard follow.
“You can’t say that if you met someone famous like that in person, you wouldn’t be in awe.” Actually, yes I can. With certainty. I've met more famous people than I really care to count. However, when I met each of these people in person, I have always been unquestionably blasé. Nobody's presence held any power over me, other than friends or family hovering around the area and me being stuck there waiting. I like Julia Roberts, don't care what anyone says. But when I met her, I was more concerned with getting back to playing Tetris on my cousin’s friend’s Game Boy. Sure, I can play Tetris anytime, and only meet Julia Roberts once or whatever, but it was more interesting to play Tetris than to get all excited over some famous person I could just as easily see on my TV in the comfortable sanctity of my own home.
“If you’re just walking down the road and suddenly see a movie star, you’ll end up going straight to him just because of the familiarity.” If I did, it’d be with just as much regard as going up to someone I’d seen around town, provided the movie star in question is actually doing something interesting. Perhaps a crowd might spark my curiosity, but without provocation I would simply pass by in that situation.
“You just don’t get it.” Yeah, I do. Do you?
In closing, I’d like to address the means one might show support for my cause, should one agree and meet a certain set of requirements:
1) You must agree that you and I are equal in being to any celebrity out there.
2) You must not fit the description of someone the message in this wiki is against.
3) You must understand what I mean, and elaborate.
4) You mustn’t view the stars as any sort of pantheon.
5) So on, so forth, you get the drift. I’ll think of things later.
Feel like supporting? Drop me a line.
Please. Somebody. Show me I’m not alone. I’m not certain anyone else out there even remotely sees the truth. I don’t know for sure that the people closest to me wouldn’t just up and leave me at the beck and call of Johnny Depp. This board is mainly for discussion of this topic, but you all know as well as I do these things never stay on topic.
So, in the end, have fun!
6/2011 - I may revamp this. Not 100% if my interest will stick around later though.
Oh, and the proven members will be listed here.
1) [
Avoral] – I just wrote this. Do I really need a comment to be remembered by?
2) [
Priest Kel] - Psalms 118:8 - "It is better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in people."
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