Hey Reese, it’s not your fault.
When you and your hubby got pulled over by Atlanta cops, you had every right to be shocked, offended, confused, and angry. You said something perfectly valid. You looked that cop right in the eye and said, “Do you know my name?” You then went on to fairly warn him, “You’re about to find out who I am,” and “You are going to be on national news.”
Your approach to the situation wasn’t out of line…given the fact we made you a God. We make Gods of all you celebrities. Hell, we even make Gods of people who aren’t talented performers but who are relentlessly imposed on us via our TV screens until we know who they are. When you observe, year after year, that you’ve been elevated above other human beings by those very same human beings, it’s only fair and natural to assume you’re worthy of and entitled to reverential treatment. That’s our bad, not yours.
I’m not exaggerating when I say we make Gods of celebrities. It’s classic polytheism
. Your God is who you spend the most time reading and thinking about. Your God is who gets your tithe. Your God is who influences you. Your God is whose love you seek. Your God is who you’re most devoted to. Your God is who you worship with others. Your God is someone you want to tell everyone about. If you could see God or be in his presence, you’d feel special, euphoric, blessed.
Are celebrities not our Gods? We endlessly seek information about them. We’ll pay almost any price to see their concerts or movies. We get what they endorse. We seek their distant validation by believing the same things they do. We have a visceral reaction if someone speaks negatively of them. We talk to others about them and encourage friends to also find out how great they are. And wow, if we ever get to be in their presence, we have a physical reaction; our hearts race, our eyes widen, we feel more alive. We literally shove and scramble for a chance to touch them, certain it will somehow make us significant.
We…are…pathetic.
This modern celebrity polytheism simply couldn’t happen if our own lives weren’t empty and our own self-worth so low. We have far more knowledgeable relationships with the Real Housewives than with the woman next door. That rewrites the definition of “sad.”
Again, I’ll bet Reese is a beautiful person who wouldn’t have said what she said had she not been a little buzzed. But when your inhibitions are down, your true perceptions tend to come out. She didn’t ask to be a God. We pushed that on her. And like many other celebrities, she simply grew to accept it, and expect it.
You have to wonder what the real God thinks.