I like knowing things about famous people.  I watch TV and I’m a careful consumer of media with the awareness that with every second of air time, with every inch of billboard, with ever soundwave on the radio, there’s an agenda.  There’s nothing more attractive to business people than the glossy surface of your brain which they’d like to fill with products, messages, and catchy jingles.  The more famous someone is, the more precious the space around them becomes.  And if there’s one thing that can be said about US culture – especially in the rise of digital media – is our utter obsession with celebrity hood.

It’s not just the celebrities themselves either.  It’s the belief that we ourselves – anyone! really – could and should be worthy of fame and microphones.  And not only can our kids aspire to have their own papparazzi, we have begun to be indifferent about the effects of celebrity culture, as outlined here by this great post by The Aporeticus:

• that where we pay attention directs where technology and commerce occur, which in turn produces systems for concentrating our attention ever more on those parts of culture;

• that as a result, celebrity culture is not merely a matter of the public’s attentiveness to phony, flagrantly moronic nonsense, but is additionally a catalyst that compels media, platforms, and systems of information delivery to mirror its priorities;

• that the web, in particular, is driven by the imperatives of celebrity culture, both in organizing activities around the transmission of gossip and superficial chatter about “the froth and scum” and in permitting us all to become celebrities.

• “In the future, everyone will be anonymous for 15 minutes.”

…read the whole thing here and a great follow-up here.

Now, you may think I’m a bit of hypocrite, as I lazily watch reality TV here and there and write my own life out in the open gaze of the internet.  Here’s the difference:  I don’t believe I am or ever will be famous.  I don’t believe or celebrate the opinion of Oprah nor do I pass along the latest trend styles from Michelle Obama’s.  And, I’d write the exact same thing if I had zero readers or a million readers.  I write openly because I love to write.  I remain unmotivated by fame. It’s unfortunate, but I just don’t think sexual violence prevention and feminist spirituality is going to catch on like dating and mini skirts.

Uncelebritizing my life isn’t about a complete refusal of celebrity and media in my life, it’s more a de-cluttering of people I follow on Twitter, how decreasing the number of times inane Hollywood thoughts occupy space in my brain. I turn off TMZ and turn my thoughts on other forms of entertainment.

I want to celebrate authenticity and real opinion of everyday people.

Wanna do the same?  Follow my lead:

1. If someone brings up reality TV, claim that your reality is the only reality you know.
2. Ask a 16 year old what s/he wants to do with the rest of their life & when they say, “I dunno,” remind them Justin Beiber, such an accomplished hair trend setter, is 17.
3. Take pictures of your neighbor through a bush and yell, “HOW DOES IT FEEL?”
4. Gossip only about people you know.
5. Preface all opinions with, “This is off the record…”
6. Remind party goers in your life that Photoshop could be responsible for their professional downfall.

If you don’t know this is tongue in cheek, you need to stop taking everything written on the internet so seriously which is another step to uncelebritize your life.