S T E P H E N F L U R R Y C O L U M N I S T

The Cult of Celebrity Worship

July 10, 2009 | From theTrumpet.com
Blindly devoted to glamorizing dysfunctional family life.

“T he crisis in the family has implications that extend far beyond the walls of the

home,” Time magazine warned nearly 40 years ago. The article quoted the founder of the American
Institute of Family Relations as saying, “No society has ever survived after its family life deteriorated”
(Dec. 28, 1970; emphasis mine throughout).

Last week, for the first time since 9/11, Time produced a special commemorative edition, this one
celebrating the life of pop sensation Michael Jackson—who also happens to be a poster child for family
dysfunction.

In recent weeks, the reverential treatment of dysfunctional celebrity icons has reached near-saturation
point in the United States.

Two weeks ago, television networks across the nation rolled out touching tributes to 1970s icon/two-
time Playboy pin-up/one-time divorcee Farrah Fawcett, who died in June.

In April, the L.A. County Sheriff’s office agreed to release Fawcett’s son from jail for three hours so
that the shackled lad could visit his bedridden mother. Her son has been arrested numerous times in
recent years for possession of heroin and methamphetamines and for driving while under the influence
of drugs.

The boy’s hotheaded father, Ryan O’Neal, had an on-again, off-again relationship with Fawcett over the
years. Shortly before Fawcett’s death, according to O’Neal, the two had finally agreed to marry each
other—a decision her cancer-stricken body prevented from happening.

The funeral, according to press reports, was full of love, prayer and emotion. The son, this time on
temporary leave from rehab, read aloud from the book of Lamentations. Fawcett’s best friend
eulogized, “I know in my heart that she will always be there as that angel on the shoulder of everyone
who loved her.”

Playing an “angel” on television, however, is a far cry from the real-life responsibilities of family living.
In that, Farrah Fawcett was an abysmal failure. Even as an actress, she was substandard. But in a
celebrity-obsessed culture that worships physical beauty, her life proved, as the Los Angeles
Times opined, that “[y]ou don’t have to have a huge body of work to make a pretty big imprint.”
You can’t argue with that.

“She was Princess Di before there was a Princess Di,” the Times gushed. And thanks to the two-week
freak show surrounding Michael Jackson’s death, Americans have been treated to yet another round of
Princess Di-like comparisons on news channels, in magazines and on websites.

Not since Di was killed in a drunk-driving, high-speed automobile accident with her Egyptian lover has
there been such a widespread outpouring of sentiment over a celebrity’s death, media types have
been quick to point out.

The major media, of course, are largely responsible for elevating the Jackson story to its two-week run
at the top of the news cycle. Nineteen U.S. television networks carried live coverage of Jackson’s
memorial service on Tuesday. The New York Times compared the media blitz to what one would expect
for a papal visit.

Hundreds of thousands of mourners were expected to fill the streets of Los Angeles. They never
showed up. But reporters turned out in droves—some 2,500 credentialed journalists were on hand to
cover the spectacle. And 31 million Americans watched at home—6 million more in Britain.

One of Jackson’s sisters eulogized, “God has now called for you to come home, collect your wings and
to fulfill your demands in heaven and continue your magic amongst the angels.”

Even the president of the United States drew attention to Jackson’s larger-than-life impact on human
civilization. “There are certain people in our popular culture that just capture people’s imaginations.
And in death, they become EVEN LARGER,” President Obama said.

In its memorial service coverage, Canada’s Globe and Mail noted the “unmistakable musical allusions”
to Michael Jackson as Jesus Christ—“long-suffering, persecuted on Earth and ultimately sacrificial.”
The Guardian in London also picked up on this underlying spiritual parallel: “Throughout, the
symbolism of Jackson as a Christ-like figure—misunderstood, persecuted and snatched away from his
fellow humans before his time—was subtle but unmistakable.”

Sickening.

The unmistakable truth is that the life of Michael Jackson characterized everything that is flat-
out wrong with family life today: sexual deviance, child abuse, divorce, drug addiction, anorexia, self-
promotion, gross materialism, astronomical debt, paranoia, reclusiveness, molestation charges,
obsession with looks and self-mutilation, among other creepy forms of behavior.

But an adoring media carefully whitewashed all of his bizarre and perverse behavior on account of his
celebrity.

Then there’s the death of retired NFL quarterback Steve McNair—another classic episode of glamorizing
upside-down family living. McNair, who was married and had four sons, was shot dead by a waitress
he had been having an affair with for several months. She then turned the gun on herself and
committed suicide.
Among the long list of grievances the girlfriend had, she reportedly suspected McNair was having a
second affair with another young woman.

This week, the Tennessee Titans, McNair’s former team, organized a two-day tribute inside the team’s
stadium in Nashville. Evidently, one day wasn’t quite enough for football fans to pay their respects.

Commenting on the murder-suicide earlier this week, McNair’s former coach said he should be
remembered for what he did on the football field and for his service in the community. According to
the coach, the Steve McNair he knew would want his wife and four children to know how much he
loved them.

Whitewash.

No shame. Not an ounce of embarrassment. No need for stigmas. Just obsessive, cult-like worship
of celebrity, irrespective of even the most perverse behavior.

Is it any wonder God inspired the Prophet Isaiah to describe our latter-day society as being sick from
head to toe? “The look on their faces testifies against them,” Isaiah wrote. There’s plenty of glitz and
glamor—particularly in our celebrity-soaked popular culture. But the unhappiness—from broken
marriages, upside-down roles and seedy behavior—is engraved on our faces.

“They parade their sin like Sodom,” Isaiah continued, “they do not hide it” (Isaiah 3:9, New
International Version). It’s right out there in the open—for all the world to see.

What a spectacle we have become.

Herbert W. Armstrong often repeated the very same warning Time magazine did in 1970. “The VERY
FOUNDATION of any stable civilization is a solid family structure,” he wrote. “Nothing in this material

world”—NOTHING, he said—“is as important as a happy home life with father, mother and well-taught
happy children—a close-knit family” (Good News, August 1985).

That, dear reader, is no whitewash. •

Stephen Flurry’s column appears every Friday.

To e-mail Stephen Flurry, click here.
Please note that, unless you request otherwise, your comment may appear on our feedback page.
To read more articles by this author, click here.

This content was printed online at: http://www.theTrumpet.com/index.php?q=6328.4784.0.0

Copyright © 2009 Philadelphia Church of God, All Rights Reserved.