Skip to content
quotesby

I was wondering the other day, why it is we turn pop figures into idols? I have a theory, of course. I think we have this need to be cool, that there is this undercurrent in society that says some people are cool and some people aren't. And it is very, very important that we are cool. So. when we find somebody who is cool on television or on the radio, we associate ourselves with this person to feel valid ourselves. And the problem I have with this is that we rarely know what the person believes whom we are associationg ourselves with. The problem with this is that it indicates there is less value in what people believe, what they stand for; it only matters that they are cool. In other words, who cares what I believe about life, I only care that I am cool. Because in the end, the undercurrent running through culture is not giving people value based upon what they believe and what they are doing to aid society, the undercurrent is deciding their value based upon whether of not they are cool.

Don Miller#72

CultureIdentityCelebrityValidationValues

About this quote

What does it mean?
People idolize celebrities to feel valid, valuing coolness over actual beliefs or character.
In plain terms
We follow stars to feel cool, not because we know their beliefs.
What can you take from it?
Don't value people just for being cool.

Where it applies

  • social media
  • celebrity culture
  • peer pressure

Putting it to work

  • critique media
  • know beliefs

Questions to consider

  • Who do you admire and why?

Another view

Celebrity admiration can be harmless.

More from Don Miller

  1. And that's when I realized that believing in God is as much like falling in love as it is like making a decision. Love is both something that happens to you an…

    Permalink to quote #71
  2. Satan, who I believe exists as much as I believe Jesus exists, wants us to believe meaningless things for meaningless reasons.

    Permalink to quote #73
  3. My most recent faith struggle is not onw of intellect. I don't really do that anymore. Sooner or later you just figure out there are some guys who don't believ…

    Permalink to quote #70

Related quotes

  1. I want to be the new Marilyn Monroe and find my own Clark Gable.

    Anna Nicole SmithAnna Nicole Smith quote #4
  2. 'I'm proud of where I come from. A lot of people leave Mississippi, and their claim to fame is somewhere else. But I have so many moral values that made me the…

    Steve McNairSteve McNair quote #11
  3. [Citing a familiar 'American joke':] In Boston they ask, How much does he know? In New York, How much is he worth? In Philadelphia, Who were his parents?

    Mark TwainMark Twain quote #29