On Celebrity Worship

All over the media are celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the death of Diana Spencer who was the Princess of Wales before she divorced Prince Charles.

Why the hagiography of someone who is known for being glamorous? Many other people do much more for the benefit of humanity than Diana ever did, yet get only a small fraction of the publicity she got, if any at all.

The media is so full of the comings and goings of Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton that there is scarcely any room left for important things like the loss of our democracy at home and our respect abroad.

Maybe that's the idea.

Anyway, I'm just sick of it all. I remember on the Saturday after her death, NPR had a tribute to her that took up the first 20 minutes of the Weekend Edition Saturday program. I was so disgusted that I wrote them something like this: "The fuss you made over Princess Diana dying was so intense, you would thing that Mother Teresa had died. Oh, wait. Mother Teresa did die, didn't she? But you wouldn't know it listening to the first twenty minutes of your news coverage, which was all Diana."

I'm still disgusted, but I know there's nothing I can do about it, except ignore it.

I remember hearing about Diogenes sunning himself outside the hogshead barrel he called home. Alexander the Great rode up, having heard of this philosopher, and said, "I'm Alexander. Is there anything I can do for you?"

To which Diogenes replied, "Yes, you can get out of my sun."

Diogenes is my hero.