Tom and Karen, this syndrome is not confined to corporate successes. One sees it in the entertainment industry as well, . . . perhaps in a more exaggerated form. Many of those who have become major box-office celebrities in Hollywood, or famous rock stars, suddenly fashion themselves philosopher-kings to advise the world on how to achieve world peace, end hunger, fight AIDS, overcome racism, etc., etc. The political classes – hoping some of the benefits of the fame of such people will rub off on them – bring them before congressional committees to testify on behalf of some legislative measure. Perhaps the silliest example of this was the presence of two noted Hollywood actresses who testified before such a committee that was concerned with the plight of family farmers in America. The basis of their expertise?: each had played the role of a farm wife in a movie! The media also finds this a good way to boost viewership. I recall – on the day of the Challenger explosion – one of the cable news channels had the child actor, Peter Billingsley, on for a number of hours to discuss the future of the space program. Perhaps he was the only celebrity available in Florida that morning!
Why these people – Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Ted Turner, and Donald Trump included – participate in this kind of show is of less interest to me than why the rest of us seem inclined to watch it, and give it serious attention. I suspect that the answer lies in our needs for spiritual – or transcendent – experiences. For people who have been unable to find expression of such needs within themselves, finding it in wealth, fame, or power – in themselves or others – seems to provide an ersatz alternative. One sees the same phenomenon in the eagerness of many to label anyone who is adept at more than one activity a “renaissance man.” “Gosh, you’re a successful neurologist who also does oil painting? You’re a real renaissance man!”
I can respect actors, actresses, and corporate geniuses for the work that brought them their fame and wealth, but I am not foolish enough to imagine that such traits qualify them for any more respect in other endeavors than I would extend to the chef at my favorite restaurant. I grew up as a great fan of Orson Welles. I still respect his work, particularly in the writing and directing of radio dramatic programs. But some of his philosophic views were no more elevated than those you might encounter from fellow passengers on an airline flight. I remember one televised interview in which Welles opined that men have enslaved women, an insight that belongs in the same book of “ill-founded quotations of the rich and famous” as some of the social musings of the allegedly “renaissance men” from the corporate world.
9:05 am on July 4, 2006
