Whitney Houston and Worship Of Celebrity

News headlines everywhere have informed the world that the singer with the larger than life voice "Whitney Houston Found Dead In Her Hotel Room, Aged 48". The shock and grief from fans worldwide was immediate as fans mourned Houston's death in different ways  inside and outside the Beverley Hilton, Saturday night. Outside grieving fans laid roses and flickering candles on the front and back entrances of the sprawling complex.

Which begs the question. In general, what is the fascination and logic in the worship of the Hollywood celebrity and global leader(s)? When they die so young (more often than not the cause being drugs, alcohol or suicide), what exactly are we shedding the tears for? What exactly are we "worshipping" or "idolizing"? Besides talent, what remarkable values and legacy did they leave behind? What kind of role model were they for our generation and the future ones?

{Key notes from video shown below}
19:00 "Role of identity is so false it destroys the people and yet we find ourselves looking up to them as they are destroying themselves. If the most popular, the most rich, the most famous can't seem to find joy in life what chance do we, who are not part of Hollywood, what chance do we have?
They have all the glamour. They have all the wealth. They have all the fun and all the opportunity and they kill themselves. Well life stinks. What will it take to have a good life?

So by defining them as their lives as the good life and then watching them deteiorate in front of our eyes it's really depressing. So if we are an unhappy society it is probably because of celebrity" - Manis Friedman

21:10 "We have to be very careful where we put our admiration what it is and who it is we admire. What is the proper if they are the idol what is the truth? What is the trueform of popularity?"

21:45 "The person who should be popular is the person who has an idea, a vision,  a view of life that is not only good for them but also good for others. It's an idea that offers direction, and it lifts the spirit. It doesnt pamper it doesnt pander it lifts, it moves you it forces you to move to higher ground. It forces you to be your better self rather than your lesser self and that's just minimum . Ideally a true leader causes you to be better than themself, better than your best self  because his ideas are new to you"

22:56 "A true leader has ideas that the average person hasn't thought of yet which means its better than their better self. Higher, greater, bigger. The people we admire is the people who respect their philosophy"

25:30 "We want our role models to be consistent. We want their lives to refelct their message. No matter how great the message is if it isnt even working for them how is it gonna work for anybody else?"...

I present you with a video below, a talk by famed American educator and lecturer R' Manis Friedman on the "Worship Of Celebrity - Celebrityhood Is A Terrible Idol".

Well worth listening to the video in its entirety. Thoughts?

R' Manis Friedman - "Today's society reveres famous people just for being famous. What is the difference between celebrityhood and true leadership?"