I'm Not A Celebrity - Get Me Out of Here!

Remember back in the early days of the Coronavirus Pandemic when millions of us took a couple of minutes out at 8pm every Thursday to 'Clap for Carers'?

Well, that's what happened across the UK anyway, including here in the lovely island of Jersey in the Channel Islands!

We were clapping, whistling, playing musical instruments, banging saucepans and generally making a big noise to say 'thank you' to all the people who looking after us. All those 'caring' for us at the height of the pandemic when people were getting sick with Covid19, being hospitalised, even dying from this illness that struck the world so quickly at the start of 2020.

We were showing our gratitude to those who were keeping our world going, supporting us to allow most of us to stay home and stay safe. All the health professionals who were (and still are actually) at the front line, by the bedside, wrapped in PPE, on the wards and in the emergency services. All the public servants keeping our streets and roads clean and safe, our rubbish collected, our streets safely policed and our homes safe from fire and other dangers. All the volunteers manning the food banks which were desperately needed by those who were unable to work to support their families. All those driving our buses, keeping our stores stocked and those serving us in so many ways.

When we clapped on those Thursdays for more than two months, we understood that all these people were putting their own safety on the line to keep our worlds going, to ensure WE could stay safe. These were moving, magical moments!

We truly understood the value of people who, let's face it, in the past have just been in the background, rather unappreciated for what they bring to our communities.

For a while, we began to understand that THEY were and are the Heroes of our society without whom we could not survive.

For a few months, the obsession with Celebrity we have developed over the years faded somewhat into the background. Although so-called, often self-identified 'celebrities' pounded us with images, videos and comments on social media, attempting to keep their profile high (it is, after all, how they make a living, promoting themselves and it was perhaps difficult being a TV or sporting celebrity when there were no live sports and no new celebrity TV shows being made) it seemed as if, for a while at least, the world wasn't paying that much attention.

Despite their attempts at pushing their self-proclaimed importance, even when the world was in dire straits, for a bit lots of us seemed to realise just how unimportant these 'celebrities' are to the real world.

There were even suggestions and dreams that, going forward, maybe the world and the media in particular, would move away from the constant pandering to 'celebrities', the never ending celebrity-led TV shows, the shoving-in-our-faces of people who, generally, are rather overpaid for what they do and are, and often appear to have lost sight of the 'real world' where people can't afford posh holidays, designer clothes and footwear, plastic surgery and huge homes and shockingly expensive vehicles. Some of us hoped that we would begin to see a reduction in the promotion of the celebrity culture!

Some of us hoped that, as we came out of the pandemic, we would still remember the 'real heroes', stop obsessing about what we don't have in comparison to the celebrities who are promoted through our media and through their own social media platforms, and begin to just appreciate what we do have and those who really make our world a better place. Some of us hoped that the so-called 'celebrity culture' where we're all apparently encouraged to emulate the lives of people who invariably do little to enhance our world, would start to be seen for what it is - all silly nonsense! 

Some of us hoped that even if the 'celebrity' stuff came back onto our screens maybe people wouldn't watch it anymore, and wouldn't be sucked in to the old pre-pandemic world. 

Six months on from the start of the pandemic and I've just seen an advert on the TV. It's promoting something called 'Celebrity Karaoke Club', The strapline goes something like  'Who wouldn't want to see a bunch of celebrities twerking?' 

WELL - ME FOR ONE!!!

I can't actually think of anything worse that watching seven ... yes seven ... so-called 'celebrities', most of whom from the line up appear to be just famous for thinking they are famous, doing a sing-off and then criticising and making fun of the others. For six weeks! For me this is not 'entertainment'.  Neither are all the shows which are popping up again now featuring would be celebs - including dating and game shows and ridiculous staged managed reality 'real lives' programmes. 

Have we learned nothing from the pandemic? Have the media companies learned nothing? That actually we're not all 'buzzing for the latest fix of TOWIE!' and some of us would rather watch paint dry than watch rich, pampered individuals trying to outdo other celebrities, often not with any sort of kindness. 

It remains to be seen if these shows will be as popular. My fear is that because we're not generally offered much of an alternative, they may well get lots of viewers, even if most of us now realise how shallow it all is. Time will tell. 

I'm not a celebrity and I guess about 99.9% of the world's population are not celebrities so we're out of here.

We're back in the background. Many of us just living and trying to get by, and many millions still being complete heroes, not worrying about how their hair looks under their Personal Protective Equipment, and realising that when you're caring for a dying patient, or a family struggling to put food on the table because, after the 'furlough' schemes which have kept them paid during the worst of the pandemic is cancelled and their jobs are gone, after all ... it really doesn't matter if you are wearing a designer outfit, or have spent hours with a makeup artist ensuring your lashes are thick and long and your lips are plumped having being injected with something nasty to ensure you look like the celebrity next to you with similarly ridiculous pouty lips.

If we've learnt nothing from 2020, I for one hope it is that what matters is that we care for each, that we all go the extra mile to make our society and our world, a better and kinder place.  What matters is not what we look like, or how much money we have in the bank or the glamourous house we live in, or the number of social media followers. 

What matters is that we love! Not just ourselves, but others!