Politicians are Teflon when it comes to shame … leading raids on prostitutes, while using their services in their own personal lives. Baseball players on steroids … do they care about what’s fair in sports? Actresses “celebutards” think they can drink and drive, party all night and take drugs. Do their behaviors affect lives of every day people? Do every day people mirror the lives of reckless celebrities.
Dr. Drew Pinsky has co-authored “The Mirror Effect
The authors warn that in the last decade, the entertainment industry has changed dramatically and dangerously. Not only are stars hurting themselves, as exemplified by the daily dose of celebrity bad behavior and crash and burn news (DUI’s, drug overdoses and reality-TV presentations); the public consumption is affecting vulnerable people who mirror the celebrity traits in their own behavior.
The book explores how YouTube, online social networks such as Facebook and Myspace, and personal blogs offer the dangers of instant celebrity to the most vulnerable of citizens in America. “There’s a portal on everyone’s desk to act out,” says Dr. Drew.
The book also offers distinct examples of stars like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Amy Winehouse and media enablers, such as TMZ, Perez Hilton, and Gawker, have changed the definition of “normal behavior.”
The Mirror Effect raises important questions about our changing culture—and provides insights for parents, young people, and anyone who wonders what celebrity culture is doing to America.
The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism Is Seducing America was made available on Amazon on March 17, 2009.
Dr. Drew comments on the concept of the book, adding that Bill Clinton talks about profound childhood trauma in his book ‘My Life.’ Bill Clinton writes about experiencing repeated childhood trauma where he said “Oh well … what are you going to do?” Narcissists experiences a distancing o people and their emotions. Narcissist with personality disorder don’t appreciate that other people have emotions.
Your job is to rescue your children from trauma, not totally prevent them from experiencing.
What is the human reality? Many parents don’t let their children experience human reality because the parents are avoiding their own emotional pain and claiming they are helping their children.
“We are acting out our envy on celebrities,” according to Pinsky. The public sits in judgment with disdain, instead of with compassion and empathy.
The authors coined the term Celebrity-Industrial-Complex, which defines the commercial enterprise of the TMZ’s, the Perez Hilton’s and other media outlets’ collusion with bad-behaving celebrities.