Public Icon Role Models

[Yertle the Turtle]

Does anyone else hate the way that the TV culture of the world is making role-models out of people who are sports stars or actors? These people, in my opinion are causing serious problems in the world at the moment. People such as Kyrgios with his racquet-smashing and Tomic with talent but no interest, people like Virat Kohli with ridiculous aggression and Ben Stokes who was arrested for brawling are the role-models of our youth, while they themselves do not seem to always to understand the weight of their responsibility, and this is one of the reasons why I don't like TV. I think something needs to change. There needs to be some level of respect for their responsibility among celebrities.

[qwdfbn1996]

I feel that it's just inevitable. Sport stars and actors etc. are those in the public spotlight and impressionable youth probably can be influenced by their actions. But I do feel like there it's a problem on both ends, the public figures should probably consider their responsibility a bit more in some circumstances and hopefully that allows them to act with better judgement in certain situations, but I feel like we as the public shouldn't have the expectation of them being perfect role models in the first place. Unfortunately the latter is kind of just a consequence of how the world works and their actions will be influential in some sense of the other but I feel like maybe people should just use their own judgement a bit more and teach kids the same when it comes to idolising other completely fallible humans. Then there's there whole issue of can you admire someone's talent in a certain area without necessarily admiring their character... but basically I think stuff like racquet smashing shouldn't be perpetually held against someone because who really is rational and thinking about how their actions will influence potential viewers when they are in a fit of total frustration. Sure they could aim to be better behaved but I feel like we're starting to stand on a possibly hypocritical highground when we start blaming them excessively. Of course this isn't for all actions and when it crosses a point such as being too physical etc. that person should change their behaviour regardless of if they're considered a 'role model'.

[Calebark]

I think there's more of a responsibility of media to not be, well, crappy. Every person on Earth has their ups and downs, some which occur in private, and some of which may public. For a celebrity being fetishised constantly, all of their downs are going to be publicised to the world. That's the fault of the person telling the story, not the celebrity. Celebrities shouldn't be vilified for being normal people.

People should be decent just because they can -- not just because they're in the public eye.

[Yertle the Turtle]

I'm sorry, I'm afraid I was kind of annoyed when I sent this, and something I forgot to say is that there needs to be improvement at both ends, less hero-worship of these guys, because in general they are just normal humans with some special talents, and we all have those in different areas, but I'm not going to be on TV because I have a special talent for impersonation etc. There needs to be far less intrusion into these peoples lives, since they should be granted some of the privacy that everyone craves and fights for in the world today. I know everyone has outbreaks, but you really need to have some level of self-control, and have it out later, not when you are in the spotlight. If you don't have this self-control, then get out of the spotlight. Simple.

People should be decent just because they can -- not just because they're in the public eye.

This is so true, thanks Calebark, but to this you should add "but especially if they are in the public eye". People in the public eye must exert greater control than others, and they are under more pressure, and that is why I have so much respect for those sports-people and actors who do manage to maintain a good record.

[Sine]

why not? these actions you see causing "serious problems" adds to their personality and are a part of who they are. I don't think anyone would be interested if everyone was supressing their true self and was just a robot. I tend to like polarising personalities e.g KanyeGod Kanye, Bieber, lebron since it generally makes everyone choose a side and makes for (usually) good discussion.

Some even use their platform "properly" such as lebron who has been in the public eye since he was 16 doesn't have any non-sporting blemish's on his personal record on/off the court, speaks openly on social issues and is active in his community (this isn't the fake charity/"i'm helping" stuff) because it is deterimental to his carreer outside of sport. Something MJ never did because he didn't want anything to jeopardise those sneaker sales.

[EEEEEEP]

Does anyone else hate the way that the TV culture of the world is making role-models out of people who are sports stars or actors? These people, in my opinion are causing serious problems in the world at the moment. People such as Kyrgios with his racquet-smashing and Tomic with talent but no interest, people like Virat Kohli with ridiculous aggression and Ben Stokes who was arrested for brawling are the role-models of our youth, while they themselves do not seem to always to understand the weight of their responsibility, and this is one of the reasons why I don't like TV. I think something needs to change. There needs to be some level of respect for their responsibility among celebrities.

I understand your concern, but you know,... the media doesn't make a role model out of anyone that does bad behaviour. They just report on it because it gets more attention.

The media reports on violence, controversy and amongst that, is celebrities at their worst as well.. it's their business model. Additionally there's also a thing called harrasing, where the media just follow people around and try to get the worse action out as possible (which feeds into it).

As for celebrities behaviour, I think there's a bit of every celebrity if look at ourselves in the mirror (minus the harassment stuff) . If we look at Racket smashing.... who else gets mad when things don't go their way (quite a lot of people, if you ask me). Myself included , like when I accidently lost my marbles at someone for a minor thing on a bad day @ work.

[Calebark]

This is so true, thanks Calebark, but to this you should add "but especially if they are in the public eye". People in the public eye must exert greater control than others, and they are under more pressure, and that is why I have so much respect for those sports-people and actors who do manage to maintain a good record.

Hm, I think I partially disagree here. Politicans must exert a stronger image in public as they're leading the public, and must strive to be good citizens. Community and religious leaders must have strong public presences, or else they could be quite hypocritical (depending on what morals they preach, I suppose). Parents too need to especially be good as they are responsible for others -- as should any other form of guardian for a young mind.

But athletes, actors, and the such don't have the public under their care. They ply their talents, which don't necessarily involve being in the public eye. If they're doing an interview, sure,  keep a good image for your own sake, but in any other sort of publicity, they have every right to be themselves. They should be able to pick high-profile professions without having to change who they are for the sake of being responsible. It should be up to parents/guardians to teach their children right-from-wrong enough for them to know not to mimic a celebrity's bad behaviour -- much as they should be taught not to replicate drug habits of a stranger or violent tendencies of a stranger on the news.

I just really don't think a person who does not choose to be responsible for others has a moral obligation to be a certain type of person (or at least more so than everyone has an obligation to be good).

Morality falls on everyone. Public figures shouldn't be scapegoats for bad behaviours (not that you were necessarily implying so -- just in general ).