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Really, we should all know better
Written by Einat Brigler
Let’s do this before I forget, I can be flighty like that
There’s this thing...this phenomenon that has taken hold of the younger generation of today's Hi-tech computer-savvy world. It started as a way to connect people - erase time zones and country borders - to interweave time and space into one big network that exists in invisible space, more commonly known as cyber-space.
I'm not sure if the inventors of the internet intended their product to be used as a meeting place for millions of teens and young adults. I don't even think they fully understood the impact that this thing would have on society, but hey! Hindsight is perfect and we - the generation that lives and breaths the internet - are still learning about impacts, positives and negatives, but this isn't a history lesson, so let's move on
MySpace, LiveJournal, Buzznet, Friendster, BlogSpot, Facebook, and oh god there are millions more, the 'blog' or online journal is a relatively new phenomenon. Budding in the mid 1990s through use of internet bulletin board systems, or Usenet, the blogging thing exploded across the world with the creation of LiveJournal in 1999 and then spun into an out-of-control, whirlwind phenomenon with the foundation of MySapce in 2003. We've slipped back into history mode, apologies all around. With the creation and acceptance of blogs and more importantly, MySpace, the media industry (and we're not just talking music and TV, we're talking magazine, news, fashion, blah, blah, blah) suddenly found itself a powerful new tool. At first (or even now) it can be argued that this is a good thing. A way for the non-entities and the new-comers to get started - build a network - and hopefully (with fingers and toes crossed) be discovered. Even now, we reap the benefits of bands that have splashed across the music scene with the helping hand of the MySpace 'Music' profile, but then, more recently, something else came to the fore - the new 'electronic' celebrity and the creators of the now booming 'electronic' scene, 'e-scene for short'.
This term, coined by 'Buzznet', is used to describe a small handful of people (for now at least) - young, twenty-something hipsters that somehow, through some sort of connection to the newly evolved music scene/revolution, have been not so reluctantly pushed into the internet limelight. All these people are connected to each other, through friendship or dating; and through MySpace and LiveJournal have risen to undisputed fame among the blogging masses. Suddenly these people have given birth to fan-clubs, and hate-clubs and followings of over 3000 MySpace 'friends,' not to mention the lurkers that have the links to their journals and spaces saved amongst their 'favorites.' These people have spawned a whole new generation of internet addicts who hang off their every word, look up to them, and consider them to be absolute role models. The problem, however, lies in the fact, that like most budding celebrities, some of these e-celebs have allowed their newly found 'fame' to taint their perceptions and actions, something that could be considered rather alarming when they have thousands of young-people idolizing them and wishing that somehow, through some stroke of random and hard-to-come-by fate, they could join the awesomeness that is this new scene.
Buzznet (that smart and feisty little website that allows its users to upload photos, journals and videos) has recently struck a deal with these E-sceners, providing them with camera phones and requesting that they document every aspect of their oh-so-interesting lives. Naturally enough, the proposal was accepted and a new wave of ridiculous fandom begins. Now, the borders on privacy, decency and moral scruples have been obliterated even more than they already were. They think nothing of plastering intimate images of themselves on their pages, for all their fans to see. They boast their success and rake in admiring comments from their constantly growing fan bases, but at the same time, do not take into consideration the impacts that their words and actions could potentially have. Jeffree Star was, and still is, considered the most successful MySpace diva. I won’t pretend to know anything about him, or his life, nor will I pretend to possess any insightful knowledge on his chosen career path. What I do, however know, is that this man has the potential to be a symbol of success (or potential success) to any gay, transgenedered, or transsexual person who wishes that they could somehow break into the mainstreamed music scene - the real music scene - the scene that isn’t stuck in the so called 'gay bars' or the underground. Unfortunately, after having seen Jeffree Star's MySpace promotions and Buzznet site, which promote an extravagant lifestyle that consists of nothing more than parties, drugs, parties, parties and more parties (along with the random sex on the side) I would not, with clear conscience, ever call him any sort of role model, please note that these conclusions are based only on his public persona. I can say nothing on what he is like when the cameras are off, and I refuse to jump to any unfounded conclusions, but J-star (as his fans have affectionately named him) is not the only electronically promoted celebrity who could be doing wonderful things as a role model and is choosing not to, he is simply the most extravagant and eye-catching one. This new and fast-growing scene begs the question of 'Why?' Why are people so bored with their own lives, that they fixate almost obsessively on the lives of others? Why are today's youths constantly looking for the 'unexpected' role model, who really, isn’t a role model at all - but hey, they'll bask in the attention and feed off of it for as long as possible? And most importantly, why would people who were given the opportunity (as awkward and odd an opportunity it is) to maybe change things, help the blogging youth to find their voices and make a difference, no matter how small, squander that opportunity completely by indulging in and broadcasting partying, casual drug use and the burning of money?
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