Letters, Celebrity Nonsense, Fomo Nonsense

                                                    Letters

Sir, Your article “Schools wash clothes for deprived pupils” ... brought back a vivid memory. As a young student on teaching practice years ago, I was approached by a colleague and asked to synchronise my watch with hers. Wondering what spycraft was afoot, I did so, and was then asked to send a small 11-year-old, who suffered under the name of “Smelly Simon”, on an invented errand to collect some paper from the art prep room at exactly 12.15. 

I sent him, whereupon the art teacher contrived to bump into the little lad and tip a bowl of water paint all over his uniform. She apologised, got him to change into his games kit, and had his uniform washed, dried and ironed by the domestic science staff before the end of the day. The boy went home showered, with clean clothes and a profuse letter of apology from the art teacher. I learnt what it meant to be a compassionate teacher that day.

(Gillian Hall, St Newlyn East, Cornwall, The Times, 2019)


Celebrity Activism

Emma Hart (1765-1815), Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante

George Romney (1734-1802) (after) 

Photo Credit: [CC BY-NC] 

… Celebrities are no longer just entertainers; they are activists and thought-leaders. There doesn’t seem to be a single celebrity who hasn’t claimed a cause as their own. Kim Kardashian has prison reform; Leonardo DiCaprio is fighting the climate crisis; and Madonna has taken it upon herself to save Malawi. I could go on – the celebrity without a cause or a fancy UN title is a rare beast these days.

…We have started to take famous people increasingly seriously. We listen to medically unqualified actors’ opinions on vaccines; we take dietary advice from online influencers; we elect TV stars, comedians and cricketers as heads of state. The line between politics, activism and entertainment is almost invisible.

Not that celebrities should stay away from politics or shouldn’t be taken seriously… The answer to the question of whether celebrities ought to get involved in politics is nuanced. The more interesting point to ponder is how the rise of celebrity activism mirrors a decline in trust for traditional institutions such as the government and the media.

We live in a world increasingly dominated by personal brands; a world in which a morally bankrupt reality TV star won an election by positioning himself as a challenger to “the system”; a world in which the media amplifies the wrong voices and we focus too much of our attention on too many of the wrong people.

(Arwa Mahdawi, The i, 2019)

Let’s examine some of the points you make.

They (celebrities) are activists.

If celebrities want to get involved in various causes - that’s their business.

They [celebrities] are thought-leaders.

Thought-leaders – I don’t think so. Once celebrities open their mouths then listen and judge them on what they say. Don’t be influenced by their words just because they are famous. Are they talking nonsense?

We have started to take famous people increasingly seriously.

Famous people are usually famous because they have shown an exceptional talent in a particular field: sport, acting, political leadership, business, writing, music etc. They are specialists so listen very carefully when they are talking about their own particular speciality. They will usually know what they are talking about. However, once they start talking on other matters then strongly apply a critical judgement to what they say.

We listen to medically unqualified actors’ opinions on vaccines;

We may listen to what they say but now the actors have veered away from their own specialised knowledge. Their opinions on vaccinations should be treated with great scepticism because they are not medically trained. The specialists in medicine are the ones we should listen to and act on their advice.

We take dietary advice from online influencers.

Online influencers, presumably, are not qualified to give dietary advice. Do not take advice from these people. Again, ask the question – who has the professional knowledge to give dietary advice? 


Sleep

A Sleeping Girl, Albert Joseph Moore (1841-1893)

Photo Credit: Tate [CC BY-NC-ND]

… Like you, I run my life on the supercomputer in my pocket. At night I would place it under the pillow and struggle to put it out of mind, its bright screen a portal to other worlds.

Sure, most of Twitter is bile but social media suits my exhibitionist spirit; I want to be front and centre of whatever conversations are happening. As a journalist, I am meant to be. When I said I wanted to get my phone out of my bedroom, a colleague half-jokingly asked: “What if something happens?”

So I read when I should have slept. I read funny takes on the latest meme. I read takedowns of Donald Trump’s latest outburst. I read people I thought I respected making excuses for cruelty as casually as cruelty seems to be creeping into public life. I read sombre updates on fresh tragedies. I did not see the link between bingeing on horror and not sleeping… I wondered why I was still awake.

When deep breathing didn’t work, I would turn to the phone under my pillow. No new emails, hardly any new tweets except from Americans. So I’d go on Instagram, where I followed others living their best lives without me.

My first attempts to sleep better meant keeping the phone close. I downloaded an app of soothing noises, listened to a crackling fire through the headphones.

That didn’t work but a meeting resolved the problem.

Soon after, I was sitting in a gallery café with my mother and sister … I explained that I wanted to be rid of the phone but I needed its one unarguably crucial function: the alarm. My sister disappeared to “go to the bathroom” and two days later I unwrapped a retro alarm clock from the gallery shop… That night I left the phone on the living room sofa, wondering whether I would last the night without coming to get it. I went to bed. I remember nothing of what happened next. I must have fallen asleep too quickly.

Since then, I have slept fine. The phone’s absence is soothing.

… The alarm clock helped me learn to accept that the world continues to turn without me. It is not a portal to another world, it is a reminder to wake up and live in this one.

(Jack Sommers, The Guardian, 26.8.2019)  



So what have we got here? The symptoms of a troubled mind?

 … “most of Twitter is bile but social media suits my exhibitionist spirit.”

A fear of something happening and not being aware of it – or in the jargon – FOMO – the fear of missing out.

Trying to use technology to combat technology.

Diagnosis: All FOMO and no sleep leaves Jack a dull and weary boy.