Winning- an oration on rewarding negative behaviors

by Nick French

Lets play a game. I describe a person, and you try and tell me who it is. Okay? Ready, go. Im an heiress to a fabulous hotel chain and millions of dollars, and I have also been to jail for drug possession and numerous DUIs. Paris Hilton. Im an Olympic champion, medaling in eight events, and I was also caught smoking marijuana. Michael Phelps. My personal favorite: Winning. Yes. Winning. As in, I am winning, you are winning; as in all of these celebrities (especially Charlie Sheen) are winning. Or so they think. Society and pop culture has blurred the lines of decency by tolerating atrocities such as Jersey Shore. or Kim Kardashians fleeting marriage. Where have we gone wrong to produce this attitude in which role models and television personalities feel that they can exhibit outrageous behaviors, and get away with it? These people throw away their credibility, only to have it regurgitated back unto them in the form of praise and attention. What has caused the shift in standards from earlier time periods like the 50s to our now appalling standards? Let me tell you, if I left my Grandma alone in a room with Charlie Sheen, there wouldnt be enough Tigers Blood in the world that could save that man. Now, follow me as we start voyaging through our biggest tragedies, making several comparisons between past generations and now and ultimately becoming one step closer to solving this dilemma that plagues our role models and superstars. With fame, comes power (and our neighborhood Spider-man would say) with power comes responsibility. There are plenty of examples where celebrities abuse power and make foolish decisions, but we find that the further down the timeline we go, the less these instances tend to occur. Nothing spells scandal like the 1950s. Actually, that couldnt be further from the truth. Even as I found myself researching this topic, I found that shocking and sordid celebrity stories were scarce and hardly qualified for news at the time. Not until I reached the late 70s, early 80s did I find myself looking at suicides and murders and drug use. Yet still, there wasnt any Britney Spears shaving her head or Lindsay Lohan going to jail five different times. When there was a mysterious crime, or serendipitous shame it certainly was not blown up on tabloids and paraded across the media scene like we observe all too often. This scandalous love triangle is one of the only to be seen during the 1950s. Eddie Fischer was a pop-star acting as a teen-idol and hosting his very own TV show on NBC. Early on in his career, he was to marry a beautiful young actress by the name of Debbie Reynolds. Her best friend, Elizabeth Taylor, possibly one of the most striking women of her time, co-starred with Eddie in a movie a few years later. Elizabeths husband was involved in a mysterious fatal plane crash in 1958. As timing worked out, Eddie left his wife and two kids for the newly single Elizabeth Taylor. This divorce defines the disgraceful behaviors in that era. The public was abhorred by Eddies actions. All record deals were thrown away, and Eddie lost his TV show. He then went on to live a life of dejection and would finally die with his money and fifth wife.

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A testament to the powerful scrutiny that the public exerts, Eddies story more or less indicates the level of standards that were placed on affluent people of that time. Wrong-doings such that Eddie committed were severely frowned upon and resulted in the demolition of his career and reputation. The people of that time expected their models to show decency and to use their values and ethics to dictate their decisions. If the celebrity did not abide by these rules, they failed their role as a paradigm and thus, they were cast away from the eyes of the community. Long gone are those days when society rejected the ideals of bad behavior. It seems wrong to excoriate the people that we look up to, but was this passed on to us from the people that brought us to this earth? Has this discrepancy been passed down from generations past? In truthfulness, we must attempt to discover where and why the shift in standards happened and why it hasnt changed back. First, where did we first begin to lose sight of what is right? Richard Kondracki, a retired Ethics Professor and Research Contributor, believes that the change came hand in hand with civil litigations and injustices from the 1960s. Especially with civil rights, there was so much confusion with what was moral and what was traditional, that walls of distrust and closemindedness soon appeared, becoming evident in the youngsters of that era. This suspicion led to the beginning of apathy. People soon began to care less about their opinions and began dissecting the social harmony that we upheld after the Great Depression. At this time, people started to develop a sense of moral freedom, or the idea that individuals should determine for themselves what it means to live a moral and virtuous life. Thinking in this manner led to the separation of human consciousness and added the variables of self-interest and self-promotion. Second, Americas ethical standards havent shifted because; we, the products of the crime at work, have been imbued with these false ideals of our prior. Dont believe me? Imagine yourself ambling down the aisle of the supermarket when you come upon a tragic scene. Child sees sugar-ridden treat. Mother crosses her fingers and says no. Child asks again, embracing his inner cherubim. Mother again says no. Child flies into unstoppable, inexorable rage. Mother caves. This childs extremism is thenrewarded? The American Psychological Association would say that this is a primeOpposite Storymodern example of operant conditioning: Learning in which the probability of a response is changed by a change in its consequences. The response is the fact that the child sees a tantrum as an option to reap his consequence, in this case, a sweet one indeed. So, have we been bred to pass these traits down to our own progeny? Not necessarily. Not necessarily meaning: it wont happen if you dont let it. One might ask, why hasnt anyone done anything about this before? Well if youd really like to know: 1) They didnt have this fantastic little oration to guide them, and more realistically, 2) It is just getting serious enough that we are garnering the consequences of this way of thinking. So what can we do to prevent our sons and daughters from sitting through an episode of Jersey Shore, Season 10? I propose a simple two step plan that will help defend and protect against falling into the trap of celebrities. First, by not giving the wrong-doers attention, you are stripping their rush or high. Removing them from the public eye leaves them in solitude, and forces them to reconcile and reconsider their lives. Second, we have got to stop holding them in high-esteem. Stop patronizing them and their companies. For example, Kim Kardashians second divorce has spouted several groups that

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threaten to boycott all of her products. The perpetrators do not know of their actions, if they do not receive a signal that specifically points out the violation, he or she will go about thinking that the behaviors are acceptable. Imagine yourself back into that grocery store. Skip the screaming child and move into the check-out lane. A magazine catches your eye. However, plastered across the front is not a story of Brad-Jolinas latest scandal, or god-forbid another incisive-hard-hitting-completely-fake-andtrashy-expose. Instead, a real story that broadens your intelligence and humors your head and heart. Real entertainment. It is not an arduous task to transition back into the ease of the 50s; it boils down to is whether or not we follow our plan to rid the world of crazed movie stars for good. Once fulfilled, it becomes a tool that we can be proud to give to our children and grandchildren. And of course, by then, we will all be sitting comfortable at home, enjoying entertainment, the way it should be. For then, all of us truly will be winning.

What has changed. (Real evidence & explanation)

What can we do about it?

Three Step Plan.

Conclusion.

The End.

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