American Idolatry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

American Idolatry - Essay Example These things tend to greatly influence the life many Americans lead. Fame is one of the things that are greatly yearned for in America. One group of people that enjoy this attention is celebrities. This paper will be a discussion of how Americans idolize some celebrities and the influence that these celebrities have on them. Idolizing entails loving something excessively and unquestioningly thus without criticizing it (Lipps, 1). This is the extent to which most Americans love various celebrities. There have been many cases where teenagers have escaped from their homes in a bid to attend shows that are staged by celebrities. During such shows, the people in attendance will be screaming at the top of their voices for the celebrities. This translates to dressing, immediately a celebrity shows up with a particular way of dressing. People will flock various shops to look for the same designs. With this pursuit, the people who get clothes that match those of a certain celebrity tend to be the envy of their peers and they are considered to be fashionable. Popular celebrities such as Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Usher, Paris Hilton and Madonna are considered to be small ‘gods’ by most Americans. This may be attributed to the richness, success, glory, high regard, respect and power that they possess. These are things that most people in the world would wish to have hence the idolizing that Americans have for celebrities. When most children are young, they tend to cherish their parents, believing that all that they do is right. However, immediately they get to their teenage years and begin socializing with people outside the family circle, the situation changes. At this point, they begin idolizing younger and hotter crowds which include celebrities. From generation to generation, celebrities such as Paris Hilton have influenced the brand of clothes that people wear, the hairstyles that they get and sometimes even the type of hobbies that people take (Lipps, 1). Despite the fact that people may be aware of the fact that some of the ways of life that some celebrities lead is not proper, they still adore this people to the latter. However, as many young people in America idolize celebrities, the big question is whether the moral influence that they ape from these personalities is proper. For instance, Paris Hilton is one celebrity greatly idolized and one thing that most teenagers try to copy from her is her petite frame. To ensure that they achieve such a frame, most teenagers get anorexic as they try to gain and maintain petite frames. Most of them tend to go for long periods without food just to get the desired celebrity look. This way, they tend to get unhealthy and may be susceptible diseases since extremely low weight lowers ones immunity. This is one of the negative influences that celebrities have on many people in America. The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), in America keeps statistics on the diet habits of women and th e results are a showcase of the craze that most Americans have, obviously motivated by celebrity looks. Data from NEDA shows that 42 percent of first to third grade girls want to be thinner, it is the same case with children as low as 10 years old who said that they did not want to get fat. With the same regard, most young people who are fat tend to be considered ugly by their peers and most of them end up getting depressed due to the stigma

TASK 8 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

TASK 8 - Assignment Example Firstly it is the case that people are living longer. According to World Bank: World Development Indicators (2010) it is the case that a child born in1960 was likely to live 71.13 years but as of 2008 a child born in that year will likely live to be 79.9 years. What this means is that historically when a person retired at the age of 65 they were likely to only live for an additional 6.13 years whereas now an individual is likely to live 14.9 years. What this means is an additional strain on the public pension fund, moreover it is also the case that according to the CIA World Factbook (2010) the birthrate is currently 12.34 births/1,000 and the death rate is 9.33 deaths/1,000. Although this demonstrates that the population is still growing the gap between births and deaths is shrinking and it is likely that in the future there will be fewer young people to support the ageing workforce. By allowing people to work longer we are able to take some of the tax burden off of younger people a nd free up funds for new capital. Building on this point it may be the case that there are skill shortages I certain sectors and by forcing people (who possess these necessary skills) to retire at a certain age without a suitable replacement it may leave the community as a whole without a necessary service. Many people are required to make absences fro their careers for personal reasons such as long term health problems or several maternity leaves. Building on this point it may be that these people wish to take additional time to expand their working years to achieve some milestones in their career which may not be achievable if there is a forced retirement. Moreover there are several recent immigrants that have immigrated to the country that wish to build a ‘Nest Egg’ in order to have a comfortable retirement age. If it is the case that an individual is forced to retire they may be relegated to a lifetime of poverty. From a civil liberties perspective one