Hey Kids,

I watch Downton Abby.

I know. It’s hard to imagine a studly guy like me watching such a show but I like good dramas. I think it’s the writer part of me. I’m drawn to it.

In the show we watched tonight, the rich people, the ones living in the Big Houses are having a horse race and the people of the village, the peasants, the poor people, come to watch. And cheer them in their ridiculous sport.

One of the themes of the show is to show the differences of the two peoples; the People of the Houses and their servants. The People of the Houses act as if they are worth something, deserving of being served and the servants have no choice if they wish to be paid and fed but to serve them.

Why, in this arrangement, if you were of the village, would you go out of your way to cheer the Privileged in their games. It would seem to me that the interest in them would be nothing but contempt. Yet, they did and enjoyed doing so.

I’m so glad we’re not like that now. Then I think of our celebrities.

Why does anyone care what an actress does outside off screen? Or any celebrity doing anything outside the thing that made them known. An actor may play a king or president, but it doesn’t make them a leader of political thought. A quarterback might be able to engineer a final drive, but it doesn’t mean he’s a genius.

Even good peopled actors, like the cast of Harry Potter. Why? They aren’t wizards. They can’t do the things they do on stage. Why clamor about them?

Why do we peasants cheer for those who look down upon us and boost their egos even higher?

Why?

Hero syndrome? Fame envy? Herd mentality? Paying it forward?

I don’t know. But it shows that we are not much different, in that regards, today than yesterday.

Day 147