[Spok]

Our culture has a frightening capacity to overlook character altogether when idolizing role models. Elvis was a weak, self-indulgent bum, and Michael Jackson was a drug addicted child molester, but these failings present no impediment to their being worshipped like living gods. When did we quit caring about character?

[HiTech RedNeck]

Hollywood, a group which today complains bitterly about being pirated while itself being a product of pirating, has brought us the culture of celebrity. The image that flashes by on the screen or stage is all that matters. Pay No Attention To The Monsters Behind The Curtain!

[hinckley buzzard]

The antidote to bad character is celebrity status. The lesser lights of our already rather dim culture grants a waiver on character defects to those whose names we see in lights or headlines.

It probably started with Hollywood and spread to the political realm under the guidance of various strategists who saw the potential for "celebritizing" their candidates.