Over the weekend, I read a newspaper report that states, “Naomi held for assault.” Frankly speaking I have heard of her name many times but it has never left a deep impression in me. To me, she is still a total stranger. However, a quick search of her name in Google returned 6.7 millions results.
Who is Naomi Campbell? According to AskMen.com, the Jamaican-Chinese, British born Naomi Campbell, had already conquered the fashion world by her early 20s and Naomi was also the first black model to appear on the covers of Time magazine, as well as the French and British Vogue.
Back to the newspaper report that I read over the weekend, the British supermodel Naomi Campbell was released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer at Heathrow Airport. London’s Metropolitan Police said she is out on bail pending further inquiries and told to report to a police station in late May. She was on a flight to Los Angeles when she was informed that one of her checked bags was missing. She just simply ‘lost it.’ According to the police, she was going nuts, spitting, punching and lashing out. She was eventually asked by the BA to leave the flight.
To begin with, 28,000 bags have been separated from their owners ever since the opening of Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport in London and for travelers, the last thing you want is to be informed of your missing luggage. Thus the above incident could basically involve anyone and maybe there were similar incidences but they were never reported in the first place. Naomi happened to be the celebrity to be at the wrong place and at the wrong time. However, Naomi does has records of violence to start with.
I am least interested to discuss who is wrong or who is right. Just to share something that I realized – that celebrities are only human after all. When the lightings on the runway go off, the make up removes and in the privacy of her home, she is just like anyone of us; she has her own strength and weakness, her own likes and dislikes, her own family and friends. The only difference, if you really have to differentiate yourself from her, is that she has the word ‘celebrity‘ tagged to her name. If you want to find people with record of violences, I believe you can probably find at least a dozen people with similar bad records.
There are probably at least an equal number of cases on act of violent not reported. No reporters or media would be interested in these other cases because they do not have any ‘news value’ for them. However, the case of Naomi has ‘news value’ for them as it guarantees readership. And after being reported too often, the whole issue of her violent acts amplifies and may seem much worst than it appears to be.
Helen Keller said, “The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.” Isn’t that very true? This one quotation by Helen Keller always reminds me to look at things beyond the surface. In this case, removing aside the tag of ‘celebrity‘, I saw Naomi Campbell as like one of us.
I am not condoning Naomi’s act of violent and violence is an action that I do not approve, especially in using it to resolve conflicts. And that is why to a large extent I look up to Gandhi for his non-violent resistance which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. I remembered what an associate of mine once told me – that we can idolize someone but not to the extent of worshipping him/her. I will say I finally understand what he meant by that.
We can adore a person as long as we do not allow ourselves to be blindly devoted to that person. We can absorb the strengths of others and make it our own strengths. We can even learn from the mistakes and weaknesses of others so that we will not make those mistakes or absorb those weaknesses. This is how we learn and evolve to be a better person.
One thing I do agree with some people is that being a celebrity and a public figure, Naomi and other celebrities do have a social responsibility, to certain extent, to the general public. They have great influence over the younger generation and people who worshipped them blindly. Otherwise as far as I am concern, I respect their privacy and regard them as just people like myself.
End of the day, it doesn’t matter whether one is a celebrity or not. What matter most are the values that one has within oneself. Celebrities are, after all, only Human.
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hmmmm…not all humans have been arrested for assault I think… Naomi got attitude problems like all her other counterpart their popularity has gone way up their head to think they can get away with everything…just my two cents though… I like Tyra Banks better too hahaha
That is certainly true that not all humans have been arrested for assault; there would not be enough room in the cell 🙂
Popularity or fame is a power that not everyone can handle; it requires the person to have a certain level of spiritual capability and self-awareness.
I was asking my fiance the other night. Can I be rich but not famous?
I guess you can be rich and not be famous 🙂
I popped in to read the quotes, which I love, by the by. I’m also going to be back because you draw some really interesting parallels between ideas/people, and that’s a bit of gift in itself.
Oh, and on the Naomi front, I think it has a lot to do with schadenfreude. What really gets me is that these things now show up in the big newspapers as genuine ‘news’ rather than being relegated to the back of gossip magazines, where they belong.
Hi Catatonic Kid, you made quite a good point there. They should really be in gossip magazines where they belong. Maybe they do rake in some decent cents for the big newspaper.
The worst tragegy in society is when the media overtly place too much and excess attention on just ordinary humans tagged celebrity.
Who are celebrities in the first palce, they are those people that desire a thing so much that they are able to bring those things into their lives and people decide to turn them into mini gods.
Worst still, as most of us humans are feeble minded and not capable of discerning what is good or bad enough for us, we galdly place our attention on others that are famous to teach us how to live with the unsolicited help of the media that are ready to bombard us with negative and obnoxious news whenever or however we want it, thereby making us to turn into puppets and poor worshipers fo those that are struggling to find their way in life, those tagged celebrities.
Is Naomi Campell a human, yes as far as she is walking under the sun, she’s an ordinary human with all her weakness and strength just as anyone of us here, ready to judge and even worship her in concert with the media.
Hi Doris, you have summed up the post with a few good points. Indeed, it may be the worst tragedy in society when the media places too much and excess attention on ordinary humans tagged celebrity who are just as prone to mistake and have their weaknesses and strengths just like anyone else.
And unfortunately, most people are always looking for someone in their live to look up too and who will be a better choice or more convenient choice? Naturally, the one that is famous and more reported by the media – the celebrities and public figures. Just as the celebrities and public figures have social responsibilities, the media must have a certain sense of social responsibility too. As the media has a big influencial power, they should take on a guiding role.
Last but not least, quoting from what my associate said before, “We can idolize a person but not worship the person.” For example, I idolized Richard Branson to a large extent for his extrepreneur spirit and his tagline, “Screw it. Let’s so it!” However, it does not mean that I have to start growing a goatee.