by Edward Flynn

Created on: October 30, 2008

Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross - Their fall from grace

Over the last couple of days, the media seems to have been dominated by the comments made by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross on Brand's radio show (UK). Not shy of making the most of the opportunity to sell newspapers and generate more revenue, the media seem to have really gone to town when it comes to digging up the dirt on these two comedians.

The comments which have been well publicised were clearly overstepping the boundaries of what could be called acceptable and were nothing short of disgraceful and of course such behaviour should have its consequences.

It seems to me though that at least in part, there is a certain amount of responsibility resting with our society. The celebrity worship that puts people such as these on their pedestals and inflates their egos to the point where they fail to recognise where the boundaries lie, has surely had a part to play in this fiasco. In addition, the smut and innuendo that is almost the trademark of Brand and Ross has been accepted by many people as 'entertainment'. Through applauding their crass performances, surely we are egging them on to even more outlandish conduct.

What is of far greater concern though is the extent of the coverage that this matter is provoking. This in itself says something of the celebrity worship within our society and the hunger that people have to see the 'mighty ones fall' after placing them on their pedestals in the first place. All very unhealthy.

Surely there are far more significant things going on in our world. Why should we have three or four page spreads in our papers about these two characters when 170 people killed in an earthquake in India barely gets a few lines of print. What about the injustice of war, terrorism, atrocities, famine. There are personal, national and even international tragedies being played out even as I write this. These are people who have lives, families, relationships... they love, they laugh, they cry, they live, they die and they are dismissed with a paragraph, while we all gloat at the downfall of a celebrity.

Surely our interest should be upon the things that matter; the things that impact upon our world, our communities and our own lives rather than buying into all this celebrity nonsense and getting caught up in the hype. Of course, Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand should face the consequences of their behaviour, and I in no way want to belittle that, but we do well to remember that it is all set in the context of a real world where real issues are going on, rather than the trumped up and relatively unimportant nonsense that the media thrust upon us.

Learn more about this author, Edward Flynn.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.