Exactly How Dangerous is Celebrity Culture?

I have written about the dangers of celebrity culture a little before with Gwyneth Paltrow here and here. But a few months ago, I stumbled upon a video of Zooey Deschanel (the actress from The New Girl) grumbling on about how organic is better than everything because she can afford it. This post really does highlight the dangers of celebrity culture. Now, whilst I have no issues with this actresses’ lack of scientific knowledge, I do take issue with her voicing it.

Humans inanely follow the charismatic characters they see on the television, they look up to them and use them as role models. Which means, sadly, they believe what is said by them without challenging the information given. This is even backed up by scientific research that shows that when listening to what we perceive to be authority, we switch off our critical thinking as the functional part of the frontal lobes close down. Now you know that, maybe you can manipulate your own thinking to actual give yourself a bit of a reality check – ‘is what this person telling me is true’?

An expert, is a loose term. In law, it is unclear as to what defines an expert. In society, it is more of a social construct given to you by the time you have spent on something – for example; he’s been playing with Lego for years, he’s an expert in it. The truth is, it is a lot more convoluted than that. There is even a book titled the “The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters” – this book is actually phenomenal and tackles many issues with expertise and the public’s attitude towards expert. Generally, it describes how respect for those with genuine expertise – gained through study and years of experience – has declined in the face of conflicting opinions. Sadly, you can google an opposing argument for literally anything and you will find it. We live in a civilisation where every thought, no matter how stupid, can be put out there and then be a manifestation in other people’s minds and snowball from there. This kind of thinking makes these people think their opposition is ‘free-thinking’ or ‘sceptical’, and it really is not. Just because you are opposing an authority, does not mean you are ‘standing up for the man’, most of the time, you are standing up against hard evidence and adding to ignorance. 

So, why am I talking about expertise? You will notice a trend in the celebrity culture touting uneducated messages – they are not educated in that area. I wouldn’t go to an art gallery to learn about quantum mechanics in the same way I wouldn’t listen to Gwyneth Paltrow when she tells me that I need to buy a fragrance because it has 'anti-bacterial' and anti-oxidant' properties. The problem with celebrities is they aim for the latter – make money off of fearmongering, and GOOP is the most successful of this.

I have had many discussions with anti-GMO, pro-organic, anti-vaccine and anti-[insert basic scientific concept here] and there is always one specific theme that comes out of it. Why should we trust in and bow down to the scientists and authority of academics when we can trust in our own knowledge and research? Well, here is why – scientific evidence tends to disagree with you and you are ‘researching’ incorrectly.

Back to the Deschanel video. She literally advises people not to eat vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and apples because they’re not organic. The old ‘if it isn’t organic; it contains pesticide’ pseudoscience that really just is not true – organic uses pesticides. This woman is telling people who could be too poor to afford organic food (it is bloody expensive) to not eat fruit and vegetables. There is zero evidence that pesticides pose a risk to the foods sold on the supermarket shelves (and if you are that worried about it, wash it). There are entire industries that test to ensure these fruits and vegetables are monitored for residue content, long before it hits the shelf. People who are on the poorer end of the economic spectrum tend to have poorer diets, telling them to avoid vegetables is a gross abuse of her platform and idiotic on the face of it. This type of information does and will harm people. She can literally waste money on having an onion grown in the naturally formed gold leaves from the palms of Goa, those who are economically challenged however, cannot. Disclaimer: I am not sure if such an onion exists, but If it did, it would taste the same as an onion I could grow in my garden with fertiliser.

I am all for challenging what people tell you to be true – but you need to make sure you have done your research before going at it – spreading misinformation is much worse than just believing it. I don’t mean ‘google it’ – I mean really research it. Look at studies, world expert opinion and the general scientific consensus. Not just what Zooey Deschanel, Gwenyth Paltrow, Robert DeNiro or Sarah Michelle Gellar are saying because they are bored with acting and want to try to ‘help people’, by ignorantly spreading misinformation and establishing pseudoscience.

Celebrities that are engorged in the Hollywood culture, without any actual educational expertise, often get the basics of science factually wrong. The general public should not be mistaking their status and platform as gospel truth, just because you like someone or even idolise them. Stick to acting and leave the science to the scientists. If you want to weigh in on scientific matters, feel free to go earn that right separate from your celebrity status and don’t use that platform to tout pseudoscience – it makes you look like an idiot and you lose the respect of a lot of people.