America's Celebrity Obsession and the Quality of Q Scores

The Quality of Fear.  What the Ebola Crisis Reveals About Culture, by David Brooks.  (The New York Times, 10/20/2014)

As David observes.

In the first place, we’re living in a segmented society. Over the past few decades we’ve seen a pervasive increase in the gaps between different social classes. People are much less likely to marry across social class, or to join a club and befriend people across social class. 

That means there are many more people who feel completely alienated from the leadership class of this country, whether it’s the political, cultural or scientific leadership. They don’t know people in authority.

Why Americans Identify More With Beyonce Knowles & Peyton Manning Than Nancy Pelosi or Barack Obama. (Arts.Mic, 2/13/2012)

The quality of Q scores.

Despite these explanations, it is clear that celebrity worship — when taken to extreme levels — erodes the mental progress of the masses and distracts us from the important issues in our society.