Fo-Shizzle-Ism

Fo-shizzle-ism is our generations tendency to hand out fame to random undeserving, talentless people who haven’t earned it. Just because someone does something stupid or acts crazy enough for the world to take notice, doesn’t mean they deserve to be famous. A prime example of fo-schizzle-ism is the rapper snoop dog, who was the inventor of the term “fo shizzle”, earning himself his own part of the American cultural history just by coining a catchy phrase that happened to go viral. As of right now, all that a person has to do in order to become famous is to film themselves doing something that the majority of the American public would find revolting or crazy and upload it to YouTube. We are a nation of people who will hand a random, unqualified person a shot at the limelight even if they are completely undeserving.

In past times, fame was something that was earned, not something handed out to just anyone. For instance, Frank Sinatra who was one of the most famous people in modern history didn’t rise to fame because he was cast on a reality TV show and people thought he was entertaining. No sir, Sinatra gained his worldwide fame because he had talent. He was considered to be one of the greatest singers of all time. Snooki, from the cast of the jersey shore, was of no such scenario. She gained her fame and the attention of the American Public by getting cast onto The Jersey Shore and acting like a complete nut. That is the problem with America; we have become so obsessed with pop culture that it has become watered down. We have traveled from Sinatra to Snooki.

In ancient Greece, where the concept of celebrities originated, it was completely unlike today. The original celebrities were not famous for reasons as ludicrous as today; they were famous because they were the best of the best. They were the Olympic athletes, the absolute strongest, fastest, and most skilled men of each city-state who were representing their people, competing in the games of the gods.