Who are our heroes

I believe in “age is just a number” philosophy. However, there are few occasions that makes me feel old. Team member at work remarking “oh I was in first standard when you joined the company” or the young RJ’s ramblings refusing to create any cerebral amusement are few such occasions. Another instance which happens on a daily basis is when I see the “Bangalore times” edition of the newspaper which is all about celebrity news. I can hardly recognise any of the faces in there. I ask myself who are these people and why are they “celebrities”. The brain with an indifferent sigh asks me who are our celebrities anyways?

Celebrities by definition are people who are celebrated. So, whom do we celebrate? Traditionally it has been people in the entertainment industry, primarily movies and sports. There are famous people in many fields such as politics and business who also captures people’s attention. Occasionally there will be a martyr or a war hero. But none of them evokes the extend of interest a movie star, rock star or sports person generates. Why do we celebrate them so much? No doubt they are talented in their respective fields and are hardworking, but should they be the most revered people in a society.  Shouldn’t the reverence be in proportion to the value they create?  I’m not talking about the economic value coz that is a catch 22 situation, but the true value that they create in the society in terms of their contribution.

I thought the pandemic opened our eyes to see who creates true value in a society, who are the most needed people in our everyday lives without whom we cannot survive. We saw floral showers on health workers for their selfless work, applause for the policemen who were trying to maintain order in uncertain times and many such respectful gestures for the ordinary working-class people – truck drivers delivering oxygen cylinders to the delivery boys supplying essentials.  Interestingly entertainment industry and sports were the first to shut down during pandemic coz they were not the must have things to survive. Yes, they do their bit to bring in some cheer, but they still fell far down in the priority of things. Boy, how soon we forget things! When things became normal, we went back to our old ways and continue to take the many people whom we need for granted.

With social media ruling our lives, we have one more set of celebrities added to the list – the “influencers”. Under the broad tag belongs the insta influencers, youtubers of all kinds – the different types of vloggers. I often wonder - aren’t most of them just marketers, disguised as content makers? How are they any different from the door-to-door sales person who used to come to sell a variety of things ranging from cleaning products to carpets? While we all dismissed those sales folks heartlessly shutting doors on their face, now we are willingly spending our time seeing what is in their bag or a day in their life while they cleverly sell us a product or service. I know I might have taken a broad brush and painted all of them in the same colour. Not everyone is doing lifestyle blogging or gaming or trivial videos on how to drink a glass of water (yes, there are such videos with millions of views), but there are a wide variety of content makers, many making useful content with millions of followers. Also, not to discount the democratization of the creative space and the wings it gave to the many imaginative minds. Yet, there is a counter narrative from the old school of thought which is mostly dismissed as veiled jealousy on the nuisance that this tribe has become - overhyping things, disrupting public places, refusing to pay for services exploiting popularity and so on. In this entire debate, my question remains the same. Is the reverence in proportion to the value that they are creating? The economics of this reverence is even more troublesome. Influencers justify hard about their earnings with datapoints on effort needed in brainstorming of ideas, the number of retakes before you get the perfect shot, the hours needed for editing or the pressure to remain consistent and relevant. I don’t buy that argument as this is a profession of their choice; any profession needs effort and the real question is whether the rewards are in proportion to effort and above all its true value. Even the comparison of effort is not fair considering the years of hardwork needed to become a professional – be it a doctor, scientist or teacher, not to mention the physical and mental effort when they are actually doing the job. As a mother I’m mostly concerned about the bad example set by this industry on easy money making. How will we inspire children to put in effort in academics, research or such seemingly difficult and boring arenas when they can clearly see all you need is a smartphone and social media account to be a swag making quick bucks.

Heroes are people whom we look up to, who inspires us and evokes hope. From Jesus to Julius Caeser to Justin Beiber qualifies these criteria. Well, a minority may say “my mother/father” is my hero, but this is usually limited to answers in beauty pageants or thank you speeches in winning moments. While yester year heroes provided aspirations to millions, the harsh reality to become one kept us grounded and pursue reality. What were the chances to be a Sachin Tendulkar in a country of one billion where every other boy is a gully cricketer.  But the new age heroes are not just providing aspiration but the zero-bar entry into the influencer’s world is delusional making us believe in the shortcut to success.

Every society need role models and whom we celebrate as role models influences our future. For instance, imagine a society where a teacher is more valued and respected than an actor or rockstar. Imagine the day when Bangalore times features teachers, scientists, health workers all through the year and not just limit them to one column features on teachers’ day or doctors’ day.

In a market driven economy where supply demand equation determines the price and in a capitalistic world where corporates only care about bottomline, economics based on true value and effort will remain utopian. Digesting this bitter truth, I sit and wonder who will invent the vaccine next time a pandemic strike. Definitely, not the Youtuber who is busy showing you what is in their bag.