Swimming against the tide

I was catching up on my daily dose of gossip (you know, the Page 3 snippets that you ought to not bother too much about - but can't do without either) when an article about one megastar apologising for his comment about a certain other superstar caught my eye. Another superstar caused a huge furore by relating what he thought was a joke about his colleague. I don't think anyone but him was amused really.

Maybe famous people are not just like their public images. It would be hard to live their whole lives as if it was their prolonged 5 or 20 or 200 minutes of fame. And when they do choose to share what is most uppermost in their thoughts and minds, the public can't digest it at all! This is not something new. Blind admiration and idol worship are as old as history. Maybe even pandering to the common man's whims and fancies and expectations by these 'idols' are equally old. What must be appreciated are those few who know their minds and refuse to budge from their view points just because mass opinions are against them or will work against them. I was disappointed recently to hear Rajini make a public apology to Kannadigas about certain of his remarks before the release of his new movie in Karnataka. He actually said something sensible in his earlier remarks in an appeal to the Kannadigas and softened it to a spineless statement later directed at no one in particular!

Maybe the man who swims along with the tide of humanity does not get hurt or bruised or super tired - life and people around him are very nice to him because he is just like the rest of them. But he also does not get to the place he wanted to go in the first place - people around him choose it for him. Few like the hero of Ayn Rand's Fountainhead might swim against the tide of human opinions and against all odds - but they get to their chosen destination at least in the end.