The Brangelina Fallacy
As I was watching The Late Show with my wife, the topic of the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie divorce came up on the show. I realized that this is a traumatic event for many people. Then I wondered why.
The only explanation that makes sense to me is that people longed for this to be a fairy tale romance; happily ever after, an exemplary life, a role-model relationship. Many people crave such examples. It’s why popular stars are looked to as leaders, and often held to a higher standard of behavior than the rest of us. (There are some exceptions.)
People need role models. Kids look to their parents and elder relatives to teach by example. The values the elders embody become those the kids embody. Embody twisted values such as ethnic hatred, and the kids grow up sharing such. Teach evidence-based thinking, skepticism coupled with open-mindedness, and kids grow up with such.
Many of us don’t cease seeking role models when we become adults. We look to popular figures in movies and music to serve as such. Or we look to political figures. Or sports stars. Or business tycoons.
In most cases, these are merely people who happen to be superior in some dimension of life. They are not superior in other dimensions, though they often display more extreme tastes and behavior. They usually appear larger than life, and so people want to emulate them.
It’s a poor society that elevates such people as its role models. We would do far better, and get far better long-term results, if we instead elevated people who have demonstrated an enduring commitment to service for humanity and the world. I am thinking of people like Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela (a rarity among politicians), Albert Einstein (who used his scientific standing to lobby for a better world), and Buckminster Fuller, to name a few.
By celebrating the contributions of such people, as well as those who are as yet less known but who show similar potential, we will uplift and inspire other people—especially young people. That, in turn, will stimulate more such contributions.
This is a key principle of a Celebration Society and the main reason why I want a meritocratic Royalty established as a fourth branch of government, alongside the Parliament, Judiciary, and Administration. With the lead Royal as designated Head of State, yet lacking any real power, we will gain the benefits of continuous inspiration without the harmful conflation of power and adulation, or wealth and adulation, that today plague so many societies.
There remains the risk of conflating fame and adulation. I am, however, hopeful that by making the attainment of Royal status a challenging process devoid of personal gain, it will attract and cultivate people of truly exemplary character; people who attain the status of Royal not for the sake of fame but as a higher opportunity to be of service.
Like all systems in a Celebration Society, it will be imperfect, and some Royals may think themselves superior due to the adulation. But I expect that, over time, the Royalty itself will devise checks and balances to assure that such egotism does not arise often and, when it does, that it is controlled.