[MD] How to experience Dynamic Quality

[david buchanan]

John said:
Social perfection: Celebrity 
Leif replied:
Wouldn't social perfection be a society that supports intellectual patterns? The same way as biological perfection would be an organsim that can support social value patterns?


dmb says:
Yea, it's better for a society to be guided by intellectual values but this leadership does not eliminate social level values or convert them to intellectual values. Those two levels are both going to exist within the culture and the questions are about how they get along and who's in charge, so to speak.
"Celebrity" does serve as a kind of organizing principle on the social level but it's a bit like "attractiveness" on the biological level. The particular values and qualities that a society "celebrates" are going to vary in the same way that standards of beauty are flexible. You can tell a heck of a lot about a culture by examining its heroes and stars. Celebrities embody the values of the culture, give them concrete expression. Infamous villains like Hitler, say, serve to exemplify negative values, show us a picture of what we don't value. Fame and fortune are the rewards of playing this social role. Those are the values that drive social level ambition, to be rich and popular or even powerful.
Einstein never got a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.