Superiority Simplex

I was flicking through the society pages of the Sunday paper today. I'm not sure why I did this but the possibility of gaining material for a patronising blog entry can't be excluded as a motive. I find our fascination with what the famous or rich (or at least the richer or more famous than us) are doing at any given moment to be rather odd. If friends give a party or other social event which one is unable to attend I can fully understand the desire to see pictures of it and hear all the details. These are, after all, people you know. It is understandable to be interested, or at least morbidly curious. It gets a bit stranger when people are interested in the antics of people they don't know at all.

I suspect, however, that at least part of the reason is that it allows us to make value judgements about people we've never met. This is much safer than doing it about our friends. For starters ones friends might get a little upset if we label them as skanky, morally depraved freaks (or not, it depends on the friends) and secondly such a judgement may reflect badly on ones choice of friends (or not, it depends on you). Making such judgements about complete strangers is much more fun and has the added bonus of allowing you to criticise people who are (however undeservedly) richer, more successful or famous than you.

The simple truth is nobody likes egalitarianism. There must always be someone a little higher up the social tree than ourselves so that we can bitch about them and feel superior. Of course we could do this about people below us on the ladder but it is much less fun feeling superior when you actually are superior. It's also a little cruel. This is why I derive so little pleasure from the society pages and gossip magazines. After all, someone as flawless as I can hardly be expected to gain delight from the behaviour of such people.

From my lonely eminence gazing down on the common herd of humanity struggling through its day to day existence I can feel no pleasure in my superiority, merely a sort of pity. This is, however, great for everybody else. Gossip about me, smear me, form value judgements about me. It is your right and my way of giving something back. You're welcome.