‘Stuck in the Starmaker Machinery’

Unlike many, Joni Mitchell was wary of the ‘starmaker machinery behind the popular song’.   She was an artist, a poet, a singer, but the idea of being a star or being idolized she wanted to hold at arm length and rightly so.  It is not only a mistake to want to be idolized, it’s a mistake to go beyond admiring a person’s good traits, skills or talents, to treating them with a form of borderline idolatry, ignoring all their sins and bad traits.  And of course the sad truth is, things like Beatlemania, or Swiftmania are not merely unhealthy they isolate the musician in question, and prevent them from living a normal life, or even having a private or personal life.  And of course things like People magazine, and the paparazzi just make matters worse.  The same thing happens to sports figures who do well and achieve remarkable success.   One thing that is particularly sad is when performers become a parody of themselves later in life.  So it’s understandable why Joni and many others try to get away from the madding crowd, as in the song ‘a free man in Paris’, unfettered and alive, no one calling her up for favors.   It takes a strong person to not become a distorted image of themselves due to unfettered idolizing of that person by ‘fans’ (short for fanatics).   Jesus did not seek to have fans, he sought to have disciples who would learn from him, and follow his moral example.   It’s hard for successful Christian nmusicians or sports figures to do that these days.