{"id":24744,"date":"2011-01-18T15:02:31","date_gmt":"2011-01-18T15:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/theanchoress\/?p=24744"},"modified":"2017-03-09T21:03:03","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T21:03:03","slug":"o-season-of-idols","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/","title":{"rendered":"O Season of Idols! – UPDATED"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

My Tuesday column is up<\/strong> over at First Things, and it\u2019s pondering the recent Golden Globes show<\/strong><\/a> and the season of glittery \u201cawards\u201d that is upon us:<\/p>\n

It was never so rare, or harmless. And as our post-modern society becomes increasingly post-faith, our instincts to raise up entertainers as idols become more frequently indulged, and perhaps we manufacture more of these idols now. Is there a nation that does not have a slew of \u201cIdol-creating\u201d television shows, where celebrity magazines don\u2019t cover the newsstands? Even our \u201cserious\u201d newspapers carry pages of social or celebrity profiles.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We\u2019ve become such a voyeuristic society,<\/strong> so keen to watch others and feel \u201cinvolved\u201d in their distant lives. It strikes me as odd, that\u2019s all. Whenever I recall the national hysteria that accompanied Bristol Palin\u2019s appearance on Dancing With the Stars, and how seriously that was taken by so many (with some shooting their tv\u2019s and fretting that she might actually win the thing, and others suspecting that every busy phone line was a conspiracy to defeat her) I worry about how nutty we can become about our favorite \u201cstars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hey, I\u2019m not immune. Longtime readers can easily recall my fixation a while back on giant Welsh opera singers! But I do take a minute in the column to caution against treating idols like Icons:<\/p>\n

An Icon looks out from an Intrinsic light and points to its Source; there are no shadows in which to hide.<\/em> An idol looks out from man-created light, and points to no one but himself; then walks into the shadows.<\/p>\n

An Icon looks you straight in the eye and invites you to pursue truth.<\/em> An idol wears shades and has his spokesperson tell you what you want to hear.<\/p>\n

An Icon teaches you how to focus; how to quiet down, collect oneself and hear the small, still voice.<\/em> An idol throws noise, images, and issues at you, non-stop\u2014scatters your thinking and deafens you to any voice but his.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can read it all here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Icon available from Holy Transfiguration Monastery<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/strong> Reader Sarah sends along this piece and notes that idols don\u2019t like not being idolized<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

UPDATE II:<\/strong> The Legacy of Larry King and Oprah<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Tuesday column is up over at First Things, and it\u2019s pondering the recent Golden Globes show and the season of glittery \u201cawards\u201d that is upon us: It was never so rare, or harmless. And as our post-modern society becomes increasingly post-faith, our instincts to raise up entertainers as idols become more frequently indulged, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[404,4859,411],"class_list":["post-24744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-holy-things","tag-icons","tag-idols"],"yoast_head":"\nO Season of Idols! - UPDATED<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My Tuesday column is up over at First Things, and it's pondering the recent Golden Globes show and the season of glittery "awards" that is upon us: It was\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"O Season of Idols! - UPDATED\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My Tuesday column is up over at First Things, and it's pondering the recent Golden Globes show and the season of glittery "awards" that is upon us: It was\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Anchoress\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-18T15:02:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-09T21:03:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/theanchoress\/files\/2011\/01\/LordSaveMe-212x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Scalia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Scalia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/\",\"name\":\"O Season of Idols! - UPDATED\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-18T15:02:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-09T21:03:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b\"},\"description\":\"My Tuesday column is up over at First Things, and it's pondering the recent Golden Globes show and the season of glittery \\\"awards\\\" that is upon us: It was\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"O Season of Idols! – UPDATED\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/\",\"name\":\"The Anchoress\",\"description\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/author\/elizabethscalia\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"O Season of Idols! - UPDATED","description":"My Tuesday column is up over at First Things, and it's pondering the recent Golden Globes show and the season of glittery \"awards\" that is upon us: It was","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"O Season of Idols! - UPDATED","og_description":"My Tuesday column is up over at First Things, and it's pondering the recent Golden Globes show and the season of glittery \"awards\" that is upon us: It was","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/","og_site_name":"The Anchoress","article_published_time":"2011-01-18T15:02:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-09T21:03:03+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/theanchoress\/files\/2011\/01\/LordSaveMe-212x300.jpg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Scalia","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Scalia","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/","name":"O Season of Idols! - UPDATED","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-01-18T15:02:31+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-09T21:03:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b"},"description":"My Tuesday column is up over at First Things, and it's pondering the recent Golden Globes show and the season of glittery \"awards\" that is upon us: It was","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/01\/18\/o-season-of-idols\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"O Season of Idols! – UPDATED"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/","name":"The Anchoress","description":"Elizabeth Scalia","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b","name":"Elizabeth Scalia","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Scalia"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/author\/elizabethscalia\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24744\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}