Actors get paid in millions of dollars and they openly gamble when they are paid slightly less than other actors who are paid one or two million dollars more. Price tags are placed on footballers and other sports personalities who are bought and sold like racehorses. Pop stars are paid in millions for single three-minute recordings of their songs and behave like spoilt children when they are interviewed by the press. While all this is happening, people whose occupations are responsible for ensuring that life continues on this planet, like farmers and fishermen, struggle to survive as they eke out existences. There is no doubt that actors are sports personalities and are paid far more than they are worth.

Just two centuries ago, entertainers were considered to be ?low life?. They went from place to place performing to put bread and butter on their tables, and often they starved. Sports personalities were always considered as ?heroes? but certainly not as much as they are now and they were certainly not paid as much either. How then did they become so important in the modern day? The answer lies in technology and the mass media. Technology created records, movies, CDs and DVDs and a whole range of electronic products which made the recordings of performances available to millions. Whereas the entertainer of yesterday had to move from place to place and perform again and again to earn pittance, the performer of today makes one recording which is sold throughout the world ? often at ridiculous prices ? and rakes in millions.

Then there is the mass media which promotes the entertainer and the sports personality, so much so that they become almost immortal. Otherwise unknown this popularises personalities so much so that they become known. Often, the media does this out of its own selfish aims. The media wants to sell itself. In order to do so, it publishes glowing accounts of the ?stars? so that people buy the paper or magazine or watch the TV programme, to see their ?stars? in action. Hence, we see stars rising and falling according to the media's inclination. As an example, we all remember the hype that followed ?The Titanic? and the creation of Leonardo De Caprio into a ?superstar?. One wonders where he is now. The media just got rid of one toy and found new toys to play with.

The entire process of overly glorifying entertainers and sports personalities is scandalous to say the least. This is what makes them command such large sums of money as payment for ridiculous services like singing a song, while the life-giving farmer is not even mentioned in passing. The world can live without entertainment and sports and the personalities involved, but it cannot survive in the absence of farmers, fishermen and medical workers. It is grossly unfair and disgraceful that few in the world today even give this any thought. The ridiculous sums commanded by entertainers and sports heroes must come to an end and we must put other occupations in correct perspective.