Karl Penny calls me to task here for yielding to another commenter’s premise (but not his conclusion from it) that celebrities lead more interesting lives than their typical fans. Since “interesting” has various meanings—in Charlie Sheen’s case, the ironic Chinese definition (as in “may you live in interesting times”) comes to mind, and I could argue that celebrities by definition lead lives that their fans find more interesting than their own, hence the fact that they are celebrities. Nonetheless, Karl’s point is critical, and I thank him for making it so eloquently. And Karl’s would have been the Comment of the Day even if he hadn’t mentioned my dad—but it didn’t hurt. Here is Karl on “Ethics Quote of the Week: Blogger Jeff Jarvis”:

“Now, Jack: “Nobody denies that rich stars have more interesting lives than their fans,…” Nobody? Hey, what am I? Chopped liver? But, seriously I do deny that celebrities lead more interesting lives than the rest of us. In my experience—and these days, I hear a lot from others about the details of their lives—everyone has a story to tell. Indeed, they have a narrative, and one that is way more interesting, and far more uplifting, than those of the celebrities whose stories are broadcast at us.

“I recall some time back your doing a rather lengthy post on the passing of your father, and why he would always be a hero to you. By the time you were done, he was a hero me and, I suspect, to most of your readers as well. Equally to the point: I can relate to those kinds of stories better. Ordinary people can do extraordinary things, and often do. Very few of us are ever going to have an opportunity to pull a child off the highway just in time, or perform CPR on someone who’s in a bad way, or return a large amount of found cash. But all of us are going to have an opportunity to make someone else’s day a little easier or a little brighter. The older I get, the more I am convinced that heroism is simply having a choice to do the right thing and…doing it.

“Those are the kinds of stories I’m interested in—not those of celebrities who have little, if anything, to teach those of us who make their lives possible.”