On Idolatory of the Human Kind

I'm participating in a so-called flame war somewhere inside the reaches of the Internet, and I received a rather distressed mail from a friend. In that mail, he takes offense at my usage of the word "sucks" in the sense of "software from X and Y companies sucks". I hastened to clear his misconceptions and unilateral knowledge of the subject, by reminding him, that though colloquial, my usage of the word "sucks" in the sense that "is inadequate and/or poor quality" is perfectly correct, and to the best of my knowledge, non-offensive. Ah, the perils of an ESL reader reading an ESL writer. That would have been that, if he had not gone on to expound a few more things, which can be summarized as:

1. Many young and immature minds are watching the so-called flame war.
2. Some of them will be influenced by my actions, since I'm a "celebrity", and so I should moderate my words.
   
3. My publicly archived e-mails will all that'll be left of my image, and that better be controlled well.

I know exactly the two words that some of my less eloquent friends would use when confronted with this situation, but since I'm a cowardly prude, and I've a opportunity to write one more article for my blog, and I better clear any misconceptions on this issue, here goes.

As a young impressionable child, comic-book superheroes was who I'd imitate. They were two-dimensional physically, but one-dimensional when it came to morality. It was much later that I experienced (and enjoyed) dealing with complex superheroes like the Batman. But the point is that I never looked up to a real human as a role model or an idol or a guide.

Even today, if you ask me to name a few persons who have had the greatest influence on my life, I'd name none. I'd be so egoistic so as to state that I am who I am, not a bad copy of someone else. But ego would not be the true reason why I dislike human idols.

I realised, very early on, that humans, whether living or dead, were a very bad choice for role models. They're inconsistent, subject to mood swings, and have too many secrets to conceal. It's part of being a human. Imagine a young impressionable kid idolizing on a sportstar, and the sportstar going down for taking drugs. Thankfully, my conclusions came from logical reasoning, rather than personal experience. I'd probably not survive an idol crash.

With that same rationality, I knew that my models would have to reflect who I want to be, rather than who they are. Nobody fit the bill. I didn't look hard, I knew it was a futile search. So I did the next best thing. I never emulated people, I emulated qualities. Sometimes these qualities came from real people, some from fictional people, some from fictional objects even!

I also knew that when I became a "fanboy", I'd in some way control the "celebrity's" life, in that I could emotionally blackmail that "star" to do whatever the public wanted. I never wanted so much power. I'd never give away so much power. I'd rather remain unknown than ask for public adulation at such a cost.

People who chose other people to be their role models are doing a normal thing, but they need to get to grips with reality and all its ugliness. Live life as you want it to be, free and unencumbered by unrealistic assumptions and expectations. Your life is yours, why make it look like someone elses?