Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in Namibia Controlling Immigration

Celebrities enjoy a contrived relationship with the paparazzi. The relationship Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt orchestrate with the paparazzi illustrates this in spades.

Jolie and Pitt as immigration officers

But imagine a world so obsessed with and deferential to celebrities that they can get governments to do this:

Jolie and Pitt pressured Namibian authorities … to hand over control of their international land borders and airspace and grant them the right to decide which members of the paparazzi would be allowed to enter the country during their [high-profile] stay.

(Associated Press, May 25, 2006)

Jolie and Pitt claim they extracted these extraordinary concessions to show their affinity for Africa. That is so absurd it’s not even worthy of comment. 

On the other hand, they have convinced Namibian authorities that their newborn child, “Shiloh,” is a baby messiah who will turn Namibia into a tourism Mecca. The problem is that neither affinity for Africa nor promoting tourism has anything to do with this: 

The pair have already sold the rights for the photo for $5.4 million [and] told ministers they would quit the country unless allegedly intrusive journalists and paparazzi were brought to heel.

(Associated Press, May 25, 2006)

In short, it was all about money for Jolie and Pitt.

Celebrity-obsessed world 

Celebrities are fascinating because they live in a parallel universe…one that makes our lives seem woefully dull by comparison. The teary chat with Diane [Sawyer of ABC] quickly turns to the subject of a recent $10 million film fee and honorary United Nations ambassadorship. 

(Carlin Flora, Psychology Today Magazine)

The news media scapegoated the paparazzi for causing the death of Princess Diana. But the paparazzi only chased Diana to feed the public’s obsession with her parallel life. 

Frankly, criticizing the paparazzi for feeding people’s obsession with celebrities is like blaming drug traffickers for people’s addiction to drugs.

After all, celebrities (including royals) depend on the public’s obsession with them to sustain their fame and fortune. The paparazzi merely feed this obsession by turning every mundane thing they do into tabloid fodder.

As for the celebrities themselves, they obviously covet the attention the paparazzi provide. Of course, they complain when the attention becomes inconvenient. You know, like when the paparazzi catch them using drugs, having affairs, or wearing no makeup.

However, the celebrities who frequent popular places are even more irritating in this respect. Because many of them then pretend the paparazzi are invading their privacy (or space) by taking “money shots” of them.

Celebrities abusing star-struck locals

Celebrities enjoy perks, privileges, and prerogatives everywhere they go. But Jolie and Pitt would never even attempt to exploit their celebrity in any developed country the way they did in developing Namibia. And yes, race matters in this context. 

Tom Cruise and Kate Holmes travel in the same celebrity firmament as Jolie and Pitt. So it’s instructive that they just had their baby recently without undue intrusion in a city with the highest density of paparazzi on planet Earth, Los Angeles. But the familiarity government officials have with celebrities there breeds more contempt than adoration.

Meanwhile, Namibian government officials are promising to create a national holiday to honor Shiloh. That betrays their starstruck susceptibility.

After all, they have not given a thought to creating a holiday to honor the native son who put Namibia on the map many years ago, namely Olympian and World Champion Frank Fredericks.

I don’t care why ordinary people worship celebrities. And I care even less about the symbiotic relationship between celebrities and the paparazzi. 

I am profoundly dismayed, however, at how Namibian officials have allowed Jolie and Pit to play them. Reports are that these American celebrities came bearing charitable gifts totaling $315,000. And, for that relative pittance, they felt entitled to coopt Namibia’s national sovereignty.  

Even worse, though, Namibian officials compromised their national heritage by acting as if the birth of the Jolie-Pitt child is the best thing that has ever happened in Namibia. That takes celebrity worship to an untenable and unconscionable degree.

Celebrity do-gooders

I’d be remiss not to note that some celebrities put the public’s obsession with their lives to good use. For example, Jolie has emulated the likes of Audrey Hepburn as a UN goodwill ambassador. Other notables include rock stars like Bono and Bob Geldof. 

But no act of charity entitles any celebrity to abuse their status the way Jolie and Pitt did. After all, this case makes clear that Namibia was starving as much for international celebrities as it was for national revenues.

Not to mention the false hope Jolie and Pitt are offering. Namibian officials are hailing the birth of Shiloh as a boon for national revenues. But they need only consult their brethren in Cambodia and Ethiopia.

After all, officials in those countries are still waiting for the revenues they expected after Jolie adopted a boy, Maddox, and a girl, Zahara, from their countries, respectively.