Mac's Musings
What is an 'icon'?
11/01/2008The term 'icon' has become woefully devalued.
Yesterday's Daily Telegraph ran an inside page piece - with a busty picture - of Victoria Beckham's triumph in a celebrity fashion list. The 'iconic' Posh topped the poll for the worst-dressed celebrity. I'm sure we were all gutted.
Today's front page is dominated by a picture of Cécilia Sarkozy, ex-wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, going through the 'getting even' ritual. But tucked away in a single column underneath was the death of Sir Edmund Hillary, who made the first ascent of Mt Everest. The passing of a real international icon surely deserved more.
Hillary always baulked at the suggestion that he was a 'celebrity' and was quietly amazed by his continuing fame. But it's how he used that fame that is interesting. He devoted much of the rest of his life after 29 May 1953 to raising money to build schools, hospitals and bridges in remote corners of Nepal, a country which almost became his adopted home.
Somehow that seems a much more useful way to spend your life than the rather vacuous existence of Posh Spice. And the Daily Telegraph should be ashamed of its news values.
