Celebrities make good barometers of the state of our society. Decades ago, celebrities were afraid to get a divorce, have a child when not married, or have an affair. They were afraid to get caught drunk in public or to get caught using drugs. Now we have celebrities living together and having children without marrying, getting drunk and getting arrested for drunk driving, getting caught with illegal drugs, shooting people, throwing hissy fits and trashing hotel rooms like a spoiled child, and most of the time, it doesn't hurt their careers at all. With rap singers, a little jail time actually give them “street cred” and helps their careers. What's more, when celebrities misbehave and break the law, their punishment is likely to be much less than what the average person would get for committing the same crime.
    But how is this a barometer? It's a barometer of our society because it reflects the changes in our values. We seem to value celebrity over just about anything else. The greatest wish of young people is to be famous. They don't much care what they are famous for, as long as they are famous. And we value celebrities so much, we are willing to forgive a lot as long as they continue to entertain us. 
    And why do we value entertainment so much? Because it allows us to ignore the reality of the world around us. It allows us to ignore the signs of the failure of extreme materialism as a life style even though those sings get more obvious all the time. It allows us to ignore that it is becoming obvious that we are in the end times and need to start getting our act together, and quickly. Hopefully that will change soon, and there is some indication that it is as more people are becoming interested in real spiritual development rather than just superficial church membership.