2008 HCI H1 GP Prelims P2 Insert

HCI PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION GENERAL PAPER 26 AUGUST 2008 1 Candidate's Name CT Group GP Tutor HWA CHONG INSTITUTION JC2 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION 2008 GENERAL PAPER 8806/02 PAPER 2 Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes Date: 26 August 2008 Time: 1015 - 1145 hrs INSERT READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST This insert contains the passage for Paper 2 This insert consists of 3 printed pages.

HCI PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION GENERAL PAPER 26 AUGUST 2008 2 In this article John Schumaker writes about The New Religion. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Given the choice of becoming the CEO of a major corporation, the president of Harvard or Yale, a Navy SEAL, or a celebrity’s personal assistant, nearly half of the teenage girls surveyed chose to become an assistant. In another telling statistic, the majority of respondents who were provided with a list of famous names with whom they could share a meal picked Jennifer Lopez over Jesus Christ. Fascination with fame is nothing new. Long ago, the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus observed that ‘the desire for fame is the last affliction cast off even by the wise.’ But celebrity worship as we know it first emerged in the 1880s when the notion of 'cultural hero' began to shift from a noble, duty- driven upholder of standards and virtues (scholars, inv entors, great political leaders, 'captains of industry') to a person celebrated primarily for being prominent in the popular consciousness. According to Smithsonian Institute historian Amy Henderson, this was spurred by new mass communication technologies of the 1920s and 1930s as well as by 'a staggering machine of desire' created by the ballooning entertainment industry. All this formed part of a wider consciousness shift from character to personality, substance to image, and community to narcissism. But celebrity mania is at new heights at the beginning of this new millennium and its dire consequences are becoming increasingly apparent. We are suffering from an insidious addiction that we have only just begun to properly diagnose. Ironically, sociologists maintain that the decline of organized religion has played a large role in spawning the new cult of celebrity. As the level of our faith in traditional organised religion decreases, the tendency to worship celebrity increases. Celebrity adulation helps fill what the French philoso