Why Do Everyday People Hate Famous People?

Snooki is an author.  Huh?

LeBron James.  Tiger Woods.  Snooki.  Charlie Sheen. People hate them. Well, maybe putting it that way is a tad bit strong, although it's true for some.  But, let me reword it: People hate on them.

Why is that?  What makes us not care for people we don't know? I'll list the three main reasons that people will take time out of their day to post, tweet, or comment about celebs:

Jealousy - Most of us fall into this category, but in different ways. There are women who hate on Beyonce because they're jealous of her. She looks good and sings well (at times) and because they don't have what she has, they analyze her with a microscope to find a flaw. "Oh, she's arrogant."  "She wears a weave." "Her booty is padded." Another way people are jealous, and I fall into this category, is that they hate to see people with very little talent become famous.  I hate on Snooki because she makes more money monthly than I do annually for being a moron and a drunk. Subconciously, I'm jealous of the fact that she had the guts (or lacked the common sense) to lay her dignity down to be the next national idiotic icon.

I can't even Super Size my meal for $21 million.

Resentment against them taking their opportunities for granted - Athletes receive a lot of hate based on this category.  No one group of people take their opportunities for granted like athletes. Quite a few of them will grow old and will end up broke, despite the fact that they once possesed millions. This brings about hate from the masses.  If you're working two jobs for $31k per year and you hear that Latrell Sprewell turned down an NBA contract that would have paid $21 million dollars over three years because he said that he couldn't "feed his family" off of it, then you can easily develop the hate gene.  For the record, Latrell never received another offer to play again after declining that contract and subsequently had his home and yacht repossesed. He is truly having some difficulties "feeding his family" from what I understand. Lindsay Lohan spends more time in court than making movies and we despise her for it. She has had the chance of a lifetime to enjoy being a Hollywood movie starlet and she's trying to blow it. She has an opportunity that many will never receive, yet it appears that she'd rather snort coke and steal things than make the most of what could have been an easy life.

Has a Ph.Double-D in sports.

Racism / Sexism / Media-influence - Let's not pretend as if any of the three don't exists. Prime examples: President Obama, Lebron James, Tiger Woods, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, any female ESPN reporter covering a man's sport; the list goes on. Naive people thought that racism died when Obama got elected, but it did the opposite: it's resurfaced its ugly head in the worst way. He has received opposition in everything he does and if you think it's just because he's a Democrat, then you also probably believed the world was ending back in May.

Female sports reporters have it bad. I'll be honest, I can't stand the ladies who were hired just because they looked good. There are a lot of sideline reporters or studio hosts who lack so much sports knowledge that they'll tell you there's a such thing as a "football bat." Lisa Guerrero? Jillian Barberie? Clueless! But there are also women who have sports in their blood and they know what they're talking about, yet they get little-to-no respect. Linda Cohn, Jemele Hill, Pam Ward, Michelle Tafoya, and Andrea Kramer to name a few notables. But some prehistoric men feel as if they belong either with pom poms in their hands and in short skirts or bringing them a beer. Sad.

Lebron James is hated for changing jobs. Think about it. He changed jobs! If you left McDonald's for Burger King, would you find it odd if every single customer for McD's hated you? Despite the fact that people have changed jobs since jobs were invented, they chose you out of everyone to hate. What happened to Lebron James is the result of media sensationalism. The media pounded him so much that we all started thinking, "Maybe this dude is a bad guy. He did do Cleveland wrong!"

No, he didn't.  The press conference he had, to announce "The Decision," may have been considered tasteless in the eyes of Cleveland, but it was ground-breaking to most everyone else.  We've seen press conferences of people changing sports teams, but never an entire show.  Lebron did something no one else has done before and made money for charity in doing so (along with pimping his new flavor of Lifewater products).  The same media outlet in which his show aired (ESPN) was also the same media outlet to demonize him to the public. "Oh, this was tasteless! How could he do this to the Cleveland fans?"

Yet, you jumped at the chance of broadcasting "The Decision" and bumped live sports off-air to do so. Hypocrites.

Only a warlock can love me.

So, we all have our reasons for being haters. We will hate someone just for being on TV. We will "boo" an athlete for playing a game. We will hurl insults to someone who is actually more talented than us.

Money and fame are such a powerful thing that it can drive a wedge between people who have never met.