The legend of Macaulay Culkin

Macaulay Culkin is famous, still, long after he has actually done anything to be famous for. Now, there is nothing wrong with that, since reputations often endure long after that which prompted them. Unusually, perhaps, though, compared to those others whose reputations have endured long after their cause (like certain pop/rock stars who no longer perform or compose, but still hit the gossip columns), Macaulay Culkin is famous because of what he did as a child. He is now 30. However, Macaulay Culkin has not been wasting his time, in his adult years. He has been dating Mila Kunis. I learnt this, today, on hearing that he had broken up with her.

Now the question is: what do you think people would be searching for, on hearing that Macaulay Culkin had broken up with Mila Kunis? Perhaps they might be asking questions like: did Macaulay Culkin have any children with Mila Kunis? Or: “Why did Macaulay Culkin break up with Mila Kunis?” Or “Did Mila Kunis dump Macaulay Culkin or vice-versa?” Or: “Did Macaulay Culkin cheat on Mila Kunis?”. Now these are all fair questions in the aftermath of the Mila Kunis breakup. However, that is not what interests people about Macaulay Culkin. Today, on my blog, the whole world is telling me just what they want to know about Macaulay Culkin. Rather astoundingly, fully 75% of searches arriving on my blog today, concern Macaulay Culkin. Yet, they are not searching about what you might consider reasonable, given his life events, today. Everyone is searching about Macaulay Culkin’s wealth.

The searches today, consist entirely of such humane gems as: “Is Macaulay Culkin rich?” “How much is Macaulay Culkin worth?” “What is Macaulay Culkin’s net worth?” “Is Macaulay Culkin wealthy?” “How much money does Macaulay Culkin have?” “Does Macaulay Culkin still have money?” “How does Macaulay Culkin make a living, now?” “What does Macaulay Culkin do for a living, now?” etc etc. Not one person, arriving on my blog, is interested in anything else about Macaulay Culkin, apart from his net worth/riches/wealth/money/assets.

To my mind, this does appear to indicate that people don’t think of Hollywood and its acting products, to be particularly meaningful. At least, the ones that Macaulay Culkin appeared in, don’t appear to interest them. No-one is interested in Macaulay Culkin’s acting achievements: they are only interested in the money they assume he got from them. No one is interested in whether Macaulay Culkin is an interesting guy, whether he is intelligent, sensitive, creative, caring, kind, loving, or anything else for that matter. All they care about is whether Macaulay Culkin is rich. Now, I don’t know whether Macaulay Culkin will ever read my blog (doubtful, given the vastness of the internet ), but if he does, I would like him to consider the evidence of my blog searches, and urge him to a certain caution, in his assessment of the character of those he meets. If he does not already do so, of course. For my blog suggests that most people, now, are only interested in one thing: Macaulay Culkin’s money.

By the way, for those interested in his supposed net worth, I saw an estimate a couple of years back saying he had 30 million US dollars to his name – so yes, he probably does have quite a lot of money. However, I am sure he has much else to recommend him too…so if you meet Macaulay Culkin, why not pause to find out what he is like as a PERSON and not a BANK ACCOUNT.

Personally, I find it rather disturbing that the interest in Macaulay Culkin should be so one dimensional. Of all the qualities a human being can have and which can inspire interest, the amount of money they have should be somewhere near the bottom of the list. To the modern net searcher, however, it seems to be at the top. What kind of world have we created that it should be so? What kind of people are there in this modern world of ours? Could they get any more one dimensional themselves? (I ask because a person reveals their depths, through the shallowness of their concerns.)

I wish Macaulay Culkin well on finding a new girlfriend – preferably one who does not search the internet for his net worth: poor rich guy!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

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What one would most give to another.

I asked a class of students, once, what they would most like to give to another. The answers were many and various - indeed, some were sweet and thoughtful, even surprising. However, it is to the answer of the Russian student to whom I have referred before (she of the brand buying obsession), that I shall turn.

The Russian girl, who so loves branded goods, didn't wait to answer the question in writing: she shouted it out across the classroom, seemingly unaware of how people would respond to her stance.

"Give?", she began, scornfully, "Never! I never like to give...only to take, take, take. Especially from men. I take and receive presents from them, only - but I never give." (She paused here in consideration of her own words). "I think a lot of girls do like this."

Even though I had come to expect something empty-headed from her, her words perturbed me. They were spoken with such passion, that they gave me the creeps. Here, for sure, was one who liked to use others.

I wonder at people like her. How common are they? Is this a typical way of thinking and viewing the world, among some nationalities, today? Is it all about "me, me, me!"? I rather hope not. I hope that my Russian student is an aberration and that she is wrong in her opinion that "a lot of girls do like this".

However, if she is right, then men would be wise not to place much faith in the women they meet, nowadays. The Russian student's attitude leads directly to a breakdown in the relationship between the sexes - for what faith can the man have in the woman if her sole interest is the material goods he can give her? That would be a relationship based on the transfer of goods and not a relationship based on love or any emotion of either substance or endurance.

In a way, I shudder at the thought of a world filled with people like this Russian girl: a more soul-less, empty, life-destroying world would be hard to imagine. Here is a girl who gives nothing to others, who seeks to take as much as she can and who wishes to milk the men she meets for all the material goods she can get from them. I see for her either a lonely future (as people realize what she is and stay well away) or a whorish one - for such is her core attitude.

Attitudes like this Russian girl's are the inevitable end product of a materialist society. If life is measured by the goods one accumulates, then it makes sense to be a taker and not a giver. He or she who takes, will achieve a relative accumulation of material goods, over one who is generous and gives as much as they receive. It seems that she has imbibed too well, the material philosophy of our age.

To me, this girl represents an Archtype of all that is undesirable in the modern age. She brings emotional poverty and material greed together in one unending quest for branded goods at the expense of any man she meets. She sees life and human relationships as a means to rob another of their wealth and find gratification in the piling up of branded symbols of the age.

The most urgent question posed by her most ugly of ugly attitudes is this: how common are people like her? Is it right for modern man to be on guard against such exploitative personalities? (Of course, there could be cases of men like this, too).

As a final comment, I would like to note that, unlike every other student in the room, she never wore the same clothes in the several months that I taught her. Every day was a fashion parade with her - with each outfit carefully thought out, sometimes in the most elaborate manner. Truly, someone, somewhere was spending an awful lot of money in keeping this particular Material Girl, materially happy. It was quite unnerving, in a way, especially since she was in a classroom with others who almost always wore the same clothes and could barely afford their school fees. The contrast could not have been more discomfiting. She never seemed to notice, however.

What did the other students think of her? Well, sometimes they smiled or laughed at her expense. Perhaps there is hope for this world, after all...

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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