The "israel celebs awards": The walk of shame on the way to fame

Celebrity culture, which arose at the end of the 18th century, was based in its early stages on a deliberate process of self-aggrandizement by means of media manipulation (Morgan, 2010). However, in the past few decades a change has taken place in celeb culture that centers nowadays far more than in the past, on people who are famous for being famous (Furedi, 2010). This change - together with the rise of reality culture and broad technological developments - has paved the way for the "walk of shame," individuals who become famous by means of a shameless exposure of their past, their conduct and their behavior, individuals who achieve fame due to their complete lack of shame. This chapter, then, examines celebrities in Israel and their loss of shame on the road to fame. The examination was accomplished by using Critical Discourse Analysis of the "Israel Celebs Awards," which are bestowed by the "Gossip and Entertainment" column of the internet site Y-net since 2009 on the occasion of Israel's Independence Day