RUSH: Here’s Amanda, Royal Palm Beach, why, not far from here. Great to have you on the program. Hello.

CALLER: Hi. Thank you. I can’t believe I’m on with you. I’m glad you just brought up the book. I recently just started homeschooling my son, and I’m definitely adding that to our curriculum this year. He listens to you with me every day. He’s 6-years-old and —

RUSH: Thank you. Thank you very much. I guarantee it’s gonna be so perfect for your homeschool curriculum, so perfect.

CALLER: Well, I’m excited.

RUSH: So are we, thank you.

CALLER: Yes. I’m actually kind of off topic today, but I was wondering what you thought about, you know, you talk a lot about people that are online and Facebook and who just pour all of their lives online and put everything about themselves online. And I see it, too, people I went to high school with and people that I know that put everything about themselves online. And their children especially, you know, the pictures and the little videos. And some of them that I think would be embarrassing or the kids maybe when they’re older, you know, a lot of people today think of themselves maybe as victims or there’s that mind-set. And when these kids get older, are they gonna have a case of, “You know, mom, I’m a private person now. I really didn’t want my entire childhood online,” and especially the way that everything is being saved and cataloged —

RUSH: Yeah, in nine cases out of ten that’s gonna be the case. Nine out of 10 times they’re gonna be embarrassed, can’t believe they did it, wish they could scrub it. You are exactly right. In fact, this has been a big bugaboo of mine, and it’s all rooted in people wanting fame. Amanda, it’s all rooted in everybody wanting to have a really fun, great life, and they look at the media, and they look at whatever entertainment TV programs or websites they look at, and they see the life of celebrities and they think that it’s constant happiness. They think it’s constant adoration, big money, and they want it, and everybody wants to be known. Nobody wants to be anonymous. Everybody wants to be famous, until they find out what it is, and then they end up hating the paparazzi, and they end up hating the press and all that. But until they get it, they want it really badly.

Elton John, I sent him a note because he’s right on the money. He’s said the same thing in the last couple of days. I didn’t know he chose Lady Gaga as godmother to his two kids. He’s appalled at what she’s doing and he thinks that she’s on a bad path. He’s tried to call her and talk about it, and she will not take his call. He knew Michael Jackson was never gonna play any sets at the O2 arena. He knew Michael Jackson was headed for a fall, he knew it. He doesn’t understand why the people around Jackson didn’t know.

He said (summarizing), “Everybody thinks that I’ve made myself available. Nobody knows anything about me. They know about the hair. They know about the big glasses. They know about the colorful clothes and the piano. They don’t know who I am, ’cause I’ve kept that in check, I’ve reserved it.” He’s not on the Internet. Elton doesn’t Facebook or Twitter, any of that stuff, because he believes there ought to be some mystique about everybody, particularly performers.

So if I were you, it’s a tough sell, you know, mom’s never right about these kind of things, but you’re right, nine out of 10 teenagers are gonna be profoundly embarrassed later on in life when they find out what they did.